The hot weather is starting to arrive, and along with it come more insects, more disease potential and lots of tomatoes! Hopefully our summer rains begin to arrive as well.  When it feels like there’s a riot going on in the garden, having a plan can help.  Read on for what to do in the northeast Florida edible garden in May and June!

Harvest

At this point our spring crops should be producing well.  Harvest tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, bush beans, blueberries, blackberries and zucchinis.  If you still have strawberries, leeks, onions or other crops planted in the fall, you will probably be coming to the end of their harvest seasons.  Pull them up and decide what to plant in their place.  Try to keep up with harvesting so crops don’t over-ripen on the plant; that will just increase the pest and disease pressure.

Scout

With the warm weather, insect populations move in and use our gardens to grow.  Disease pathogens multiply. Knowing what to do can be hard.

Here are some tips for what to look for:

• Scout for lines of eggs on undersides of leaves.
• Search leaves with holes for caterpillars or lubber grasshoppers.
• Look on fruits and new growth for stink bugs and leaf-footed bugs.
• Check out squash stems for evidence of squash vine borers and squash fruits for pickleworms.
• Look for webbing between plant leaves with little specks (spider mites), or tan raspy spots along leaves and stems (thrips).
• Check for tiny squishy, pear-shaped insects on leaves and stems (aphids) and tiny white flying insects (whiteflies) when you brush a hand over a plant.

Scout early and often

If you can, scout daily so that you see problems early.  In addition to insect pests, pay attention to leaf yellowing, spotting or wilting.  These can all be indications of a disease problem.  While it’s difficult to identify diseases on your own, most of the ones we deal with are fungal in nature.  Minimizing the amount of time the plant leaves are wet is one important part of reducing disease pressure.  Sometimes, simple actions are enough to keep an early pest or disease problem from getting out of hand.  Try things like:

• removing a leaf that has lots of insect eggs and putting it in the trash.
• spraying aphids with a blast of water from the hose.
• hand picking caterpillars and stink bugs and throwing them in a bucket of soapy water.
• raising leaves and stems up off the soil or pruning them off.
• refraining from walking between rows of crops or working with them while leaves are wet.

Scouting and taking these simple steps can also give you time to take a picture and call our Master Gardener Volunteer hotline  at 904-255-7450 from 9:00-3:30 weekdays to identify your problem and get guidance on what to do.

Prune

Pruning needs vary by the type of plant and specific crop.  Prune peach, plum and nectarine trees in summer to open up the canopy, improve tree vigor and improve fruit quality.  Although we do the main pruning for muscadine grapes during the dormant season, you still may need to prune shoots along the lower main stem and trim back vines that are becoming unmanageable.  Prune fruiting blackberry canes down to the crown once they are finished producing.  We do most blueberry pruning this time of year after the harvest is finished.  Prune young shrubs to encourage branching and vegetative growth.  For mature shrubs, remove a few of the oldest canes that will become less productive over time. Knowing what the plant needs and when to do it are keys to success.

Finally, consider pruning lower leaves of tomatoes, peppers or eggplants that are touching the ground, are yellowing or are looking diseased.  Removing those lower leaves can help minimize spread of disease from the soil.  Just be sure not to prune out leaves that are shading developing fruit!

Plant

If you missed the spring planting season, all is not lost!  You can still plant several heat-tolerant crops, like okra, southern peas or pigeon peas, sweet potatoes, roselle or Seminole pumpkins that thrive in our summer heat.  These crops have the advantage of being relatively pest tolerant, so they don’t typically need much attention.

Fertilize

Fertilize only those crops that will be staying around for at least another 3-4 weeks.  Be sure you know what kind of fertilizer and how much each crop needs.  For example, applying too much nitrogen to crops such as tomatoes and beans can lead to loads of pretty green leaves, but fewer fruits or beans.  Also, try not to fertilize right before a heavy rain, and follow label directions on how and how much to apply.

Check Irrigation Lines

Even if you have a perfect drip irrigation system set up at the beginning of the growing season, it’s a good idea to check and make sure it’s still functional as the weather heats up.  Make sure your irrigation timer is functioning correctly, and change the batteries, if needed.  Monitor the system as it runs, and follow each line to check for clogged or missing emitters, disconnected fittings or holes in drip lines.  Get those issues fixed, and determine if you need to readjust your irrigation timing based on the summer weather.  Doing this before you go on vacation could save your garden!

Mulch

Mulching edible crops that will be staying around over the hot summer helps in multiple ways.  Mulching with organic materials provides nutrients and organic matter to the soil over time.  It helps shade the soil and keep it a bit cooler.  It helps decrease weed growth, and it can also minimize splashing of fungal pathogens onto plant leaves when heavy rains fall.  If you haven’t mulched your edible crops before, early summer is a good time to start.

Pull Up Unproductive Crops

As sad as it makes most gardeners, the end of June may be time to pull up spring crops if they look diseased or have become unproductive.  This applies particularly to large-fruited tomatoes, which can’t set fruit when temperatures get too high.  Even thought it’s hard, it’s better to pull out plants that are weakened and struggling, because if you don’t they may spread a disease or insect problem to your other healthy plants.  Pull them and prepare to solarize their bed for the rest of the summer, or plant heat tolerant crops from a different plant family.

Weed

Once the weather is warm and we get reliable rain, the weeds come up in force!  Be in your garden often and weed consistently so they don’t get away from you.  If weeds are small and tender, try using a stirrup hoe so you can weed while standing up.  If you’ll be out of town for an extended period, consider placing landscape fabric over any beds you aren’t using, or solarizing them.  That way you’ll avoid having a horrible weeding job upon your return, and you won’t produce lots of weed seeds for nearby beds or gardens.

Summary

Harvesting, scouting, pruning and planting–there’s so much to do in the Florida Edible Garden in May and June!

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