Gardeners Checklist: Here Is What to Do on the Week of Sept. 2

By Ron Kujawski

* Pick tomatoes before they are fully ripe if the fruit have been prone to splitting and cracking. Cracking has been especially common this year due to frequent rainfall through much of the summer. The problem can be avoided to some extent by harvesting tomatoes just as they begin to turn color and are still firm. Complete their ripening by placing the tomatoes in a paper bag along with an apple. The apple gives off ethylene, which promotes fruit ripening of the tomatoes.

* Harvest shell beans for drying when the plants and pods are completely yellow or tan colored. If wet weather is imminent and pods are not fully dry, cut the plant stems off at ground level. That way you don’t have to fuss with soil laden roots. Tie the plants in small bundles and hang them in a dry airy location. If your regular green or bush beans have become too old to eat fresh, just let them go and treat them as you would any dry shell bean. These beans will be perfectly good to use as dry beans in any recipe. A bean is a bean.

* Wash vegetables, especially tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons, and cucumbers, in a vinegar solution (two tablespoons of vinegar to a pint of water) if they aren’t going to be eaten or preserved via canning or freezing within a day or two of harvest. The vinegar will kill most fungi and bacteria that cause decay of fruits and vegetables. Rinse the treated vegetables in clear water.

* Place small squares of plywood or other boards on the ground around plants being attacked by slugs and snails. During the day, turn the boards over and collect the slimy critters hiding there. What you do with them next is your choice. Escargot anyone?

* Keep sowing seeds of chard, spinach, arugula, mesclun mixes, and leaf lettuce in the garden. These greens can be ready for harvest in just three to four weeks and will survive light frosts. Placing a lightweight row cover over these crops will speed their development and protect them from flea beetles. Also try a sowing of radish and white turnips.

* Transplant trees and shrubs that need to be moved. With the shorter days, cooler nights, and moist soils, the odds for successful transplanting of woody plants at this time of year are very good. The odds for winning at the roulette table are never good. Put your money into plants.

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Got a lot of excess produce from the vegetable garden? Don’t waste it. Tomatoes are great substitutes for snowballs at this time of year … uh, no, better skip that option. You have several other options. The simplest is to give some to friends who either have no garden or have just a few plants. Food pantries would also love to receive your excess. A third option is to preserve your surplus via freezing, canning, or dehydrating. I’m always surprised at how few people do such food preservation. The usual excuse is: “I don’t know how!” Well, a good place to start learning the various methods is by going to the website of the National Center for Home Food Preservation, i.e. https://nchfp.uga.edu/ Give it a go!

Ron Kujawski began gardening at an early age on his family's onion farm in upstate New York. Although now retired, he spent most of his career teaching at the UMass Extension Service. He serves on Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Horticulture Advisory Committee. His book, Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook, is available here.