VEGETABLES, HERBS
• Finish transplanting all warm-season crops of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. Look for earlier-maturing tomatoes (70 days or less) including Early Girl, Celebrity and Better Boy.
• Remove and compost disease-free pea vines, lettuce, spinach and other cool-season crops. Seed the open area with more crops such as beans, basil or cover crops.
• Cover crops, a.k.a. are legume or grain seeds that are planted to improve soil structure, enrich the soil and attract beneficial insects. They can be planted throughout the growing season or in the fall, usually between rotations of garden crops. More: www.ext.colostate .edu/ptlk/1616.html
• If your vegetable beds have any open real estate, interplant with herbs for the kitchen and to attract beneficial insects. The insects will destroy the harmful ones by either eating them or laying eggs in or on them.
• for healthy, productive plants. Avoid over-watering and overhead watering of vegetables. More: www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/714.html
• is crucial for the vegetable garden. Knowing how much — and when — to fertilize growing plants can be confusing. For my own garden, I use slow-release products and refer to two university websites: One from Colorado State University, www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/ garden/07611.html, and www.spokane-county.wsu.edu/Spokane/eastside/Fact%20Sheets/C141%20Vegetable%20 Fertilizer%20Guide%2005.pdf
• Continue to (such as chemical-free grass clippings) on vegetable beds to keep soil cool, retain moisture and keep weeds down. More: www.ext.colo state.edu/mg/gardennotes/715.html
GARDEN PLANNING
• Your delicious bounty of fruit and vegetables will be here before you know it. Correctly harvesting home-grown vegetables is as important as the care and time you’ve spent growing them. Knowing the number of days to maturity (it’s usually on the plant tag or seed packet) and the individual plant characteristics help determine when the time is right. at http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_h/h-216.pdf
• will keep your plates brimming. You can succession plant collards, New Zealand spinach, green onions and edible-podded peas until mid-July. Small carrots like Nantes, turnips and Chinese cabbage can be planted until the end of July. In August, start sowing cool-season crops again such as lettuce, beets, chard and spinach. More: www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1825.html
• Fall bulb catalogs are arriving now. Pore over them while your memory of the gaps in spring’s display are relatively fresh. Local garden centers will have fall bulbs for sale in early fall.
CONTAINERS
• Keeping containers watered daily (twice on very warm days) is essential to the health of the plants. Set a schedule, call, text or tweet yourself for reminders.
• regularly — at least weekly. More: www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1001.html
PERENNIALS
• Shopping and planting is in high gear. If days are exceptionally warm, plant in the evening so plant roots have several hours of cooler temperatures first.
• Irrigate perennial beds in the morning after dew has dried. Avoid overhead irrigation.
• Continue to add mulch to beds to keep soil cool, retain moisture and keep weeds down.
PESTS AND DISEASES
• A sticky substance on leaves or pavement or ants climbing trees is a sign of aphids. Simply hosing them off is effective.
• on ornamental evergreens such as spruce and arborvitae. As with aphids, hose off plants to reduce populations. More: www.ext .colostate.edu/ptlk/1416.html
• Leaves of pin oak, maple and roses that turn yellow, but have green leaf veins, are a More: www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/2115.html
