For Your Information

I will start accepting EC ads again starting this Saturday 9/26. The widget will be open until 10/3 for the same price of 2ec a day. I wish I can let everyone to place an ad for free but I have no control over the management. However, I can sent you back your 2ec if you want.

All ads will be approve on 10/4, please don't be alarm if you don't see your adverts getting approve the day you place them.

Going on Vacation

How about your vegetable garden? Not to worry, here are some tips to keep them safe.

To keep your vegetable garden in good shape while you're on summer vacation, pick mature or nearly mature vegetables before you leave. Water the garden deeply and then mulch with grass clippings, hay, or straw.

Patriotic Potato Salad

Show your patriotic colors this 4th of July with a red, white, and blue potato salad. Harvest new potatoes of 'Red Pontiac', 'Katahdin', and 'All Blue' now, gently digging around potato plants, taking 2 to 3 spuds per hill.

Plant Melons

Once the soil is warm(65F), plant melons. Cantaloupes, honeydews, and watermelons like fertile, warm soil and plenty of water. Plant seeds in circles 5 to 6 feet apart and thin to the strongest two plants per circle.

Control Corn Earworms

As corn begins to mature, you may notice a worm in the end of the ears. The corn earworm larvae feed on silks and kernels. The damage is limited to ear tips, so cut that part off when harvesting.

Control Squash Bugs

These greenish-gray, 1/2-inch long bugs are found sucking plant juices on underside of cucumber, melon, squash, and pumpkin leaves. Crush the masses of shiny brown eggs when found and pick and destroy the young and adults.

Grow Container Eggplants

Growing eggplant in 12-inch wide containers filled with potting soil allows you to reduce the chance of eggplants being killed by wilt disease and let's you place the plant in the sunniest location.

Tomato Blossom Drop

Tomato blossom drop is usually caused by above 90F or below 50F temperatures. To protect plants against heat, provide shade from the hot afternoon sun. To protect against cold temperatures, cover plants with a floating row cover.

Pruning Herbs

As you're harvesting herbs such as basil, rosemary, and mint, snip off any flowers that form. This will encourage the creation of a bushier plant with more leaves that have better flavor.

Renovate Strawberry Beds

If strawberry beds are weedy and overcrowded, renovate them. Mow plants down with the mower. Till under all but an 8-inch row of plants in the middle of the bed and thin remaining plants to 6 inches.

Harvest Edible Flowers

Edible flowers such as borage, calendula, nasturtium, pansy, and rose taste best when picked and eaten the same day. Harvest flowers in the morning, after the dew has dried to adorn salads, soups, and entrees.

Harvest Watermelons

Harvest watermelons when the "ground spot" underneath the melon turns to creamy yellow; the tendril closest to the melon turns brown and shrivels; and the rind loses its gloss and appears dull.

Reduce Garden Cultivation

During the dog days of August, and especially if it's dry, reduce cultivation of flower and vegetable beds. Loosening the soil causes it to dry out faster and you may also unintentionally harm the plants' feeder roots.

Nut Drop on Pecans

Dropping pecan nuts may be due to inadequate water, zinc deficiency, or insects. If you still have a good supply in the tree, don't worry, you'll have nuts this fall. If not, next year keep trees well watered, fertilized, and control insects.

Soak Plants Thoroughly

Be wise when watering. Most plants grow best with a thorough soaking and then allowed to dry out before watering again. If you keep the soil too wet, plant roots will be starved for oxygen and die.

Fertilize Sweet Corn

When sweet corn plants are about one foot tall, it's time to hill them. Mounding the soil around the plants or "hilling" helps support the stalk and prevents them from blowing over, especially during summer storms.

Image Credit: http://www.charyproduce.com

Pruning New Canes On Brambles

In general, branched canes that have borne fruit already can be cut out once the berries have been picked. Any dead canes should also be pruned out. Then thin the plants leaving only the biggest new canes. They will be the most productive next year. Try to end up with about 6 or 8 canes per clump with the canes spaced about 6 inches apart.

You might also refer to the diagrams at the following website because different types of brambles (blackberries, raspberries, etc.) require different methods of pruning for optimum production. http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/hort/g06000.htm Finally, no matter which kind(s) you are growing, be sure to remove and destroy the prunings when you are done.

Harvest Sunflowers

To collect sunflower seeds after the flowers fade cover the head with cheesecloth to keep birds away. When you can rub seeds off with your hand, cut the head, remove the seeds, dry them in a warm, airy indoor location.

Harvesting Blueberries

For best flavor and sugar content, leave blueberries on the bush an extra 2 to 3 days after they turn blue. Remove small, gray, hard, and shriveled berries. These characteristics suggest the presence of mummy berry disease.

Protect Basil

Photo Source

To get the best basil crop wait until the soil has warmed to 65F to plant. Basil is very susceptible to chilling; if the weather's too cool, the leaves will brown and the plants wilt.