Bad year for a garden?

By Bernard Baker

Published: July 15, 2008

Vernell Cassada walked through his garden Monday and talked about what’s growing and what has been tough to produce.

His shed stores a variety of onions that his garden has produced this year. He hopes to fill up with more produce as the hot, dry summer lingers on.

“My onions have been great this year,” Cassada said.

The recent wet, cool air appears to have benefited a variety of onions grown in local gardens, said Stuart Sutphin, a horticulture agent for the Virginia Cooperative Extension.

However, the Danville area has bordered in the moderate drought range for part of the summer. The area is about 7 inches behind in rainfall, Sutphin said.

Cassada said the drought and heat hurt his corn this year. The corn got off to a good start, but those 95 to 100 degree days in June took their toll, he said.

“I had no luck with corn,” Cassada said.

He pointed out that his rain gauge measured an inch of rain for June. There was a third of an inch of rain on Sunday, but Cassada said his garden soaked up the moisture.

He uses ample amounts of mulch to keep the moisture in the soil. Cassada’s developed his garden over a 25-year span and pointed to several inches of rich dirt made for growing vegetables.

He also spaces his garden so that he gets produce throughout the summer. Cassada’s able to get food from his garden up until the first frost by using this method.

Sutphin said this is a good season for tomatoes. While there have been some problems, such as the salmonella outbreak that has mainly affected the Southwest, tomatoes appear to be plentiful this year, he said.

Cassada is beginning to pick ripe fruit off the vine.

“If I can get tomatoes in the last week of June or the first week in July, it’s going to be a good year,” he said.

Both agree that it has been a tough year to grow squash. Sutphin said the heat is probably the main culprit. Growers like Cassada get beautiful blooms on their squash plants, but no squash matures.

Sutphin said a normal squash is about 6 inches long and his have been in the 2 to 3 inch range and resemble “elf shoes.”

His word of advice for growers is not to water plants too much at this time of the year. He said it’s easy to tell if the soil is dry and needs water by scratching down an inch or so to see if the ground if dry or not.

“If you water too much, it will effect the sweetness of the plant,” Sutphin said.

Contact Bernard Baker at or (434) 791-7986.