Summer Chores

Pruning

Mint

Mint can be harvested at any time once it is three to four inches tall. In early summer, when mint is growing well, pinch off smaller stalks and use it. Larger stems, prune four or five inches and make another plant. 

Basil

It’s best to start early when the seedlings are about six to eight inches tall and have three to four sets of leaves. At that point, each plant is likely a single stem. Pinch that main stem back to a strong set of side shoots, removing about one-third of the plant. After that, prune my basil plants every two weeks or so during the summer to stimulate plenty of growth.

• Cut the garlic scapes! By cutting them off as soon as possible, the plant will direct its energy into making bigger bulbs. 

• Pre-treat broccoli with BT as soon as you see any white moths.
• Prune spring-blooming shrubs such as forsythia, lilacs, weigela, viburnums, daphne, quince, and deutzia by mid-July at the latest. If you do it any later, you will cut off next spring’s blossoms. 

• Do the Chelsea Chop! To keep fall bloomers like asters, mums, and phlox shorter and more full and inspire them to have double the number of flowers, cut the plants back by half. Doing it before the 4th of July will give the plants time to form new growth and extra blossoms.

• Fertilize. By the 4th of July, give shrubs and perennials the last side-dressing of compost, rotten manure, or fertilizer. This will give any new growth time to harden off before frost.

• Replace early crops. Most spring vegetables, such as lettuce, and spinach, have been harvested by early July. Pull them out and make room for some new plants. In most areas, there is still time to plant more beans, summer squashes, and cukes. Seeds should germinate fast in the warm soil.

• Start seeds of lettuce, chard, and brassicas, including broccoli, to pop into beds as they empty. They love the cooler days of late summer and early fall and will be productive until a hard frost.

• Thin the carrots if you haven’t done so already. They need to have room to develop those big fat roots you are craving.

• Tidy up the spring bloomers. Cut back the iris stalks, pull out tulip and daffodil foliage once it has turned brown and died back, and deadhead the peonies by cutting back to the next set of 5 leaves on the stem.

• Speaking of deadheading, remove spent blossoms from rhododendrons, azaleas, and lilacs to make way for new growth. 

• Yank those invasives before they gain a foothold! 

• Pinch the tomato suckers. You can leave the bottom two suckers on the plant because they will produce fruit but remove the rest as they form in each leaf axil up the stem. This will keep the plant from becoming too bushy and blocking light from reaching developing fruit.

• Add mulch and weed, weed, weed! 

 

Garden Projects 2025

Projects Spring 2025

Perennial Border- continue bed

Front Slope- continue to plant perennials and shrubs

Hyssop Garden Border- fill in plants that don't survive

Garbage Can Bed Perennials- amend soil and plant perennials

Finish Shady Side Yard- edging and decorative stones

Veggie Garden- remove cinder blocks, amend depleted soil

Early Spring Chores

• Transplant Globe Thistle (and whatever) seedlings that were started on slope to Cottage Garden.

• Build new sieve with 1/2 squares to sift soil and compost. Make sure it fits over the wheelbarrow.

• Soil test on broccoli and tomato beds. Amend soil as required. NPK Calculator

• Dig out broccoli bed and clear rocks and debris. sieve with new sifter.

• Expand spaces to grow between beds for Jalapeño peppers, Chinese five color peppers and Cucamelons. Dig out rocks and roots, sift soil and amend soil.

• Get rid of cinder blocks. Level out the beds, no need for edging. Leave mulched space needed to walk around back and sides of beds to pull weeds and harvest.

• Rake up old wood chip mulch and put down 2-4 sheet layers of newspaper before replacing new mulch.

Front Slope

• Divide catmint in the spring. Dig up the parent plant and make a vertical cut to shear through the root ball. Make sure each division has a nice clump of roots and at least three or four stems on it. Once you have divided the plant, replant divisions about a foot apart at the top of the new front slop planting bed.

• New look for the top of the slope should look uniform all the way across. Get rid of daylily and transplant daffodils to perennial bed or maybe the garbage can bed?

• Plant two more hydrangea (Mother's Day).

• Plant two more Spirea- Beyond Midnight. 

• Use wood chips to mulch the front slope after planting.

• Finish cutting down tree next to shed on the front slope. Cut the last overarching branch over front slope.

• Remove rest of mulberry stump on front slope. Plant grass seed in empty spot.

• If necessary, reapply vine killer to vine on front slope behind shed.

• Fill in blank spots with New Jersey Tea seedlings.

• Transplant Globe Thistle (and whatever) seedlings that were started on slope to Cottage Garden.

Perennial Border 

• Mark out more beds to the right. Mow grass very low. Remove the rest of the brush and fallen branches and cover with tarps.

• Dig out stumps.

• Work soil. Dig out roots and rocks. Amend with compost and fertilizer. 

• Plant shrubs- Rose of Sharon and maybe Sprirea if you can afford it.

• Plant perennials and annuals.

• Mulch.

Misc. 

• Continue to remove rotting stump on south side of house.

• Remove trees south side corner of house. Prepare for forsythia in 2026.

• Build three bay Compost bin. Make sure it is 4' x4'. Add grass clippings to wood chips and turn wood chips weekly.

Veggie Garden

• Do soil test on broccoli and tomato beds. Amend soil as required. NPK Calculator
• Fertilizer Option 1: Choose a general All Purpose Fertilizer like Down to Earth
• Amend at planting- three beds are 96 square feet, 6 lbs fertilizer covers 110 sq. feet
• Use 2 types of Fish Emulsion: Tomato and Veg for the first few weeks, and Rose and Flowering for the rest of the season.
• Fertilizer Option 2: Heavy feeders like tomato and broccoli should receive 4.8 ounces per 100 sq. ft. Blood meal Recommendation: 0.5 ounces of 12-0-0 per 32 square feet
• Broccoli- side-dress 3 weeks after transplanting (side-dress broccoli a second time after central head is harvested to encourage small heads on side shoots).
• Tomato- side-dress when fruits first form.
• Amend soil two weeks before planting- mid-April. Replenish Veggie beds with Coast of Maine Tomato and Veggies Soil- buy 8 bags. Available at Gade? and Hewitts, seems to be the best quality, but of course more expensive. 
• Amend soil with bagged compost from Schenectady County Conservation District. Price 3 for $8 
• Price 3 for $8, get 16 bags next year= $56. 
• Five to improve Forsythia and Rose of Sharon
• six for the new perennial bed
• five for front porch beds, rhubarb bed 
• A 20 dry quarts potting soil is approximately 3/4 of a cubic foot.
• Also add wood ash to veggie garden beds.
• Mulch beds: Try pine shavings this year. Comes in bales in plastic from Tractor Supply. Or pine straw for strawberries and dried grass clipping for tomatoes. 

• Rhubarb- See if they come back, if so, add wire cage to protect plants, including top.  Otherwise, buy more rhubarb plants from Gade farms in early April.  

• Comfrey- plant six roots along the back of the garden fence. Protect young plants until they are established. Damn groundhogs!  Comfrey 
• Add floppy edge to fence to keep squirrels out? Add additional fence posts in the middle of the garden fence where it is bending. Add tension wire and stakes in the ground.

• Broccoli methods: dig out entire bed and sift soil to take out rocks, amend soil well. This bed might be depleted because broccoli is a heavy feeder. Use the new bed cover, add more pest netting at ground level, continue to plant 8 plants, fertilize every two weeks. Add plastic moth decoys? 

• Build bird netting for strawberry bed. Lift off for easy access.

• Add soaker hose to carrot and scallion rows.
• Expand spaces to grow between beds for Jalapeño peppers, Chinese five color peppers and Cucamelons. Dig out rocks and roots, sift soil and amend soil.

• Get rid of cinder blocks. Level out the beds, no need for edging. Leave mulched space needed to walk around back and sides of beds to pull weeds and harvest.

• Harvest Asparagus more frequently (every day when they get going, once spears are 6-8", width of spread hand) and continue for six weeks, June 1 -14. Note when this falls this year for future reference.

• Pull tomato plants in mid-September and plant cover crop. Then plant garlic in the same bed in mid-October.

• Dig cover crops in at least a month (early to mid April) before sowing or planting.
• Birds eat a lot of bugs. Put out bird houses.

• Use fish emulsion for tomatoes and peppers. For determinate tomatoes, once in mid-June. For indeterminate tomatoes and peppers, apply monthly in the growing season: mid-June, mid-July and mid-August.

Hyssop Blue Border 

• Replace any hyssop that did not make it through the winter.

• V-Trench- make a border on the outside edge of the wood chip mulch by creating a "V" trench to keep lawn out.

• Decide what to plant the back side of fence.

Flowers

• Plant Veronica and Coreopsis in Garbage can bed.

Shady Side Yard

• Finish the side in the shade
• Cut metal edging
• Add metal edging
• Get the load of landscape rocks

Fertilize Perennials

• Peony- An annual application of compost mixed with a very small amount of fertilizer around the base of the plant is all that is needed. When you do feed with compost and fertilizer, do it just after the plants have finished blooming.
• Hydrangea Macrophylla- For optimal growth, bloom production, and quality, fertilize three times:
• In early spring when plants are just leafing out
• In early May to boost their flower production for summer
• In late June/early July to help your plants finish the summer strong

Forsythia Hedge- postpone to 2026

• Clear crummy trees at the south corner by Zenner Road and River Road. Remove brush to prepare for Forsythia.
• Measure out spacing of eight plants, 5' on center from corner across yard to connect to the other forsythia.
• Dig hole for each (8). Remove grass 3' circle. Mulch.
• Water 2" per week.

 Rose

Morden Blush Rose from Heirloom Roses

Dig a BIG HOLE. It is the single most important factor in growing beautiful, large rose bushes. The hole needs to be 2’ x 2’ to give the roots room to spread since plant roots tend to stay inside the holes they are planted in. 

Prep the soil. Mix 1/3 peat moss with soil from the top 2/3 portion of the hole. Discard the soil from the bottom of the hole as it is normally not as fertile as the top. Add 1 cup of bone meal to the mixture, and then place aged cow manure in the bottom 6” of the hole. This fertilizer will provide food for the rose when the roots reach it after the first growing season. Manure and some compost material can be hot, so putting it only in the bottom of the hole will prevent the fine feeder roots from burning. Fill the hole with enough soil mixture so the rose will sit 1” lower than the level of the surrounding area.

Water newly planted roses 2 to 3 times per week until established. Afterward, give them a deep watering, (2 inches) once a week, or if extremely warm, twice a week.

Feed your roses with a liquid-only fertilizer during the first season. Roses are heavy feeders and the granular fertilizers are too hot and will burn the fine baby roots and kill the rose. We recommend using our Founder's Fish Fertiliz

er every 4-6 weeks while blooming. Do not use any other fertilizer that starts in a granular form. A granular type fertilizer, like our Heirloom Boost and Bloom, can be used during the second season and beyond.