Growing in North Idaho: Maximize your harvest
Insect inside female blossom: This female blossom is hosting a pollinator. Note the cluster of stigmas, this is where collected pollen should be placed.
Courtesy photo
A trellis or garden stakes can keep unruly plants contained and keeps fruit off the ground. Cucumbers will grow straighter on a trellis.
Male Blossom petals removed: Pollen can be collected from the anther of male squash flower with a brush or by removing the petals and gently touching it to the stigma of the female blossom.
Prune lower leaves and stems from peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and cucumbers to prevent soil-borne diseases and insect damage.
Male /Female Squash Blossoms: Male squash blossoms have a thin stem; female stems have a small, developing fruit behind the blossom.
Late summer finds the garden in full bloom with tomatoes, squash, beans and other vegetables ripening. Here are a few tips to help you keep your garden healthy and thriving and make the most of your harvest.
Keep your garden disease and pest free by keeping leaves and fruit off the ground. Consider pruning the lower leaves of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and cucumbers up to 6 to 18 inches depending on the size of the plant. You can also prune sucker stems, which are unproductive and can take energy away from your fruit.
Pruning helps to keep pathogens from splashing up from rain or overhead watering and insects from feeding on fruit and leaves. Make pruning cuts cleanly next to the stem using clean tools.
Trim off leaves that are brown, yellow or diseased and dispose of them in the trash. Do not compost diseased plant material.
If your plants have grown bigger than expected or you missed caging them, it’s not too late to corral them. A trellis or garden stakes can help support the stems or branches that are heavy with fruit.
Place stakes 4 to 8 inches from the stem or in a square around the plant to form a “cage.” Garden twine can help support the plant, especially where heavy fruit is threatening to break branches. Tie the string loosely to avoid constricting growth. Keeping fruit off the soil will also help to prevent disease and insect damage. Avoid consuming any fruit that are on the ground as pathogens can enter through cracks.
If you are seeing poor pollination in squash plants — fruit that is yellowed and withered — a helping hand may be in order. Hand pollination of squash blossoms is easy to do once you identify the male and female flowers. Female flowers have a tiny fruit under the flower. Male flowers grow on a long narrow stem.
Gather pollen from the anther of male flower with a small brush or Q-tip. Then gently "paint" the center portion — the stigmas — of the female flower. One male blossom can pollinate approximately five flowers. You can also pick a male flower, pull away the blossom leaves, and use the center to pollinate the female blossoms.
Tomatoes require gentle care when harvesting, especially heirlooms, which may have a thinner skin. It’s best to harvest into the container that you will store tomatoes and keep fruit stem side down to avoid bruising the skin. Separate any split fruit and consume those first. Tomatoes should always be stored at room temperature.
Harvest crops often and for some vegetables, like zucchini, while they are still small. The plant will be encouraged to continue to produce more fruit. Smaller fruits may have more flavor too.
Our growing season in North Idaho can be all too short and that first frost will be here before we know it. To encourage plants to ripen fruit, prune off the top growth above blossoms or small fruit clusters and reduce watering.
And if all else fails, there are lots of delicious recipes for using green tomatoes!
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Christina Zampich is a certified Idaho master gardener. The University of Idaho Extension, Kootenai County Idaho Master Gardener program is located in the UI Research Park, 958 S. Lochsa St., in Post Falls. Learn more at https://www.uidaho.edu/extension/county/kootenai/garden or on Facebook. Visit in person, email at kootenaimg@uidaho.edu, or call 208-292-2525. IMG services are free to the public.
