Are your vegetable harvests beginning to pile up on the counter? Do folks at church avoid your eye when you arrive lugging big sacks of orphaned veggies? Are you considering ripping out the chicken-wire fence you constructed so carefully last spring and letting animals feast to their hearts' content in your vegetable patch?

If so, it's time for you to think about freezing your fresh produce. Unlike canning and pickling, freezing is relatively simple. If you've got a little spare freezer space, consider saving some of your harvest for those lean fall and winter months, when fresh produce is expensive and not nearly as flavorful. Here are a few guidelines to get you started:

The basic process is simple. Working quickly and with small batches of vegetables, you want to clean and peel or trim them first, cutting them into whatever size you want (such as big cubes for winter squash, rings or slices for peppers, etc.) Then you boil them for a few minutes, cool them immediately in ice water for the same amount of time you boiled them, drain them and pack them into airtight bags or plastic containers. They can be frozen for 3 to 6 months.

This method will work for eggplant, winter squash, okra, corn, pepper, artichoke, asparagus, shell beans, carrots, celery, cauliflower, peas, spinach, turnips, and more.

Many Park gardeners accepted the challenge to grow our new Zinnia Profusion Sunrise Mix this spring, and we're very grateful for the help! If you are one of those folks, chances are your plants are up and growing well in the summer heat! We'll be sending out evaluation information next month, so be sure you've signed up to receive the survey in your inbox soon.

Park Seed customer Mary R. of Chicago, IL shared this photo of her son Andrew with us. Mary says, "Thanks to some great seeds from your company, a wonderful growing season with a perfect mix of warm weather, plentiful rainshowers, and lots sunny days, and the amition and dedication of a little toddler with a green thumb, we ended up turning the roofdeck over our garage into a mini-garden mecca! It's been so rewarding watching him learn the basics of how plants grow as he nurtured his own vegetables from seeds to fully-mature, food-producing plants. And it's made him so happy to see the fruits of his efforts!"

Help your children and grandchildren discover the joy of gardening and you just may see smiles like this at harvest time!

National Watermelon Day is August 3, but if you're like us, you've already been thumping melons and spitting seeds for weeks! Watermelon is an all-American summer treat, and from the days of early settlers storing ripe watermelons in the creek to keep them cool to the fridge-sized, seedless, and orange-fleshed varieties of today, they are a great addition to any garden and picnic table!

Watermelons are stars of the county and state fair, often weighing in at more than 200 pounds. If you want to grow a gigantic melon, choose a variety that boasts big fruit (beloved heirloom Moon & Stars is a great choice!), then remove all the buds on the plant except a couple. As the fruit grows, thin it down to just one melon. The plant will then pour all its energy into growing you a mega-melon!

Many people prefer the opposite type of watermelon — one small enough to fit into the fridge and feed just one or two people at a single sitting. Luckily, there are many scrumptious mini varieties available today. AAS Winner Sweet Beauty is a favorite with 6- to 7-pound fruits, while exciting orange-fleshed New Queen weighs in at as little as 5 pounds!

Seedless watermelons continue to delight those of us who have never won a watermelon seed spitting contest, but did you know that work to breed these melons began as early as 1939? By 1951 the first seedless melons reached stores and fruit stands, and today they are as popular and widely-grown as their seeded cousins. The breeding (which is all natural, involving no genetic modification) is simple: cross a male watermelon (which has 22 chromosomes) with a female (which has 44). The result is a 33-chromosome plant, unable to set seed... or so the story goes. In reality, most seedless melons have a few seeds, and occasionally one will be fully seeded. Nature does not deal in absolutes!

Seedless melons need to be grown among seeded melons in order to fruit. When you buy Park's seedless melons (such as pure black, bowling-ball lookalike Everglade), every packet contains a few pollinators, so you don't have to buy a second packet of another variety as long as you plant all the seeds in the packet. But if you're growing many seedless types and want to make sure you get a huge crop, you might consider planting Jenny among them. Not only does it set compact fruit (about 8 pounds), it is also a super-small-seeded (SSS) type, which means that its seeds are soft and entirely edible. We think Jenny's one of the tastiest melons in the garden, and the fact that it pollinates all our seedless types is just a great bonus!

Speaking of tasty, we don't have to tell you that flavor is the ultimate test of a great melon. We all crave that sugary, savory, crisp bite that melts in the mouth and announces: "Summer is here and all's well!" For unbeatable flavor, you've simply got to grow Shiny Boy, the new AAS winner. Every judge evaluating this melon remarked on its exceptionally sweet taste, many describing the flavor mix as "tropical." If you can't get your hands on it this season, be sure to earmark Shiny Boy for next year's vegetable garden. Flavor this good is hard to beat!

As delightful as it is to see veggies growing day by day in the garden, there are two that will get out of hand if allowed: zucchini and cucumber. While a foot-long cucumber and a twisty zucchini the size of a python are great conversation starters, they make very poor eating!

Try to harvest zucchini and cucumber when they are anywhere from 6 to 9 inches long, firm but slightly giving to the touch, and deeply colored. (Consult our website for the ideal size of your particular varieties.) The texture of the flesh inside should be a good mix of solids and moisture, with cukes being far juicier than zukes.

Picking zucchini and cucumber at this size not only ensures you the best flavor, it also encourages the plant to continue setting new fruit. When you leave veggies on the vine past their prime, the plant devotes its energy into growing them larger and larger, instead of beginning new fruit. That's why those massive zukes and cukes always arise at season's end: as we become less vigilant about harvesting every day or two, it's easier for a massive zuke or cuke to hide beneath foliage and grow to massive proportions!

Prevent Midday Wilt!
In the punishing summer heat, are your container plants wilted by noon even if you water them in the morning? If so, here are a few tips to keep them hydrated:

• If possible, move the container into the shade during the hottest weeks of the year.
• After watering thoroughly in the morning, top the soil with as many ice cubes as you can stack. They will melt pretty quickly, but offer another few sips of water to thirsty plants!
• If you have a large container, screw an empty 2-liter bottle into an 6326 Aqua Spike, cut a large slit near the base of the bottle, and fill it with cold water. It will drip the water into the plant all day long.

Harvest Veggies and Flowers at their Best!
When the temperature rises above 90 degrees, plants dry out quickly each day. So if you want to harvest vegetables or flowers, do so very early in the morning. Pick them as rapidly as you can, and take your harvest indoors immediately. (If for some reason you can't get them into the house right away, find a spot in deep shade to let them rest.) If you're harvesting flowers, carry a bucket or watering can filled with cold water and set each stem into the water right after you cut it.

Protect Young Plants from the Heat
All of the perennials, shrubs, and trees you planted this spring are still "finding their feet" in your garden, and even though they may not look wilted or dehydrated, they need special care during these hot summer months. Make sure they get plenty of water, of course, but if you have been fertilizing them, stop for the season. (They don't need the extra pressure to set buds or branch out; right now they should concentrate on growing their root system.) And if you do notice signs of stress, such as drooping leaves, consider building them a little extra shade by draping a tarp overhead. They'll really appreciate the relief!

August 3 — National Watermelon Day — Plant your own or get one from a gardening neighbor. We'd love to see pictures of your harvest or shots of your kids enjoying the fruits of your labors!

August 8 — Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night — You know your squash is probably going crazy, so give some away and share the wealth!

August 21 — National Homeless Animals' Day — Visit your local animal shelter. Maybe you can give some lucky dog or cat a new, loving home.

August 21 — Senior Citizens Day — Show your appreciation and respect for our older generation.

August 26 — Women's Equality Day — This day commemorates the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted women the right to vote.

 
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Park Seed Co.
The Best Flowers & Vegetables
1 Parkton Ave. | Greenwood, SC 29647
800-213-0076 www.parkseed.com
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