N&C Midwest—June 2020

**Scorpio Rising** 6/1/2020, 12:35 pm

I cannot believe it’s June already??? Had a cool but pleasant weekend here, brought my melons, cukes and squashes in but I did plant some of the big watermelons and stuff, just getting too big!

Hopefully the rest of the week settles into a more seasonable pattern! It’s supposed to!

OhioGardener 6/1/2020, 6:10 pm

I can't believe it is June already, either, SR! Just 3 weeks until the first day of Summer! But, I'm ready!

"In June, as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.’" ~Aldo Leopold

**Scorpio Rising** 6/1/2020, 9:10 pm

So, interesting, or maybe not?

I put all my melons and most squash out last night in my south annex, which is large containers against the red brick south side of my house, reserving one for Ground cherries (which didn’t germinate!!!).

I didn’t plant ground cherries last year...they are slow to germinate. Grrr. But si interesting and different? I love them! Plus I’m trying a new variety I got from Pinetree; Pineapple Tomatillo! I have always grown Aunt Molly’s, we will see! Love them

Definitively ANSFG experience!

OhioGardener 6/2/2020, 8:18 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:I put all my melons and most squash out last night in my south annex, which is large containers against the red brick south side of my house, reserving one for Ground cherries (which didn’t germinate!!!).

I didn't know you could keep ground cherries from germinating - they come up volunteer every year and have to keep pulling them out.... Shocked

Seriously, though, the seeds do have a low germination rate, and it is necessary to plant 5 or 6 seeds in each pot to get one or two to germinate. And, if they are covered more than 1/4" they won't germinate at all. I have had best results by laying the seeds on the top of the soil and covering with about 1/8" of fine or medium Vermiculite, and spraying them daily to keep them moist until the sprout.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/2/2020, 6:25 pm

OhioGardener wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:I put all my melons and most squash out last night in my south annex, which is large containers against the red brick south side of my house, reserving one for Ground cherries (which didn’t germinate!!!).

I didn't know you could keep ground cherries from germinating - they come up volunteer every year and have to keep pulling them out....

Seriously, though, the seeds do have a low germination rate, and it is necessary to plant 5 or 6 seeds in each pot to get one or two to germinate. And, if they are covered more than 1/4" they won't germinate at all. I have had best results by laying the seeds on the top of the soil and covering with about 1/8" of fine or medium Vermiculite, and spraying them daily to keep them moist until the sprout.

I know....I’ve never had this happen before? New seed too...oh well, trying again! I think that is exactly how I do it, but who knows? Lightly covered. Fingers crossed! The things I had to re-start I really like!

OhioGardener 6/3/2020, 8:39 pm

Transplanted the 18 pepper plants into the bed this evening. We were supposed to get rain tonight, so I wanted to get all of the plants into the soil before the rains came. But, all of the rain headed off south of us, so it is a good thing I watered them in really well.

This weekend I'll be starting the squash and cucumber seeds under lights so that they'll be ready to go into the beds by the end of June.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/3/2020, 9:16 pm

Nice, OG! Warm here but also got passed over for the rain...hose had to do.

I watered all the stuff, mostly sunflowers waiting to go into dirt. And Melons and squashes, and cukes which all have spots.

I will have to water the SFG if we get nothing tomorrow...

OhioGardener 6/4/2020, 5:40 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:Nice, OG! Warm here but also got passed over for the rain...hose had to do.

I watered all the stuff, mostly sunflowers waiting to go into dirt. And Melons and squashes, and cukes which all have spots.

I will have to water the SFG if we get nothing tomorrow...

Same here, SR. I had to hook up the drip irrigation today, so it can start watering in the morning, and every 3rd day after that. As soon as my back heals, I have to get the trench dug out to the new beds so that I can install drip irrigation on them as well.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/4/2020, 9:42 pm

That would be nice to have OG...but yeah. We did get some rain today, but I’m not sure how much exactly? I am hose dependent at this point.

OhioGardener 6/6/2020, 6:17 pm

Started Squash - Butternut, Red Kuri, Cushaw, Acorn, Crookneck - and Cucumber seeds under lights today. They should be ready to transplant into the beds, on the tunnel arbor trellis, by the 4th of July.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/7/2020, 7:29 pm

Nice, OG!

I planted 36 sunflowers today....OK, transplanted because if I plant them, the squirrels just think—hey! Thanks for the snack! My dirt is clay, so my back is wrecked after digging all those holes....

Also put in what I hope are cucumbers...trellises set. Not sure, labels lost...one of my weaknesses....Guess we’ll find out?

Watered, things were suffering in the containers. Herbs looking good! Caprese salad in my near future

Nice day here. gave me time to get caught up!

OhioGardener 6/8/2020, 3:39 pm

Busy day in the gardens. Emptied two Compost Tumbler bins and topped off some of the beds, then mulched the peppers with straw. Cut off the Comfrey plants and used the leaves to mulch the tomato plants. Started training the pole beans to the arbor trellis. Harvested Green Onions, Swiss Chard, Kale, Romaine Lettuce, Spinach, and Rhubarb.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/8/2020, 8:22 pm

Nice!

I did pull all the Bok Choi, bolting....also took a couple of lettuces and all spinaches.

Replaced with the unknown curcubit....yeah

OhioGardener 6/9/2020, 6:12 pm

The Black Seeded Simpson Leaf Lettuce is really producing since I turned on the drip irrigation system to ensure even watering. Picking a large batch every 3 days.

The onions are starting to form bulbs, so having to thin them to make room for the larger onions. When I plant the seedlings, I plant sets of 3 at 16 per square. They eventually get thinned to single plants a 9 per square. Right now we are harvesting more than we can eat, so some of them are getting chopped and frozen for use in cooking during the winter months.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/10/2020, 4:47 pm

Nice! I accidentally pulled 2 of my onions while vigorously weeding last weekend...stuck ‘em back in, hope they make it but I’ll have plenty! Did the same thing with a couple beets, need to succession plant some carrots and beets...

I picked Romaine and perpetual spinach last night for a buffalo chicken salad with garlic scapes—YUM!

OhioGardener 6/10/2020, 5:20 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:I picked Romaine and perpetual spinach last night for a buffalo chicken salad with garlic scapes—YUM!

Sounds delicious!

nrstooge 6/10/2020, 8:51 pm

I've been picking lettuce every 3-4 days.. and the spring onions are ready to come out.. beans will be planted in their place. Couldn't pull the Bok Choy as the bees were enjoying.. once the flowers die back.. out they come.

OhioGardener 6/12/2020, 6:03 pm

Completed the installation of the drip irrigation on the two new raised beds today. Now everything will be automatically watered as needed.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/12/2020, 8:14 pm

It was pretty tasty, OG! I love scapes! There are more out there to get!

nrstooge, spring is just like that, isn’t it?

Here, heading out tomorrow to hopefully find some strawberries.

Conundrum; why aren’t my ground cherry seeds germinating???? Brand new seeds!

OhioGardener 6/12/2020, 8:34 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:Conundrum; why aren’t my ground cherry seeds germinating???? Brand new seeds!

That is puzzling, SR, puzzling indeed. Do you have them on a heat mat, and with a plastic cover over them to maintain the moisture? Mine all germinated in 4 to 6 days, but the germination rate was only about 50% - I placed 4 seeds in each cell, and most of them had 2 seeds germinate, while one cell had just 1 plant, and one cell had 3 plants. The only reason I started so many of them, though, is because some neighbors had asked for some plants for their gardens. I only wanted one plant, and really don't need that one... Very Happy

**Scorpio Rising** 6/12/2020, 10:26 pm

OhioGardener wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:Conundrum; why aren’t my ground cherry seeds germinating???? Brand new seeds!

That is puzzling, SR, puzzling indeed. Do you have them on a heat mat, and with a plastic cover over them to maintain the moisture? Mine all germinated in 4 to 6 days, but the germination rate was only about 50% - I placed 4 seeds in each cell, and most of them had 2 seeds germinate, while one cell had just 1 plant, and one cell had 3 plants. The only reason I started so many of them, though, is because some neighbors had asked for some plants for their gardens. I only wanted one plant, and really don't need that one...

So I had these peat pots on the pad for a week. Then when it was 90* I brought them up with the melons....Grrrr!

I will do it one more time on the pad and cover etc. I would think they would have time. They do take forever, but NEVER???

**Scorpio Rising** 6/13/2020, 1:05 pm

One tiny little glimpse of green in one of the ground cherry peat pots....back down to the heating pad they go! We had a major cool down here, woke up to rain/gloom and 60s. Hence the heating pad.

No room for the 5 melons that I have here....dilemmas. Wink

OhioGardener 6/13/2020, 4:05 pm

I planted Summer Daikon Radishes between the tomato plants, along with Basil and Sweet Alyssum to provide a living mulch so that there won't be any bare soil. The Daikon radishes apparently took me serious about covering the soil. They seem to have taken over the entire bed. Shocked

OhioGardener 6/13/2020, 4:14 pm

Can't believe how fast the green beans are growing this year. These Blue Lake 274 Bush Beans jsut sprouted 12 days ago, and they are already a foot high and starting to form buds. Apparently the weather has been just right for them. I am going to start another bed of them tomorrow so we'll have a good flow of beans to freeze.

OhioGardener 6/14/2020, 4:47 pm

The squash & cucumber seedlings are really growing, and will soon be ready for transplant into the raised beds. The seeds were just planted in the pots 8 days ago, so that is rapid growth. Must get some radish seeds in the bed to prepare for these plants.

The Sun Gold tomatoes have gone bloom crazy! The plant is only about 2' tall, but is already loaded with blooms. Can't wait to start getting some tomatoes off that bush.

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