In the Garden: July

Is it summer yet? It sure seems hard to tell, especially for this gardener planting her fifth summer garden in Point Roberts. June brought us a few warm and sunny days, but to me it feels like summer is dragging its heels.

Two years ago, I planted 40-something tomato plants, filling my pantry with flavorful sauces and spicy tomato jam. Last year I grew half that many and had a miserably small harvest. Lesson learned: the Pacific Northwest is colder than the California desert and I can’t control the weather. For me, the key to growing tomatoes here is to put them in a warm and sunny south-facing spot against the house, out of the breeze and sheltered beneath the eaves to protect them from excessive amounts of cold rain. I choose varieties that mature in 75 days or less.

My favorite indeterminate varieties are Bush Steak, Tasmanian Chocolate, Early Red Chief, and Early Girl: these plants are less than four feet tall, so their energy goes into producing fruit instead of tall stems and lots of foliage.

I also grow three varieties of cherry tomatoes: Sun Gold, Sweet Million, and Husky Cherry. Although these are tall (indeterminate) plants, the smaller fruit grows and ripens faster than larger tomatoes.

Rule #1 for a garden: Grow what you love. This year, we’re growing fewer veggies to make room for more flowers, with plenty of both to share with the Food Bank. We’ve added two cattle panel trellises to the garden to support vining beans and cucumbers, which were seeded in mid-June.

Many of the veggies we’re growing this year are space-saving bush-style versions of family favorites: snow peas, beans, cucumbers and squash. The plants are smaller but produce full-size fruit that matures sooner. Seeds for bush style veggies are available wherever you buy your seeds, and most can be grown in 12 by 12-inch pots.

I recently pulled my three-year-old Swiss chard plants and replaced them with seedlings. I have loads of delicious herbs that grow year-round, including thyme, oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary, and tarragon. Last week I started five varieties of basil seeds in pots: Italian, Thai, cinnamon, lemon, and cardinal.

Basil is an annual herb that thrives in hot weather, so I start these after Mother’s Day and transplant them when they’re a few inches tall. I use basil in salads and sauces, make pesto to freeze in ice cube trays to eat throughout the winter, and I use the leaves and flowers in homegrown flower bouquets. Other annual herbs I’m growing are cilantro, dill, and arugula.

Parsley is a biennial, which means it bolts (grows tall), sets seed and dies when it’s two years old. My older parsley plants are four feet tall now, with umbrella shaped flower heads like dill seeds. I use these in bouquets, too, then remove and compost the plants. Some seeds naturally fall on the ground or are carried by the wind and birds, and many baby plants pop up wherever they’re happy. I dig and transplant a few, let others grow in a meadowy area around the back yard, or share them with gardening friends.

It’s not too late to grow something yummy in your own garden. You can still buy ready to transplant veggies, herbs and flowers at the nursery and tuck them into existing beds or pots. And there are quite a few plants that grow and mature quickly that can be planted from seed. Good choices are bush beans and bush squash, radishes, beets, and salad greens.

To make the most of lettuces, arugula, and chard, pick the outer leaves as needed instead of harvesting the entire plant. July’s soil and air temperatures are perfect for seeding dill, parsley, and cilantro, which look great growing alongside flowers or veggies. Remember to fill empty spaces in your garden with new plants, to shade the soil, conserve water, and prevent weed seeds from sprouting.

If you’d like to have armloads of flowers a few weeks from now, you can direct sow seeds for zinnias and cosmos by sprinkling them on the ground and covering with about a quarter inch of soil. Both grow quickly and attract pollinators to your yard, which are delightful to watch.

Tall airy cosmos sway gently in the breeze and are best picked when the flower buds are first beginning to open. Zinnias should be allowed to “ripen” on the plant until the stem passes the wiggle test. Grasp the flower stem and wiggle it gently: it shouldn’t be floppy.

Cosmos and zinnias are terrific choices to fill in your beds and pots. They come in dozens of colors, and they’ll flower until killed by autumn frost.

Have gardening questions? You’ll find me during Senior Lunch at the community center on Wednesdays and Fridays from 11:30 to 1 p.m., so please stop by and say hello.