East Surry High School celebrates Earth Day

June 04, 2023

June is bursting out in blaze of grow

June has arrived and the first day of summer is less than 20 days away. The soil in the garden plot should now be continually warm and the nights should also be warm too. The zinnia bed is thriving and they now have tiny buds on them and blooms are only a few days away. Any vegetable that grows in warm soil can now be sown in the garden and will quickly sprout and grow.

June is a great time to plant peppers

Bell sweet peppers are tropical and a warm June soil is receptive to all varieties of peppers, sweet, hot, and very hot. With the nights of June warming up, peppers will grow fast. Best choices of green sweet bell peppers are Big Bertha, California, Wonder, Door Knob, Keystone, and Park's Whopper. Sow pepper plants in a furrow about five or six inches deep. Cover the bottom of the furrow with a layer of peat moss and with a layer of Plant-Tone organic vegetable food mixed into the peat moss. Set pepper plants about a foot and a half apart and hill up soil on each side of the furrow. Cage the plants for protection from thunderstorms and wind. Side-dress with Plant-Tone organic vegetable food every 20 days and hill it into the row.

Corn alert as we enter June

Most varieties of corn requires a 90-day growing season and it needs to be planted in the next week or so to assure enough time to make a harvest. It will respond to the continually warm soil temperatures of the days of June. When planting corn, sow at least three rows to allow for pollination by the wind and bees. Sow corn seed in a furrow about four or five inches deep. Apply a layer of peat moss in bottom of the furrow and sow four or five grains of seed per hill. Set each hill about ten inches apart. Cover seed with another layer of peat moss and then apply a layer of Plant-Tone organic vegetable food. Hill up soil on each side of the furrow and tamp down with the hoe blade for solid soil contact. When the corn sprouts, thin to two plants per hill. Side dress with Plant-Tone organic vegetable food every two weeks and hill it into the rows. Good varieties of corn are Golden Queen, Silver Queen, Early Sunglowe, Illini Chief Bi-Color, How-Sweet-It-Is and Butterfruit.

Keep setting out a few tomato plants

With the warm days and nights of the month of June, keep setting out a few tomato plants for as long as healthy plants are still available. Toward the end of June, you may want to start some seed of Early Girl, Celebrity or Marglobe for a late tomato harvest in September and early October. To start tomato plants from seed, use a four pound plastic bag of seed-starting medium such as Jiffy by Ferry-Morse, Hoffman, or Miracle-Gro Seed starter. Start each seed packet in a quart plastic flower pot. Fill the pots with seed- starting medium and allow a handful of the medium to cover the tomato seed. Add enough water to the medium in the quart pots to moisten the medium and fill pots to within half inch from top. Sprinkle one packet of the tomato seed per plastic pot. Use a handful of the medium to cover the seed and pat down for solid contact with the medium. Repeat the process with the other packets of seed and label the pots to identify the seed. Use a spray bottle such as glass cleaner comes in and apply a spray of water each day. Keep tomato seed pots out of direct sunlight on the porch or carport. When the tomatoes develop two leaves, transplant the seedlings to individual containers. Keep the seedlings out of direct sunlight and spray a mist of water on them each evening. In two or three weeks after transplanting to individual containers, they should be ready to transplant to the garden.

Keeping a lookout for Japanese beetles

As the days get hot and humid they will attract the dastardly, destructive Japanese beetles to flower beds, rose bushes, and vegetable gardens. They love anything that is green and growing. They have two goals in their lives and they are to eat and reproduce. You can reduce their population by putting out Japanese beetle traps and spraying infected foliage and leaves with a mist of liquid Sevin spray and also spray roses which seem to be a favorite of Japanese beetles. The way to use beetle traps is to place the traps where they will draw beetles away from gardens and flowers. Spend the extra money and buy durable plastic two-piece traps with plastic containers on the bottom that screws into the top of the trap. The traps with plastic bags on the bottom are not very durable and the wind blows them apart and they are not worth what they cost. You get just what you pay for and a durable trap will last for many years. With a durable trap, you can catch the beetles and dip the bottom of the trap bucket of boiling hot water to kill them. Pour the dead beetles on the driveway and let the birds feast on them. Do not pour them on the lawn because the hot water will kill the grass.

Nip the weed crop by pulling them up

Cool temperatures in mid-May had little impact on the weed population of early spring. There are quite a few flourishing in the June garden. The weeds of lamb quarters, nut grass, Bermuda grass, and morning glories are now taking a hold in the garden. The very best and most effective way to deal with the weed population is to get a bucket and get down and pull them up by the roots and throw them out of the garden and then run the mover over them to chew them up. Get rid of the weeds before they over take the garden.

Making a bacon cheeseburger meatloaf

Meatloaf is great in any season of the year and this one is especially great early summer. You will need one pound of ground chuck, one pound broiled and crumbled bacon, one eight ounce pack of finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, two hot dog rolls run through the blender in "grate" mode, one teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, half teaspoon black pepper, two teaspoons Nathan's Coney Island mustard, one envelope Recipe Secrets Beefy Onion soup mix, two large beaten eggs, half teaspoon salt, half cup catsup, one fourth cup mayonnaise. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine the ground chuck, crumbled bacon, finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, half cup grated hot dog rolls (two rolls), one teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, half teaspoon black pepper, one envelope Recipe Secrets Beefy Onion Soup mix, two large beaten eggs, one fourth cup of mayonnaise, half teaspoon salt. Mix all these ingredients together. In a small bowl, mix the catsup and mustard together. Stir one fourth of the catsup-mustard mixture into the meat loaf mixture and reserve the remainder of catsup-mustard mixture. Form the meatloaf mixture into a loaf and spread the remaining catsup-mustard mixture over the meatloaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes or until light brown on top.

Caring for the roses of late spring

The roses of spring have been colorful and are still full of colorful blooms as we move into the month of June you can give them some special attention that will extend their season of blooms. Deadhead all spent roses as they fade out. Feed the ruses every 20 days with Rose-Tone organic rose food and water the roses once a week when no rain is in the forecast. Check the roses for leaf mites or Japanese beetles and spray to control them.

Hoe hoe hoedown

"High tech phonology." Six year old: "Is that an old mobile phone?" Dad: "Yes, but it does not have games." Six year old: "It's not much good with out games."

"Bald men and beardless women." Rita: "I notice in this book it says men become bald much earlier than women because of the intense activity in their brains." Kenny: "Yes, and I notice that women don't grow beards because of the intense activity of their chins and tongues."

The almanac for June

The full moon of June will occur on Saturday, June 3, and this moon will be named "Full Strawberry Moon." The moon fact for the month is that the full moon of the month always rises just after sunset. Other names for the full moon of June are "Full Hot Moon" and "Full Hoer Moon." The moon reaches its last quarter on Saturday, June 10. Flag Day will be Wednesday, June 14. There will be a new moon on the western horizon just before sunset on Sunday, June 18. Father's Day is Sunday, June 18. Summer begins on Wednesday, June 21. The moon reaches its first quarter on Monday, June 26.