​I hope everyone had a great summer. Personally, I’ve fought with whooping cough (my 91 year old mother – she keeps telling us she’s in her second childhood, I guess that was her trying to prove it – then me. Believe me, it was no fun.), then no rain, then rain and more rain, then weeds, then stinkbugs. In other words, it’s been a normal South Louisiana summer – except for the whooping cough, of course.

We have had a nice bit of rain lately, that helps a lot, because most of my yard does not have irrigation and I truly hate standing around with a hose. I do have soaker hoses on most of my vegetable garden though, so even if the ornamentals lack water, I can usually manage watering the veggies without too much trouble.

Right now, almost everything is suffering from the heat, except the eggplant, cucumbers, beans, and most herbs; they seem to thrive on heat. The tomatoes and peppers look terrible, my squash are all gone, and the weeds are taller than I am again. I know I’m short, but they’re still too tall. There seems to be a recurring theme here.

Now I’m getting ready to plant the fall garden. From now to the beginning of August you can plant cantaloupe, okra, and watermelon. Missing out on the fall garden is one of the biggest mistakes new gardeners make. They just think that summer is all there is to gardening. Plant Southern peas, bell pepper (transplants, not seeds, it’s too late for seeds), summer squash, and tomatoes (again, transplants) from now until the beginning of August. As a gardener gets more experience, (s)he doesn’t want the season to end. Here, we are so very lucky to have an average growing season that exceeds 300 days. Through mid-August you can plant beets, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, lettuce and Irish potatoes. Feel for those poor people who have 60 day growing seasons. All through the month of August you can plant beans (green and lima, bush and pole), broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, cucumbers, and mustard. And we’re not finished yet. There’s more to come in September.

Now, about those tomato and pepper transplants. You can grow (or buy) new transplants, or you can cut back the ones you already have, give them a feeding of compost, fish emulsion, worm tea, or your favorite pick me up, and by the end of August these welldeveloped root systems will have produced strong new tops and as soon as the weather cools, you’ll have a beautiful crop of tomatoes and/or peppers. Treat the plants just like you would roses. Prune them to 18” to 24”. To prevent the spread of disease, I like to remove the old mulch, put on a layer of worm castings, and spread fresh mulch, and, of course, keep the moisture even. This should get those plants off to a great new start.

​I must say, the insect population was a lot less this year than last. I hope that is because the reduced use of pesticides on the property has allowed a more natural balance to develop. That doesn’t mean that I’m happy with the stink bug damage, especially to the tomatoes. I had to pick my large tomatoes long before they were ripe. Fortunately, tomatoes ripen easily indoors, but there is just something so wonderful to see those beautiful, red tomatoes on the vine. Picking a ripe tomato and biting into it, letting the juice drip down your chin, there’s very little that can beat the experience. Picking them early and letting them ripen on the counter lessens that experience significantly, but at least I get ripe tomatoes. When too many tomatoes show stink bug damage, I do reach for the insecticide. First, soapy water, maybe with some oil in it. Then, Neem oil, and lastly, something with spinosad in it. I reach for the spinosad last because it is a broad-spectrum insecticide and kills the good bugs along with the bad. This sets back the good bugs more than the bad because when the bad bugs are pressured, they respond by increasing their rate of reproduction. Good bugs don’t respond the same way. They continue to reproduce at the same old rate, allowing the bad bugs to outpace them. So try not to use broad-spectrum pesticides as your first line of defense. Soapy water drowns insects readily, water with a little soap and oil in it slows the insects down enough so that they can be caught and either squashed or drowned. Insecticides like Bacillus thurigensis (commonly called Bt) are very specific for caterpillars and do not affect any other insects, good or bad. It also doesn’t affect birds, fish, pets or people. It has to be ingested by the target insect. It infects that insect and stops it from feeding. You will still see caterpillars, but they will no longer be chewing your plants.

Until next time, good gardening,
MaryAnn