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Extending your season

In our area, our growing season is very short. For many of the vegetables that we grow, sometimes two or three more weeks of growing time can make all the difference. Covering your plants with a miniature plastic greenhouse will help keep in the heat at night. Roll up the sides on warm days to allow excess heat to escape. There are water insulated sleeves for tomatoe plants that you can use to keep them warm at night.To extend your tomato harvest, pick all obvious full sized fruit and any small ones that have begun to turn whitish on the top surface. Sort them into different stages of maturity. Store simular sizes together. Wrap the tomatoes loosley in newspaper and store in a well ventilatad cardboard or wooden fruit box in single layers. Check regularly

from the 10/9/2003 Hamlen's Helping Hints.
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Mass planting of daffodils

Select the right bulb for your location. Choose for height, bloom time, color and foliage type. If the soil has been prepared by rototiller or is in existing beds, use a trowel or dibble. For naturalizing, a soil auger on a electric or gas powered drill works well. Watch out for sudden kick back. Use a bulb guide to choose proper planting depth. To have a more natural effect,lightly toss them onto the ground and plant where they land..The spacing is more uneven and natural. Fertilize with a phospate type fertilizer when planting. Fertilize in the spring of the following year.

from the 10/23/2003 Hamlen's Helping Hints.
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