LADY BUG: CELEBRATE TURNIP DAY BY PLANTING FOR FALL HARVEST

You know of Fathers' Day, Mothers' Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Martin Luther's Birthday, but have you ever heard of Turnip Day? Possibly not, but July 26 is Turnip Day according to an old saying, "On the twenty-sixth of July, sow turnips, wet or dry".

Today's gardeners may not be so specific in selecting a day to plant turnips. It is a good reminder that by late July the time has arrived to begin thinking about planting cool weather crops such as turnips for the fall garden.

Turnips are often planted in the garden where early crops such as peas, lettuce, radishes, and other spring producing crops have been planted. Like many other root crops, turnips grow best in fairly light soils. They do need fertility, especially in the early part of the growing season as they are grown mostly for their roots in the autumn. Do not overlook turnip greens, which are great with mustard, collards and Swiss chard, all of which are grown best in the fall.

In the garden where space is limited, turnips may be planted in or between rows of sweet corn where they get some shade as small seedlings, but can develop rapidly after the corn has been harvested and stalks cut down.

VEGETABLE'S VITAMINS (Note:Bold Face)

To get more vitamins out of vegetables:

Keep the outer leaves on your cabbage heads as they are high in Vitamin C.

Yellow corn varieties are higher in Vitamin A than those with white kernels.

Wash, but do not peel, cucumbers. Most of the Vitamin A is in the skin.

Harvest some green leaves with broccoli heads and stalks. The leaves have more Vitamin A than the heads and are richer in Vitamin C also.

For the best flavor, pick ripe tomatoes as needed. Flavor peaks within three minutes of picking. However, if squirrels and birds want their share first, it is best to pick them before they have a chance which is when they see the fruits turning color.

Do not refrigerate tomatoes. Fruit texture and some aroma compounds deteriorate quickly in the cold.

Reports of the new Big Beef tomato are glowing. Despite its name, it is not a giant tomato, but color, shape and taste are outstanding. Prediction: This will become the new standard for table tomatoes.

PRICKLY BARRIER (Note: Bold Face)

A reader wrote Flower and Garden magazine concerning the pesky balls from the Sweet Gum tree. Quite by accident, she stated, she found they are a deterrent to rabbits who feed on young tender plants in the flower beds. Because the balls are quite prickly, any plant surrounded by a gum ball mulch will be safe from hungry rabbits. Evidently they do not want these tasty morsels badly enough to subject their tender feet to the pain of the fruit balls' spikes.

She also felt the gum balls performed the duty of mulch, such as repressing weeds and reducing water loss from the soil. When they were ground they created a mulch that deteriorates slowly and can be used around perennials and roses.

In Robert J. Dingwall's Horticultural News of July, he stated Sweet Gum balls may be placed around plants in small rows to deter slugs. Wider rows will keep dogs from areas where they are also not welcome.

There are many suggestions for keeping the rabbits from garden produce. For years we tried the human hair theory, but with no success. Dorotha Strack at Sunny Hill possibly gave the solution to our failure. In theory, the rabbits will not cross the border of human hair because of the odor. Our waste hair came from the beauty shop, and she pointed out this hair had been shampooed before it was cut, but the hair from the barber shop has not been and this hair retained the human odor which would stop the culprit.

FIGHTING SLUGS (Note: Bold Face)

Slugs are loved by their mothers because they are good eaters. They are especially fond of pansies, snapdragons, begonias, geraniums, impatiens, and vegetable leaf crops.

According to "Bugs, Slugs and Other Thugs" by Rhonda Massingham Hart, slugs dislike azaleas, basil, beans, daffodils, ginger, hibiscus, Peruvian lilies, sunflowers, roses, and some other flowering plants.

The author suggests slugs can be repelled by putting irritating surfaces on the ground around such plants. Crushed eggshells, gravel, heavy sand or cut fennel have been known to be effective. (You know the beer treatment)

If you see them crawling around at night, or anytime, sprinkle them with salt, vinegar or a hot pepper and water solution, for sudden death.

The best thing to do is to fight back.