Edibles

This has been a surprisingly good year as far as diseases in my veggie garden. My tomatoes, cucumbers and squash are all great – ok, I have a little sign of powdery mildew on my zucchini but that’s about it. I think a lot of you must be having a similarly good year because I haven’t seen a lot of people in our garden centers with fungus or disease problems.

As most of you know, I like to use organics on veggies – which means spraying preventively. Organic fungicides work better if you use them before you have a problem as opposed to trying to cure a problem. I started doing a fungicide spray on the the susceptible plants in mid to late June, I think it was a little early this year because of all the warm weather, but I think my efforts kept all the fungus and disease away.

The fungicide I like to use is called Actinovate. I‘ve been using it for about 5 years now and I’ve had some great results. Actinovate is a new generation of fungicides – not like the old ones that made you wait a while after application before harvesting. Some of the old ones worked like a sterilizing bleach and you couldn’t harvest for 14 to 24 days! Who can wait that long?

I usually describe Actinovate as a disease-fighting beneficial bacterium. It protects the roots and the leaves of the plants so the fungus won’t spread or get established. Actinovate is labeled for organic gardening and is safe around beneficial insects as well as people and pets. It’s a must for the organic gardener in this day and age especially with the problems we’ve had with late blight in the past few years. No, Actinovate isn’t a cure, but it definitely slowed down the late blight I had in 2009.

Also keep in mind that Actinovate is not just for veggies; I recommend it for things like pythium on lawns, phytopthera on rhododendrons, or Downey mildew on anything. This stuff works great. My phlox paniculata and bee balm are mildew-free because of a preventive spray I did earlier.

Uncle Mike Mahoney

Have you’ve seen our herb and vegetable plants and wondered, “Who is Uncle Mike?” Uncle Mike is Michael Mahoney, one of the six second-generation Mahoneys. With a face full of beard and too-well-worn hat, Uncle Mike is a genuine down-to-earth guy. With a passion for vegetable gardening Mike...

Even though I’ve been plenty busy harvesting lettuce, spinach and other cold crops, I’m really happy that tomato planting time is now upon us. I love to contemplate what tomatoes to grow this year, and to do that I look back on previous year’s results. What performed well? What withstood last year’s drought? But most of all, what was the tastiest? And I don’t look for just a few favorites – I like to plant a pretty wide variety. After all, there are an awful lot of reasons (and recipes) to eat tomatoes.

The 150 lb. crop we grew a couple years ago in Chelmsford.

To start, I always plant some cherry and grape tomatoes, including at least one Super Sweet 100, (or as I call it, the “baby sitter tomato” because it keeps the kids busy for hours picking them). I think the Sun Gold is the best tasting cherry I’ve ever tasted. Apparently I’m not alone because we’ve never sold so many so early. Juliet, a large grape that is a tasty addition to any salad, is also selling like crazy this year.

From Left: Super Sweet 100, Sun Gold and Juliet

Unless you are confined to planting in containers, I think everyone should include a few varieties of large tomatoes. I always do a row of Celebrity and a row of Big Beef. These two hybrids are disease resistant and produce a lot of tomatoes with very little cracking (a big problem last year due to lack of rain, so if you go from dry to wet and dry to wet you tend to get more cracking). These two tomatoes are great for anything that you can imagine a tomato to do. Last year I sliced these suckers and put them on scalli bread with some mozzarella and a sprinkle of oregano for some great pizza for the kids. They ate it up like crazy.

From Left: Celebrity and Big Beef

Based on last year’s success, I’m going to concentrate this year on the heirlooms. It’s fun to grow these sometimes ugly but always tasty parts of history. Sometimes I even re-grow varieties that were not successful in the past to see if it was the growing conditions that made them unsuccessful.

Super Sweet 100, Cherokee Purple, Homer Fikes, whatever you like to grow this year I wish you great success and happy harvesting. As always, if we can be of any help, just stop in and ask.

Click to check out more of my Uncle Mike tomato varieties.

Uncle Mike Mahoney

Have you’ve seen our herb and vegetable plants and wondered, “Who is Uncle Mike?” Uncle Mike is Michael Mahoney, one of the six second-generation Mahoneys. With a face full of beard and too-well-worn hat, Uncle Mike is a genuine down-to-earth guy. With a passion for vegetable gardening Mike...

It is a great time to plant trees and shrubs. We stock our nursery yards early so the trees and shrubs acclimate to our local climate and “break growth” naturally. You might see some damage to magnolia blossoms but this is the exception in a year like this. It won’t kill the plant, just some flowers. If by some freak of nature the weather DID kill a tree or shrub we have the one year guarantee so it’s on us. BTW: Remember to amend your soil when planting – it’s really important to give your plant a good start. Personally I recommend Mahoney’s Planting Mix with Bio-tone, but any good soil enhancer is better than nothing.

Perennials are great to plant this time of year. The extra time in the ground gives their roots a good jump on the season. Most everything we grow or bring in has been acclimated or is just breaking growth naturally outside. It may appear small but they will take the frost.

No it’s not yet time for impatients, marigolds, basil, and other tender plants yet. And no, it’s still too early for geraniums to stay outside. We do grow a lot of geraniums for Easter because people like to bring them as a house warming gift – but too soon to leave outside overnight. If you’re not sure just ask, we would love to help. Your success is important to us.

What to do for your LAWN right now

If you use a “Step-1” Lawn Fertilizer with Crabgrass Control there’s still plenty of time for your first application. Most crabgrass controls are pre-emergent (which means they kills crabgrass AS it germinates), so it doesn’t work once the crabgrass is up. One exception: some of the new technology controls containing dimention will kill young crabgrass plants after they germinate – still earlier is better.

How do you know when crabgrass will germinate? The rule of thumb is: when the forsythia drops its blooms, crabgrass will start to germinate. So as long as the forsythia is yellow, you should have a few weeks yet.

Don’t skip that first step and go to the weed and feed – Weed and Feed products only work on broadleaf weeds after they germinate, and most have not yet. Plus if you don’t apply the crabgrass control now, you’ll be sorry in July. If you have a few dandelions showing there ugly heads you can always deal with that with a spray.

Now is also the perfect time to add Lime (or MAG-I-CAL). Test your lawn first (we sell easy DIY kits) to see if it needs lime. Most plants like a soil pH between 6-7. If your soil is too acidic or too low, your fertilizer won’t work properly and the results will be a lawn that never looks as dark green as your neighbors. Can’t have that!!

What to do for your VEGGIE GARDENS right now

Whether you have an existing garden or you’re starting a new garden from scratch, now is a terrific time to amend garden beds with compost and fertilizers. You can actually do this anytime, but if you do it now, you’ll be ready for planting. Compost and fertilizer are both extremely important for strong healthy plants, and an organically rich soil retains moisture better – keep this in mind when you hear all the doom and gloom warnings about droughts and water bans!

You can also apply lime in your veggie garden now. Test your soil pH (we sell easy DIY kits). A proper pH balance is so important, most plants like a soil pH between 6-7. If your soil is too acidic or too low, your fertilizer won’t work properly and the results can be a tomato plant that always looks straggly or greenish.

Now is a perfect time to plant lettuce, broccoli, collard greens, peas and other cold crops. Click here to read my recent cold crop blog.

What to do for your TREES SHRUBS & PERENNIALS right now

If you have a shrub that seems to be struggling or if you have some winter damage and the tree doesn’t look just right, this is great time to hit it with some good fertilizer. Then just sit back and wait for it to rebound when the warmer temps come.

You may read a lot of controversy on when to feed trees and shrubs: some people say you should feed only in the fall, others say to feed after the plant flowers. If you are using the new organic fertilizers (my preference) remember that they take some time to work, plus they don’t leach away like previous ferts – so I think fertilizing trees, shrubs and perennials right now is fine. Just try to stay away from feeding in July and August — this can push unwanted growth that will be tender in the winter.

How about those hydrangeas? Did you get the blue you wanted last year? If you didn’t, here’s my recipe. Add aluminum sulphate now, and then again when they come into bud. This along with a good fertilizer now, and you will stain your whites blue just by looking at them.

What to do about WEED PREVENTION right now

Now is a perfect time to put down Preen, corn gluten meal or even weed fabrics to prevent your weeds. You need to get all these down before the weeds start. Preen and corn gluten prevent weeds BEFORE they germinate – but they won’t kill established weeds. So don’t wait!

A note about lime. The saying goes; “lime, lime anytime, just not on top of your crabgrass preventer.” This is true — you should not use lime or MAG-I-CAL on top of your crabgrass preventer. Lime will actually break down the crabgrass preventer quicker (organic or not) so the only time you shouldn’t lime your lawn is in the spring if you use a crabgrass control.

Uncle Mike Mahoney

Have you’ve seen our herb and vegetable plants and wondered, “Who is Uncle Mike?” Uncle Mike is Michael Mahoney, one of the six second-generation Mahoneys. With a face full of beard and too-well-worn hat, Uncle Mike is a genuine down-to-earth guy. With a passion for vegetable gardening Mike...