In My Garden Blog
May 8, 2008
Southern California Coastal & Inland Valleys
By
Yvonne Savio,
Pasadena, CA
Borage blossoms taste sweet and cucumber-y, and they attract pollinators and other beneficial insects.
Now's The Time For Heat-Lovers!
May is the ideal month to plant the heat-lovers -- the vegetables and flowers that seem to thrive and bloom more lustily when the weather's hot and sunny. Earlier in spring and later in fall, we coddle them to stretch the seasons, but now is when they grow really fast -- seeds almost popping out of the soil, and seedlings appearing to grow a foot a day. Just keep them well mulched and watered, and they'll produce exuberantly.
Prime choices include all beans, corn, cucumbers, eggplants, melongs, okra, peanuts, peppers, pumpkins, squashes, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. Others that generally prefer cooler temperatures include beets, carrots, celery, chard, chives, leeks, warm-season lettuces, green onions, and warm-season spinach (although some new varieties will produce right through the heat).
If you plan to preserve some of your garden's bounty, you may prefer to grow vegetable varieties that will be ready for harvest all at one time. On the other hand, you may prefer processing several small batches rather than making a marathon effort. In this case, reseed or transplant seedlings every two or three weeks for continuous harvests.
Plants That Repel or Attract
Interplant cucumbers and beans to repel cucumber beetles and prevent the wilt diseases they carry. Also plant Cucurbita lagenaria gourds as trap plants for cucumber beetles. Plant potatoes to repel squash bugs.
Encourage bees to visit your garden for better pollination. They'll come more readily if you provide them with their favorite plants, including basil, borage, calendulas, catnip, hyssop, lemon balm, mint, summer savory, thyme, and other plants with blue flowers.
To attract butterflies to your garden, plant asters, butterfly bush (buddleia) lantanas, marigolds, sweet Williams, Mexican sunflowers (tithonia), zinnias, and other daisy-like flowers.
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Comments on Now's The Time For Heat-Lovers!
We welcome your questions and comments about this column. If
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Shellee
Hi! I planted borage in with my tomato plants (I'm in a townhouse
and only have a patio, so all are in at least 5 gallon containers)
and all are doing great. Now that the borage is flowering, do I need
to, or should I, 'pinch back' the flowers (like with other herbs) so
as to perpetuate the growing season??? Also, is it true borage
discourages hornworms? Please say yes! :)
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Yvonne Savio
Hi, Shellee--
Glad to hear that all is well on your patio garden! As best you
can, make sure both tomatoes and borage get as much direct sun --
preferably in the hot late afternoon -- as possible to keep them
happily blooming and tomatoes setting fruit. You needn't pick
borage blooms to make sure it keeps blooming, since the plant will
continue putting out new shoots that'll keep blooming. However,
borage blossoms taste a bit cucumbery and have the spot of sweet
nectar that attract insects but is discernably sweet to humans, as
well, and they're great for candying and cake decorating -- so you
may, indeed, like to pick some!
I'm not aware of borage being a deterrent to hornworms, but with one
plant you don't need to worry about being overwhelmed. Just look
for the little black pieces of frass, and then look just above on
the plant to find the hornworm to remove. Because they're so
cleverly exactly the same color as the tomato foliage (they are the
color of what they eat!), they're easily discovered as they wriggle
in antipathy to sprinkling with water!
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One (or two) more things :)
Thanks Yvonne for your quick response! I am definitely on
'Hornworm' watch as I actually have 12 tomato plants! We have full
sun all day with our northern (?) exposure...
My first question is also regarding tomatoes. On some plants I'm
getting leaf curl. I understand paste tomatoes are more susceptible
(the worst affected being my San Marzano, but, leaf roll can be
anything from sporatic watering-the leaf curl coming from the plant
cutting down foliar surface area from the sun, to being water
logged, to a virus. I've ruled out virus because I read it's not
that common in the west. The San Marzano shares a 18 gallon
container with 'Kellog's Breakfast'. I've been checking moisture
levels with a combination of the ever technical 'finger test' and a
moisture reader. Based on those two I hadn't watered in over a week
in a half. I gave it a deep watering two days ago and it seems to be
a bit better. With the weather being the way it has, what kind of a
schedule do you recommend for now? We are in Newbury Park (with
somewhat coastal conditions). What affect does the cooler, overcast
weather have on our plants that got such a great dose of heat just
two weeks ago?
Second- I'm also growing some white patty pan squas...there are more
than a few that are quite large, but still pale green...when should
I harvest them? Do they ripen off the vine by any chance?
Thanks again!!!
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Yvonne Savio
Leaf curl is mostly a physiological trait, not problem. They just
do that. Watering schedules are hard to establish or predict, since
extents of heat/sun/wind/soil type/depth of watering/container or
not make all the difference. Just be aware that several days of
more than 90 degrees or breeze or sun will require checking the soil
moisture. You want to water less frequently but deeply so roots
continue growing downward in search of that residual moisture.
Then, they'll not suffer each time it's hot because their roots are
still in the top 6" of soil.
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