The garden is in full swing, and that means so are the pests. I've been asked by a number of people what this pest is, it's the tomato horn worm. This pest has a high yuck factor. It can be anywhere from 2" to 4" long. It's pretty gross. It will hold on tight to the tomato plant and can be tough to get off. I encountered one at a garden i work for and actually cut off a little piece of the plant to get it off! Usually you can pick them off (wear gloves, it's a bit gross) and put them in a bucket of soapy water to kill them. You want to get them off the plant as they are voracious. They will eat the leaves and start on the fruit as soon as they come out. Picking them off is really the only good organic measure to control these insects. The adults are large moths, they lay their eggs on the underside of leaves. It's always a good idea to check under the leaves of your plants for eggs, as most pest insects do lay their eggs there. Cultivate the soil deeply in the fall to disturb the pupae of these insects because that's where they over winter. There is one instance in which you don't want to get these pests off your tomato plant.

If the tomato horn worm looks like this, you want to let it be. The reason is this insect is already dead. It's being parasitized by a trichogramma wasp. These are tiny wasps and they won't sting you, but they will kill tomato horn worms. The wasps lay their eggs inside the worm, they hatch and eat the insect. So when you see a tomato horn worm that looks like this, it's already dead, the wasp larvae have eaten it and it won't do any more damage to your plant. What you see on the outside of the worm are the pupae  in their cocoons before they hatch into adult wasps. Obviously you want more of these beneficial insects in your garden to take care of any other tomato horn worms they might encounter.

 As I said before, garlic needs to be cured, it gets it's best flavor (and is easier to peel) once it's been cured. To cure garlic you want to leave it in an airy place out of direct sunlight. The photo above shows the garlic I'm curing on my plant light shelves. I grew 3 different kinds this year so each level holds a different variety. I want to keep them separated so i know which is which, because I'm going to use some of them to replant this fall for next years crop. You want to harvest your garlic when at least 1/2 the leaves are brown, but you want to leave those stalks on the garlic as it cures. Once the stalks are totally brown and dried you can cut them off. You want to leave the stalks on because they still have some energy in them and the garlic uses it to help it cure. On the right is some of my music garlic, the cloves are huge!  They are curing in my bedroom! I'm going to have to make more room because i have another 120 heads coming in this weekend. I grew a lot of garlic this year, so i hopefully have enough to replant this fall, and to use throughout the year.

This photo shows one of my heads of music garlic. I put a quarter for size comparison. I love large cloves of garlic, means less peeling. Music garlic stores really well, which is one reason i grow it. I love the german red garlic, i think it's one of the best tasting hard neck garlics. It doesn't store incredibly well though, about 6 months. The music can store up to a year, so once i've used all my german red, i'll start in on the music. I like to grow soft necks as well, because they store the longest. Finding a variety that does well in the northeast is a challenge, but there are a few that do fairly well; polish softneck, susanville are two that can handle our cold winters fairly well. The failure rate is a bit higher than with the hard neck garlics, but the storage length makes it worth doing. You'll need a higher layer of mulch over them, so keep that in mind when planting. Garlic likes to be stored in a cool dry environment. Unlike some vegetables which like it cool and moist, these want it dry, like onions.

This is some of my garlic in one of my 3 gardens. I've already started to harvest my garlic in my other gardens. This one, just a couple of miles further inland, are a bit slower than the gardens closer to the shore. As you can see the leaves are starting to turn brown. Once 1/2 the leaves are dead it's time to start harvesting them. The stick you see is separating the different types i have in this bed. On the left is the music garlic, on the right is the german red. I want to know which is which so i can save some for seed garlic for next year. It makes a difference cause the music stores a while longer than the german red does, though the german red is one of my favorite garlics. It's flavor is warm and rich and though it only stores about 6 months, it's well worth growing. To harvest, i dig down with a trowel to loosen the soil and gently pull out the garlic. I brush off most of the dirt, but leave the leaves on. You do this because the energy in the leaves will go into the garlic bulb and help them cure. To cure the garlic, leave them in an airy place, out of direct sunlight for 4-6 weeks. Garlic gets its best flavor after curing, it's also much easier to peel. Dry your garlic in a single layer, don't pile them on top of each other, that will not allow good air flow which is what you want. Once the stalks are dried, and dead, you can cut them off. Store garlic in a dry cool place for best storage results. Hard neck garlics do best in cold climates, they don't generally store quite as long as softnecks do, but they're easier to grow. I generally grow 2 to 3 types of hardnecks and one softneck for use later on in the year. I'll talk more about planting and what types to grow when i prepare to plant next years crop in mid october.

 A few posts ago i mentioned the importance of getting your soil tested. Soil health is the most important step in having a productive and healthy garden. For those of you who don't know, the photo above shows the pH scale. 7 is neutral, any number below 7 is acidic, any number above 7 is alkaline. Almost all vegetables like to be in the 6-7 area. That's slightly acidic to neutral. There are some exceptions, like blueberries, or grapes that like the soil much more acidic, in the 4.5-5.5 range. This is why all that information on the seeds or plants you put into the ground is important. You don't want to add composted manure to an area where you want to plant blueberries for instance, that would raise the soil pH. Of course, you have to know your soil pH before you can do anything, which is why you need to get your soil tested. There is no way to tell the pH or the nutrient levels, or lead levels in your soil without a soil test. If you live in an urban area, or in an older home, it's very important to get your soil tested for lead before you plant. Now is a good time to get a soil test done. If you do need to limestone (to bring the soil pH up) you would do that in fall. Limestone takes 3 months to incorporate into the soil, so you want to do that in fall once most of your crops are out. You can also use wood ashes to raise soil pH, but it takes quite a lot of them, and they take 6 months to incorporate into the soil.

Getting your soil tested isn't difficult. You'll need a spade, a bucket, and a plastic baggie or plastic container. Dig down 8" to 10" and take a slice of soil, then put it in your bucket. Then go around to 6-8 other areas in your garden and do the same thing. You're getting an aggregate of your soil this way. Mix up the soil in your bucket, and take a cup or a bit more of that, and put it in a baggie. Make sure you mark the bag, especially if you're taking more than one sample. If your garden area is large, or on a slope, then you'll want to take more than one sample. Take 6-8 samples from one area, then dump out the extra and go to the next. Mark each bag with the area you took the sample from, so you know which is which when the test results come back. You should get your soil tested every 2-4 years. If you need to limestone to raise the pH, or add any other amendments, you should get your soil re-tested the next year to see how it's doing. Quite a few Universities have extension centers which, for a small fee, will give you a very good soil analysis and lead testing. Every state has an Agricultural station which will test your soil for free. Here in CT the Agricultural station does not test for lead, but UConn will test for lead and give a good soil analysis for $8. For the best, and most productive gardens, your first step is soil health.

tomatoes, eggplants and peppers..

So, summer came in with a vengeance this week. It's very hot, sticky, humid; reminds me of NC where i lived for a bunch of years. At the end of the day working in the garden, i don't feel much like a solid anymore, more like a sticky puddle. Still, i'd rather be hot than freezing and watching it snow! The photo above shows one of my beds, in one of my gardens. In the front and on the left are sweet onions, behind them are 2 parsleys, some hot peppers, an eggplant, basil and tomatoes. Some plants need fertilizers more than others. Tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, like some fertilizer, but they like a specific kind. As i mentioned in another post, all fertilizers will have 3 numbers on the bag or bottle. They stand for N (nitrogen) P (phosphorus) and K (postassium), always in that order. If it's an organic fertilizer, it will always say that on the bag or bottle as well, if it doesn't, don't buy it. Tomatoes, eggplants and peppers like a fertilzer high is phosphorus, so you want to look for a high 2nd number, and a low first number. Nitrogen encourages foliar growth, and for all the vegetables i mentioned, you're looking for maximum fruiting, not leaf production. The second photo shows my first ripening tomato. I helped it on by using row covers early and feeding it regularly once the plants were a good size, (at least 8" tall or so). I took this photo on July 4th, so having a ripe tomato in early july here in CT is wonderful and surprising, especially with our cold late spring. If you treat your plants right, they will reward you.