New England
June 27, 2002
By Suzanne DeJohn,
Cambridge, VT
Harvest Daily
Harvest crops frequently. The more you harvest beans, for example, the more the plants will produce, so try to get out there daily or every other day.
Deadhead Flowers
Remove spent blossoms on annual flowers such as petunias. By preventing the plants from producing seeds, you\'ll encourage them to continue producing flowers. Pinch back to a set of leaves.
Fill in Annual Beds
If you see empty spots in your gardens crying out for some color, consider sowing some fast-growing flower seed, such as nasturtium.
Prune Shrubby Perennials
Cut back shrubby perennials, such as catmint and dianthus, to tidy them up and encourage them to produce a second flush of flowers.
Control Mosquitoes
Examine your yard for areas with standing water, such as old tires or upturned garbage can lids, and dump them. Mosquitoes breed in these types of places, so by removing them you\'ll get a head start on controlling the pests. In ponds and water gardens, use Mosquito Dunks -- disks that contain a specific strain of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) that controls the mosquito larvae.