Summer Vegetable Garden

Here's how to get the best out of your summer vegetable garden, the natural way.

If you got your home vegetable garden off to an early start, it should be churning out enough to start feeding an army by now. The downside is insects may be getting their fill from your patch. But with edibles, spraying should be the last resort.

Spraying Vegetables Safely

If you plan on eating it, think about what you're putting into it! Thankfully, these days we have a good selection of organic and low-toxicity sprays to deal with insects. Purist organic gardeners do not spray at all. Their philosophy lies mainly in well composted soil, which produces healthy, robust plants less susceptible to pests and disease. Regular watering and feeding with seaweed based fertiliser also boosts plant health. Spraying throws the ecosystem out of balance by killing good bugs as well as bad. And although organic sprays can be made from various plants, these must be tested and treated with caution. Some may burn plants, while others, such as rhubarb leaves, are toxic to humans. Chilli sprays will burn skin and eyes if applied carelessly. Intermingling aromatic herbs and flowers which repel insects is often a preferred option for organic gardeners.

When a pandemic infestation of aphids, passion vine hoppers, green bugs or looper caterpillar occurs, target with spot spraying to prevent spreading. The safest option is to use pyrethrum, derris or fatty acid based sprays. After spraying, wait a day or two before harvesting. Here are a few tricks for getting the best out of your summer vege garden:

Tomatoes

• For best flavour and highest nutrient level, pick when fruit turns red on vine.
• Colour should be even and glossy, texture and slightly soft when gently squeezed.
• Heirloom varieties ripen before they reach full colour - pick when slightly soft.
• Tie plants to stakes and remove laterals.
• Liquid feed plants weekly with either high potash or tomato fertiliser.
• Spray with copper for blight, if necessary.
• Pull plants in late autumn, hang in a dark, dry place for fruit to continue ripening.

Peppers

• Harvest at any stage from green to red.
• Green sweet peppers have tangy pungent flavour.
• Red (orange or yellow) sweet peppers have a sweet mellow flavour.
• Chilli peppers increase in hotness as they ripen from green to red.
• Check peppers daily once colour turns, as ripening accelerates at this point.
• Cut fruit from plant to prevent disease.
• Regular harvesting promotes more flowers and fruit.

Courgettes

• Cut with secateurs when fruit is 6cm - 7cm long and skin is tender.
• Remember flowers are edible too.
• Liquid feed every four to five weeks (too much fertiliser produces leaves, not fruit).
• Poor fruit set can be due to wet weather and lack of bees.
• Hand pollinate by rubbing male flowers against female flowers (those with a small swelling at base of flower).
• Mulch with straw to prevent fruit spoiling.
• Water base of plants to avoid mildew.
• Plant second crop now to prolong harvest.

Beans

• Pick when young and tender, before pods go lumpy from swollen seeds.
• Pick every three to five days.
• Don't over feed - too much nitrogen promotes leaf growth.
• Keep five or six of the best pods at the end of season and save seed for next year.

Mesclun Mix

• Snip leaves when about 7cm - 10cm tall.
• New leaves grow within a fortnight, but plants are exhausted after a few pickings.
• Sow every three to four weeds, so there's always a new patch to snip.
• Mesclun is a fast growing crop, so no further seeding is required after sowing.

Freshly picked peppers, tomatoes and corn - the sweet taste of summer gardening!