Ernerite Pole Beans Teepee
By Giant Veggie Gardener
It’s time to harvest warm season vegetables – tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, corn, summer and winter squashes. September is usually the last month to harvest these warm season vegetables, as the season ends when we get down to 32°F at night. But, if we’re lucky and have an Indian summer, we will still be harvesting into October.
If you’ve survived the squash bugs, early blight, tomato hornworms and other diseases and bugs this season, there is only one more thing left to hit us – powdery mildew. It is a disease that hits many of our vegetables late in the season. As the plants get older, and we get rain and the humidity goes up, powdery mildew is a concern. Cucurbits are particularly vulnerable. Vegetables in the Cucurbitaceae family include beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, melons, gourds and summer and winter squashes.
Powdery Mildew
Powdery mildew can also hit tomatoes. It is easily visible with grayish blotchy areas on the leaves and is controllable by spraying a fungicide. If you don’t catch it early, then cut off affected leaves and dispose (do not compost), and spray plant leaves (both tops and underneath) with a fungicide. Some good organic fungicides include Actinovate, Serenade, GreenCure (potassium bicarbonate) and Neem. You can get Actinovate, Serenade and Neem here locally. Check with your nursery (not big box store) to see if they have any of them. You can get GreenCure through Amazon.com.
Fortunately, our vegetable season isn’t over yet. Now is a great time to plant cool season crops like spinach, arugula, all lettuces, kale, all greens, carrots and beets. You won’t have quite the bug problem as fall comes around growing these crops as you did in the spring. I love fall gardening for this reason – no aphids (they were atrocious this year) or cabbage loopers. So dig out those seeds and get them in the ground now for some tasty salads this fall. Next month I will talk about planting shallots and garlic.
