Welcome to Short Season Garden Tips, for late June 2021.

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Don't wait for the weeds to get out of hand!

If you still don’t have your heat loving plants in, there is still time, but you probably want to go with transplants rather than seeds and pick early maturing varieties if possible. It’s kind of late for planting your late season corn varieties for example.

If you are not one of these people who waits until they can plant everything before they plant anything, no doubt you have been eating fresh lettuce, spinach, and radish and maybe even some beet greens by now.

Again, to many gardeners, this means nothing, but in zone 3, to be eating fresh garden produce in June is “no small potatoes”.

Of course, not only are the good plants growing “like a bad weed” – the bad weeds are growing too.

Now is not the time to relax!

Tackle those weeds while they are young and still controllable. The weeds will steal nutrients from the soil that your plants need and will also choke out sunlight. If you let those weeds get out of control, they will be such a discouragement that you will be tempted to give up or resort to chemical means to get rid of them. You do realize that if you ever let those weeds go to seed… look out for next year!!!

In zone 3, we don’t dare mulch too early, because we want the sun to hit that soil and warm it up. Now is time to get that mulch on to control those weeds, hold in soil moisture, and minimize soil borne diseases. As soon as you get the weeds out of a row, lay a two-inch layer of wood chips, shredded leaves, grass clippings, or straw. Be aware that if your straw has seeds in it, you are planting weeds so try to get weed-free straw.

If this is your first garden, you have a right to be proud, but don’t relax too much. Keep on top of those weeds! You'll be glad you did!

Happy gardening,

Stephen

P.S. Check out my latest video on planting your self watering containers.

Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you. Just reply to this zine and tell me what you think!