By Mike Isbell
University of Georgia
Sometimes a little information on this and a little on that is
helpful and interesting. So here’s a hodgepodge on gardening.
First, did you know that crabgrass hasn’t always been considered
a weed? It’s reported to be the first grain cultivated by humans
during the Stone Age. What did they make with it? Crab cakes? And
why didn’t that cave man just kill it when he had a chance?
Now, I know you won’t do this, but then again, you just might be
tempted to use a weed-and-feed type of fertilizer in the garden.
No, no, no! Weed killers don’t know a vegetable from a weed.
You’ll wind up fertilizing your dead vegetable plants.
Extend your corn harvest by planting successive crops when the
previous crop’s plants have three to four leaves. Or plant
early-, mid- and late-maturing varieties all at the same time.
Corn pollination
To make sure your sweet corn gets pollinated, plant several rows
together in a block, rather than one long row. Side-dress with
3 tablespoons of 10-10-10 per 10 feet of row when the corn is 12
to 18 inches high.
Keep corn well watered, especially from tasseling time to
picking. Hill corn plants by pushing a few inches of soil up
around the base of the plants when you fertilize them. This will
help the corn to stand up, but take care not to disturb the roots
or remove suckers.
Deep transplanting is good for tomatoes. You can set tomato
plants so deep in the ground that only a little tuft of two or
three sets of true leaves shows above the surface. Remove all
leaves that would be under the soil. New roots will sprout along
the stem.
Don’t try deep transplanting with any other vegetables or flowers.
Early stakes
Drive stakes for future support at the same time you plant
tomatoes. If you try to install stakes later, you may damage the
roots. Tie the plant to the stakes with a soft material such as
stockings or strips of old bed sheets. These materials won’t cut
into the stems the way string would.
When you plant crops like squash or cucumbers in a circle or
hill, place a stick upright in the middle of the circle and leave
it there. Later on, you’ll know where to water the main roots
hidden among the vines.
Stay out of the garden when the foliage is wet. Walking through
the garden spreads diseases from one plant to another. It’s kind
of like sneezing in someone’s face.
Four to five layers of newspaper will serve as an effective mulch
in the garden. But cover it with the sawdust or straw to reduce
the white glare and keep it from blowing away.
Finally, if your best efforts to keep crabgrass out of your
garden fail, now you know you can make food. Well, at least you
can make food for a cave man.
