This is a guest post written by my buddy Heather from Massachusetts. I thought it would be fun this year to post Monthly Garden Chores from both the West Coast and East Coast. You can see my garden plans for my Seattle, Washington garden HERE.
Geeez, June just FLEW by! And it was a little bizarre here in New England. The weather seemed to be up, down, sideways and all around! Hurricane Arthur just a few days ago made it swing from 90 degrees down to 65 degrees in a 24 hour time period. Needless to say, the eggplants and hot peppers are having a bit of a hard time. Others, like my tomatoes, raspberry bushes, and peas are having a grand ol’ time – the temperature swings don’t seem to bother them at all.
Seeds I’m Starting Indoors this Month
Instead of starting a winter garden this fall, I’ll continue on my quest for awesome soil. Last year I amended my garden soil with copious amounts of manure and leaves to each garden box, and this year I’ll do a cover crop.
Can you BELIEVE the stores are stocking up on back-to-school supplies?!! It’s true; I just saw it today {my plan is to ignore this intrusion on my summer until September}. But it got me thinking, if the retail season is shifting, that means it’s time for me to clean up on gardening sales, especially potting soil, vermiculite, and peat moss for early spring/grow light seed starting {check out how to make your own potting soil HERE}. I learned last year that if you are looking for potting soil supplies in February it’ll be tough going to find any.
I also need a few more large tomato cages. Why is it that you can never have enough tomato cages? Coming up in the next couple of months the garden boxes I like will drop in price also, by like $10-$15! Plus, this week I’ll be heading to the feed store for a chicken water heater, hopefully catching it at a sale price still.
Oooh, yes – the best part of the season! So far we’ve harvested cilantro (and frozen it in water cubes). 
Mint, chocolate mint, oregano, and thyme. We’ve gotten quite a bit of strawberries from our two pallets but they seem to systematically disappear, and by systematically I mean every time my daughter goes out to the garden 😉 
I’ve pulled all the garlic and it’s drying on a rack in the garage. I use it primarily for spaghetti sauce so I really think this will be enough for the whole year! And peas, I almost forgot about the peas – so many peas. 
What I Plan to Harvest This Month
Canning
Good news! Poor lemon, I thought he’d succumbed to a massive scale infestation, but in a brilliant moment {before I threw him out} I scraped the stem – it was green underneath! Which means, lemon was still alive and kickin’. So I trimmed the top two feet off leaving the main stem about a foot out of the pot, fertilized him and it started sprouting new stems and leaves. Lemon is back in the game folks!
Trees and Shrubs
The “container” raspberries are growing like gangbusters in the over-sized container, and they look really lush and green. The blueberry bushes are growing fine but they fell victim to the caterpillars that ravage our greenery every year. I was able to catch it early and sprayed them with an organic oil compound {I like this one}, which saved some of them. I’ll probably only get a handful of blueberries this year. That’s gonna be one sweet handful though {assuming I get to them before the kids that is 😉 }.
Weed and Pest Control
Sadly I just spied some critters on my tomatoes {spider mites maybe?} and something eating my potatoes {little worm-like things}. So its that time of year to get defensive and keep a keen eye out for any problems before they get out of control. I think I’ll be able to nip them in the bud with an organic treatment like this one before they destroy my plants.
On the upside, my plan for total chipmunk domination is coming along nicely. Project marigold is working! First I planted marigolds in each corner of each box. Next I planted a barrier of marigolds between the rock wall {where they lived} and the garden.
The local coyotes are not around this year which means there TONS of rabbits. And my unfenced garden has not had one nibble…all because I picked up strangers hair in a bag {barf} and sprinkled around the perimeter of the garden! True story.
Lawn Care
Earlier in the year, when I was putting together my winter sowing buckets I had a grand plan to dig up the front hedge and build a lavender hedge. So far so good, although it will probably be next summer before it gets very big and full like I’d like it.
**These garden chores are based on my Zone 5b Southeast/Boston MA location. Find your garden zone HERE.
Toni says
Hi Mavis, do you know if the marigold trick works on gophers too? I love your blog and shared it with a friend the other day who raises chickens and has just ventured into canning. I wish I had as much property as you do.
Blessings for a bumper crop,
Toni
Mavis Butterfield says
I haven’t tried marigolds with gophers but if you do, let us know how it turned out.
Chad says
What did you do to get rid of the scales? Did you simply cut off everything that wasn’t attacked by the scales? What did you do with the parts that you cut off? Burn them? Thrown them in the trash? I have an entire 15′ of hedge that is under seige.
Kim H says
It was funny to see those back to school bins. (Walmart was fully stocked yesterday.) It does seem odd to see them in July but – believe it or not – school starts here (metro Atlanta area) in just three weeks. Some teachers go back as early as NEXT MONDAY!
felicia says
Herbs for Christmas gifts!?! Why didn’t I think of that! Do you dry bunches and put in containers?
Heather in MA says
Hi Chad – Mari, one of Mavis’s readers, suggested an all natural recipe (see below). If you have a hedge, I would use a pump sprayer rather than a squirt bottle!
From Mari: “To treat the scale on the lemons, or aphids on roses etc or white fly in greenhouses…. He is a simple home made, safe remedy that you can use indoors and out. It is all I have ever used on any nasties.
1 tsp ordinary liquid kitchen soap/detergent
1 tsp any cooking oil
1 litre water (1 quart to you)
Put this in a spray pump bottle, shake and spray.
Remember most insects do damage from the softer underside of leaves so it is important to spray well under the leaves. You need to spray every 2 or 3 days to get the various stages of the bugs, then once controlled, do it once a week. Also lightly spray the top of the soil with this.
This mix is safe to use on all plants, including lettuces and cabbages etc. It kept my lemon scale and honey dew free and it has cropped marvellously. It is perfectly safe to use around pets and chickens too.”
Heather in MA says
Hi Felicia, I dry them then put them in old spice jars or cute little canning jars. Throw a bow and a nice label on it and BAM – adorable, thoughtful gift! I’ve gotten huge reactions – people love it!
Chad says
Thank you, Heather. I don’t know how I’ve missed a conversation that’s been going on since March. Let’s hope this saves me from cutting down the entire hedge.