Thetford Comm. Garden Blog

Hi everyone,

Here are a couple of tips:

pruning basil - If you pinch the growing tips of your basil you'll get a bushy plant that will produce all season long. The growing tip is the upper most set of leaves. If you prune the plants early and continuously, once a week or two,  you will eventually have multiple growing tips. Cut the growing tips when they are big enough to eat, and use them as a topping or a garnish. Make your cut right above two larger opposing leaves, or just above the double set of baby twin leaves coming from the base where the double leaves connect to the main stem. Those baby leaves will each grow up on a stem becoming two growing tips. If you don't see the baby leaves, yet you will soon. Also, don't let the basil flower. Every time a flower bud appears, cut it off just above the set of opposing leaves beneath the flower bud.

cucumber beetles - These buggers are small oval beetle with black and bright yellow stripes, smaller and more oval than a potato beetle. They will devastate your baby summer and winter squash, cucumbers and melons. Squish the beetles you find, or put them in soapy water. Then cover your whole plant(s) with remay cloth (floating row cover). There is some available at the garden and you can buy small rolls at West Lebanon Supply. The cover will keep the beetles off. Lift the covers and check the plants often, squish any beetles, and look on the underside of the leaves for eggs and larvae, squish those too. Replace the remay whe you are done. The weight of the cloth will not effect growth at all. Remember to watch for flowers and remove the remay permanently then so that pollination can happen. The beetle will still be around but if your baby plants can have a 3-4 weeks without the beetles chewing on them they will become strong enough to withstand the beetle damage.

The garden looks great!!

Cheers, Cat