Cass County
Soil Conservation District

September 11 , 2008

LATE SUMMER GARDEN CARE

    Now is the time to go through your garden and get those last few weeds out. Hopefully you have been keeping up with the weeds and pretty well have them under control.

    At this time of year, it is easy to let a few weeds escape. We have all seen large weeds such as pigweed, pigeongrass or lambsquarter peeking through the leaves of our vegetables. If you allow these few weeds to survive, they will produce enough seed to last for years in your garden. You will be fighting their offspring for years to come.

    When a plant in your garden is finished producing fruit, pull the remainder of the plant out or it may harbor insects and diseases. These include radishes, peas, cauliflower and other early producing vegetables.

    During a normal late summer the vegetable garden needs about 2 inches of moisture per week. This should be applied in one deep watering if it isn't provided by Mother Nature. Shallow frequent watering doesn't do anything except settle the dust and prevent your plants from forming a good deep root system. Any watering practice which gets the foliage wet increases disease problems especially if the leaves remain wet overnight. If you must water with a sprinkler, water in the morning. Plants such as tomatoes can be watered individually or in groups by trenching between plants and allowing the water to flow down the row.

    Vegetables such as beans, peas, cucumbers and summer squash must be kept harvested if you want them to continue producing fruit.

    If you have any questions concerning gardening, contact me at the Cass County Extension Office. My phone number is 241-5707, email address is todd.weinmann@ndsu.edu and web page address is www.ext.nodak.edu/county/cass