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My tomatoes are finally blushing, so I’m confident I’ll get my first (and only!) harvest before frost, which shouldn’t hit here for at least another month. 🤞
And while I’m harvesting, I’ll also be saving some seeds. Peppers, eggplants, beets, carrots, green beans, zucchini, and herbs like basil and parsley are among the most common backyard vegetables to harvest seeds from, and I’ve laid out the steps for doing so in my latest AP gardening column (link below).
I’ll be writing about saving flower seeds in a couple of weeks, so stand by for that.
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📬 Ask Jessica
DEAR JESSICA: Is it me, or are weeds taking over everyone’s garden? I can’t keep up with them. We put a thick layer of mulch down in the spring, and yet the weeds are thriving! — Rita Stasi
DEAR RITA: Sometimes weeds struggle during drought because their seeds don’t germinate well during dry conditions. This year, however, many areas experienced drought after a sufficiently rainy spring, which gave them a good start.
Weeds typically belong to one of two categories of plants: wild native plants or invasive exotics. Both thrive very well without human intervention, which is why many do so well during heatwaves and drought when turfgrasses and other garden plants struggle. That’s why when things grow rapidly, we say they’re’ growing like a weed.’
Troublesome weeds like knotweed, dallisgrass, horseweed, fleabane and others are highly drought resistant. When your annuals, perennials and lawn struggle, weeds are more than happy to fill the void, and this is especially evident during drought.
With a few exceptions, hand-pulling is usually your best defense. Take care to remove weeds with their entire root system. I don’t usually recommend using herbicides, but their use during drought is especially discouraged because they will be less effective against weeds and more threatening to nearby garden plants.
💡 If you do one thing this week…
Check whether houseplants moved outdoors for the summer have outgrown their pots. If so, replant into a container no more than 2” larger than its current home.
👏 Sunday shoutout
“This sweet, mandarin-orange fella has been happily feasting on my zinnias for days now,” writes Barbara Silpe of Lido Beach, NY.
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📰This week in my Associated Press gardening column
I write a weekly gardening column for the AP, so you might have seen my byline in your local paper (or news website) — wherever in the world you happen to be. In case you miss it, though, I’ll post the most recent here every week.
This week, I wrote about saving vegetable seeds from the garden.
Many of our crops produce harvestable seeds, which, if collected and stored properly, have the potential to grace us with free plants. Late summer is the perfect time to start saving them.
Learn how and read all my AP gardening columns here.
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📧 How’m I doing?
I welcome your comments and suggestions, so please send them along — as well as any topics you’d like to see covered and questions you’d like answered in the Ask Jessica section.
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