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A Few Gardening Tips For Your Busy July

National Parks Service

While the leafy greens are succumbing to the heat, your beans, corn, melons, peppers, tomatoes and other warm season vegetables are really enjoying this time of year.  

My zucchinis are starting to set fruit, pick them when they are about 6 to 8 inches long.  Make sure that you feed and water the plants regularly so that you get a bumper crop.  No need to do too much with your beans, most of the time they fix all of the fertilizer that they need with a rhizobia in the root. Just wait for those pods to size and then really pick them about any time you want. 

Keep watering those plants however because if they get water stressed, the flowers do drop off and that effects pods.  Corn may need some extra nitrogen to help it grow big ears.  Make sure that you give it plenty of water at the same time. 

It’s also new potato time so if you planted potatoes you should start seeing small tubers forming, and you can start to pick those. 

Once the squash and melons start to flower, water deeply, but don’t water too frequently.  Make sure that the water goes deep in the soil so those plants have sufficient to get those fruits to size properly, and melons should be coming on at the late end of the month. 

Keep after your weeds too, in late July it may be time to start seeding fall carrots and lettuce.  For more details on vegetable gardening, find that information online or through your local extension office.