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nnooiixx_gw

'Late Bloomer' and NC newbie - need advice on summer crops

nnooiixx
12 years ago

A couple of years ago, my husband and I moved here from Boston and we're still getting used to the long growing season here. Every year I'm fighting the clock to get everything planted in time. Anyone know vegs that I can still put in the ground right now? I'd like to still try even though its so late. I know...I know...bad gardener! Was hoping beyond hope that maybe I could still put something in my garden that wouldn't be killed by either squash vine borers or the dreaded July heat. The SVB obliterated every squash, pumpkin, cucumber and melon plant I had last year before we could harvest anything. This spring, we built 2 4'W x 8'L x 18"H raised beds and filled them with fresh, custom soil mix in a different location from last year's SVB atrocity. Just as we were going to set seed, urgent matters came up and by the time they were resolved, it was June. :P We missed the spring sowing season and now my raised veggie beds have just a few scant tomato transplants and nothing else. Please take pity on a "damn yankee" - or point and laugh at my folly. Either way we're having fun, right? ;)

Comments (5)

  • dottie_in_charlotte
    12 years ago

    This is just the kind of heat that tomatoes,peppers and eggplant love but you have to ease the young plants into the full sun environment or they will scorch.
    Don't water the leaves of the plants, try to hand water under the plants until the stems and stalks get woodier and the leaves are adjusted to the intense sun.
    Go for it but give them bright light to am full sun to mid day full sun (with afternoon shade) while still in their pots.

  • trianglejohn
    12 years ago

    Go ahead and plant some tomato, peppers and basil - they'll be behind everyone else's but they'll do fine. The tomatoes may not ripen fully until things cool down a bit (they hate hot nights). Now is when people plant okra and purple hull peas so you're not too late for them.

    You can try Trombone Squash instead of all the normal stuff. It isn't recognized by Squash Vine Borer so is kinda immune to their attacks. It grows more like gourd and the vines can be 75 feet long so plan accordingly. Eat the fruit like a cucumber when they are cucumber sized or like zuke when they're a little bigger, or as a winter squash after they mature - a very versatile fruit. They even stay firm when cooked.

  • chas045
    12 years ago

    Wyatt-Quarles Seed Company has a Vegetable Planting Guide that gives dates for the Piedmont. You neglected to say where you were so it may be off a little. Google them. Great list. If this is your area, you are probably only a week late, so why not go for it, but you are only a month early for starting fall crops.

    By the way (and I admit I don't really understand these squash moth borers), I think that they show up in mid to late May (or whenever squash start producing) if they are started on April 10th. Thats when they get my plants. Last 2 years I sprayed the roots with seven bracketing that time. So far so good, this year. Other than the poison, I was suggesting that starting late might be good for avoiding the borers.

  • nnooiixx
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks, Dottie! I did harden off the few tomato seedlings I'd started. They're in the bed and doing pretty well so far.

  • ncdirtdigger
    12 years ago

    You could start your fall garden seeds indoors now to be ready for planting out in a month or so. I have brussell sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage seedlings growing under lights now, to be planted out in July/Aug. I also plant the fall carrot crop in early July. I sow the seed a little deeper (to get the seeds down to the moisture, which is deeper in the summer) and then keep them covered with wetted burlap until they sprout, and then keep them under row covers for a few weeks. I also wait until July to seed my pumpkins (so they are ready for Halloween). I save my tuna cans to use as collars as protection against SVBs. And cow peas (black eyed peas) can be planted just about any time. I use them as a cheap cover crop between plantings. I buy them at the grocery store for $1.50 or less per bag. If you give your plants some shade early in their lives, you can still plant just about anything that matures in less than 120 days. We don't usually get frost here in the Charlotte area until mid to late Oct.