N&C Midwest: June 2022

**Scorpio Rising** 6/2/2022, 8:17 pm

Oh my gosh, did June sneak up on me? Just picked my first mess of strawberries—yummy! Just to eat, not enough to really make anything yet. I see a strawberry-rhubarb pie or crumble in my future!

My tomatoes look a little scary. We’ll see—2 of them are very yellow and look stressed out. My unlabeled cukes/squash/melons are up and some have formed true leaves. Will try to get those in this weekend.

Nothing that I can identify as a ground cherry—will re-start those because I love them! Sunflowers are about ready to go in. Basil will be re-seeded. Only 2 of the 5 clumps are up.

What’s going on, Midwest?

JAM23 6/2/2022, 8:52 pm

It has been a busy couple of days here for me. Replanted some bush beans because they were eaten down to the ground! Also had to re-seed my basil and some swiss chard. Put in six raspberry canes, so I am excited to see those grow!

Peas are still going stronger, just not producing anything yet. Finished mulching all my garden beds with shredded leaves and direct sowed some zucchini and cucumbers.

Seems like it is taking my marigolds, alyssum and nasturtiums forever to germinate, so I don't know what is going on there.

Looking forward to all the growing June will bring!

Scorpio Rising....are ground cherries similar to tomatillos? I have tomatillos growing this year and have been wondering about ground cherries.

Strawberries are on my list to try next spring. Trying to make sure I am adding to the garden SLOWLY!!! LOL

nrstooge 6/2/2022, 8:54 pm

My tomatoes are a bit yellow too - probably from the cooler weather. I too need to re-seed the basil. Beans are coming up as are the peas (they were late going in but hey ho)

Potatoes, onions, turnips and radishes were happy.

I managed to get a 10x10 community garden plot so the summer squash and bush acorn squash are planted there.

JAM23 6/2/2022, 8:59 pm

nrstooge, I have been thinking about getting a community plot for those sprawling veggies, but I am not sure I can manage two gardens at the moment.

My beets and carrots also seem to be doing okay. I just don't know when to pull them! LOL

OhioGardener 6/3/2022, 6:04 pm

Cleaned off the last unused bed today and topped it off with a couple inches of compost. In the next couple weeks the Zucchini squash plants will get transplanted into that bed.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/3/2022, 6:55 pm

Jam23–Yes, ground cherries are similar to tomatillos but taste way different—much sweeter and more fruity—I love them. First couple years I grew Aunt Molly’s and the last couple years I have grown Pineapple. Both are great. They take forever to germinate.

Carrots I tend to do a “push back the soil and check the shoulders” approach to harvesting….beets are a little easier but you kinda have to see how big the globe is. I’m jealous! No idea where or if the beets are in?

Nrstooge, I hope my yellow Brandywine and pear are because of the temps….fingers crossed.

OG, same boat as you as far as the zukes etc. will go in!

JAM23 6/4/2022, 6:57 am

Scorpio Rising-MI Gardener has a variety on their website:
Pineapple Tomatillo
Is this the variety of ground cherry that you have grown the couple of years? If so, how does it compare with the Aunt Molly's variety?

This might have to be the one new thing that I add next year!
Thanks!

**Scorpio Rising** 6/4/2022, 9:51 am

JAM23 wrote:Scorpio Rising-MI Gardener has a variety on their website:
Pineapple Tomatillo
Is this the variety of ground cherry that you have grown the couple of years? If so, how does it compare with the Aunt Molly's variety?

This might have to be the one new thing that I add next year!
Thanks!

Yes! That’s the one I have grown recently. I just ordered Aunt Mollys because I’m out of seeds. The Pineapple plants are much larger, but the fruits of both are very similar size and taste-wise in my opinion. The birds and squirrels also love them! I have had to net them before.

nrstooge 6/4/2022, 11:09 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:
JAM23 wrote:Scorpio Rising-MI Gardener has a variety on their website:
Pineapple Tomatillo
Is this the variety of ground cherry that you have grown the couple of years? If so, how does it compare with the Aunt Molly's variety?

This might have to be the one new thing that I add next year!
Thanks!
Yes! That’s the one I have grown recently. I just ordered Aunt Mollys because I’m out of seeds. The Pineapple plants are much larger, but the fruits of both are very similar size and taste-wise in my opinion. The birds and squirrels also love them! I have had to net them before.

That is good to know - thanks for sharing. I've got Aunt Molly's on my patio for the first time and the squirrels do love digging in my patio containers.

markqz 6/4/2022, 2:43 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:Yes! That’s the one I have grown recently. I just ordered Aunt Mollys because I’m out of seeds.

I have ground cherries going in several squares. Whatever the "stock" variety is because that is what I could get at the time. I may have them too cramped.

How many plants do you grow per square? Thanks!

**Scorpio Rising** 6/4/2022, 7:15 pm

I do 1 per square. I use a container. But yeah, 1 per square. Heavy feeder in my memory!

**Scorpio Rising** 6/7/2022, 7:45 pm

Just harvested my scapes, they are beautiful! Planning on some pesto, and some pasta recipes incorporating their delicious garlic green punch! Very wet.

I had some volunteer ground cherries peak out (I think) in my container that held them last year. They are tiny but that’s OK. YAY!

OhioGardener 6/11/2022, 2:29 pm

The weather forecast for next week is for temps in the high 90's, and no rain. So, I think I need to get the drip irrigation connected to the beds.

**sanderson** 6/11/2022, 4:06 pm

nrstooge wrote:I managed to get a 10x10 community garden plot so the summer squash and bush acorn squash are planted there.

Will you be using Mel's Mix on the top of the existing fill? Or just adding compost and calling it a raised bed. Will you be creating walk-on isles?

nrstooge 6/11/2022, 5:11 pm

sanderson wrote:
nrstooge wrote:I managed to get a 10x10 community garden plot so the summer squash and bush acorn squash are planted there.
Will you be using Mel's Mix on the top of the existing fill? Or just adding compost and calling it a raised bed. Will you be creating walk-on isles?

Our community gardens are in ground - with chicken wire around each plot to keep the public out - so just a regular garden but I'm using the spacing for a SFG. It is required for us to be organic, so did use compost to add to the soil.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/11/2022, 6:48 pm

So I planted the unknown things--either squashes, pumpkins or melons. I made my best guess and just went with it. I keep saying--do better with labelling!!!!

My corn is up! Tiny but yep--also Dragon Tongue beans....just watching and seeing what is happening at this point! Looks like my kohlrabi is also up.

Super late.

Tomatoes and peppers are doing well--watered everything, we are supposed to get rain but you never know what that means exactly. Potatoes look great. I will try to get some pics tomorrow!

**Scorpio Rising** 6/12/2022, 7:48 pm

So, I did plant out all my sunflowers. They are babies. But seeds get eaten like they are a gift from above…

Other than that, I did water the recently planted unknowns…probably squashes and melons?

Hot and dry here at the moment.

JAM23 6/12/2022, 7:54 pm

Today was the last day of nice cool temps around here. Heat is coming this week starting tomorrow.

Pulled some radishes today and some more mache. Harvested a volunteer head of lettuce and planted another round of bush and pole beans. My snap peas are huge and starting to flower. I hope they do okay with the upcoming heat! Swiss chard is looking good and the tomatillos are big! Pulled out all of the spinach.

Plugging along here! Hoping to go strawberry picking this week and make some jam. We finished the last jar from last years batches a week ago, so we are in need of more!

**Scorpio Rising** 6/13/2022, 7:39 pm

Your sugar snaps should be fine, the heat is only supposed to last a couple days…..everyone stay safe, there is some severe weather predicted!

**Scorpio Rising** 6/14/2022, 11:30 pm

Everybody fare OK after the storms??!!!

OhioGardener 6/15/2022, 8:13 am

We were lucky this time. We had strong storms to the south of us, and we has strong storms to the north of us, but we didn't even have any rain this time. There are still several thousand without power just to the south of us, and one large grocery store which still doesn't have power is having to empty all of their refrigerators and freezers due to spoiled food.

OhioGardener 6/15/2022, 5:49 pm

Time to get out the Thuricide Bt for the cabbage family plants. Looked out that the gardens and saw a half dozen white cabbage moths circling around the Kale plants, so there will soon be little green critters ready to eat the leaves. The summer temps bring the summer bugs. So, when it cools down this evening I'll have to spray the plants with the Thuricide Bt.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/16/2022, 7:14 am

A huge chunk of my neighbor’s tree blocked my driveway, but other than having to drive in the grass, everything is OK. Lots of branches in the yard that will need to be picked up before mowing this weekend. It is just messy. We have power, lost internet for a while. No real worries here though!

I actually had to water last night—the storm came in straight out of the north, my south annex didn’t get a drop of water! That’s where my tomatoes are, and hopefully zucchini and or melons???? I need to be much better at labeling (I say this every year).

JAM23 6/16/2022, 10:03 am

Storms weren't too bad by me. Some branches scattered around the yard and we picked up about 1/2 inch of rain (according to my moisture meter-thanks again OhioGardener for that suggestion!). One more day of hot temperatures and then it looks like we will get some relief, at least briefly. It's supposed to heat up again next week!

I have been thinking about purchasing some Thuricide Bt (Captain Jacks???) for my kale because I did have cabbage loopers last year. Right now I have it under tulle but it's getting tall!

I have a few pepper plants that I have no clue what they are!

Picked the last of the mache, have a few radishes that will need to get picked today and started picking some swiss chard. I think a few sugar snaps will be ready today and branches will need to be cleaned up as well. Glad to hear the storms weren't worse!

OhioGardener 6/16/2022, 11:25 am

JAM23 wrote:I have been thinking about purchasing some Thuricide Bt (Captain Jacks???) for my kale because I did have cabbage loopers last year. Right now I have it under tulle but it's getting tall!

Just a thought on Thuricide Bt, look for the concentrate instead of the Ready-To-Use. It is much less expensive, and lasts much longer. The concentrate is 98% Bt, while the Ready-To-Use is just under 10% Bt and 90% water (expensive water). The concentrate uses 1 Tbsp per gallon of water, to a pint of it goes a long way (32 uses).

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