The Midwestern June Garden

How interesting has the weather been in your corner of the world? In my corner, it's been drenched, bordering on drowning. Luckily for me, I grow my vegetable garden in raised beds. Not to say they aren't soaked, they are. They just aren't floating. The upside to all this rain is beautiful lush foliage, a large flush of tomatoes setting on the vines, and my water bill about half the cost it would usually be this time of year. The down side? Yes, even in raised beds there is a downside. Kohlrabi, just on the verge of harvesting, are splitting open. The black Spanish radishes, a newbee in the garden this year, are tough. My cabbages are so full of water they are cracking. Oh yeah, and of course, the weeds are flourishing.

For those who've endured at least one hail storm, my heart goes out to you. Hail, as horrible as it can be, is equally damaging coupled with 60 mph winds. Lots of areas around us have experienced just that. Don't dispair. If we can get out from under this weather without further hail storms, some of the plants in your garden can be saved. (I'm jinxing myself here but, we've yet to have significant hail here. I keep praying when the sky starts spitting ice pellets and God's been kind to protect the garden from much damage. We've had pea sized hail briefly and lightly.) What to do now when plants look like they've been through the shredder?

Immediately prune the plants of any damage. A plant will expend a large amount of energy trying to repair its damaged foliage. Remove shredded leaves and broken stems from the plant so it can work on creating new, healthy foliage instead. Don't let plants stand in water. So far, in my raised beds, they've managed to keep draining. But, in those flat, on top of the ground beds, trench the soil to drain water away from plants. Push back mulching materials such as straw, grass clippings, etc., so that the soil can get the sun. And lastly, now is a good time to work in a pelletized fertilizer. Sprinkle it around the drip edge of the plant. The moisture from the soil will slowly released good nutrients to the plant, helping in regeneration.

The picture at the top is of my watermelon radishes. I think the excess water has caused the coloring to be washed. The center should be a full circle of purplish-red, not just a spot. Oh well, David says they are just as tasty. I have to say they've held up the best of the three varieties I planted. I score them as:

watermelon radish A-

white globe radish B-

black Spanish radish D+

As in the second picture, I'd say the purple kohlrabi have faired better then the early white Vienna as far as splitting out goes. This plump purple fellow is a lovely specimen. And the masculine arm holding it for the camera (no that isn't my arm!) isn't bad either!!! Thanks Dave.

Another big problem in the June garden is pests. The red spider mites have made a showing on the tomatoes. Left unchecked, they will destroy the blooms which, of course, results in a lack of tomatoes. The yellow lady bug-looking beatles are after the green beans, the rabbits are fixated on my green peppers, and the white moths are circling the cabbages. What's new, right?

A nice surprise was the volunteer New Zealand Spinach that we ate last night. This is a hardy spinach, loves warm weather, and continues to produce even after several cuttings. If you haven't tried this variety, give it a shot. Once your radishes have played out, replant that row with this variety. Get a jump start on germination by soaking the seeds in water for a few hours before planting. Within a month, a stand of spinach will be ready for picking.