Keeping Your Garden Green Welcome to the dog-days of summer. Outdoor conditions are miserable. I could be a weatherman - hot and dry, that is the forecast. However, if you look on the bright side, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, beans, okra, melons, blueberries and other summer fruits and vegetables are at the peak of their production. Unfortunately, if you are a gardener there isn't any time to relax because work in the garden never ceases.
Harvesting Enjoy the harvest.
Pick fruits and vegetables as soon as they reach maturity. Vegetables loose their taste and quality if left too long on the plant. When fruits and vegetables are left on the plant too long they tend to attract disease, insects and can cause plants to quit producing. Wayne McLaurin, UGA Extension Horticulture Specialist, recently wrote an article about 8 mph tomatoes. Evidently, plant breeders have developed tomatoes that can take an 8 mph impact without being bruised or damaged.