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Creative Four-Ingredient Edible Gardens

Creative Four-Ingredient Edible Gardens Featured Image
Creative Four-Ingredient Edible Gardens

Now that spring is well underway, it’s time to think about interesting ideas for simple, productive gardening.  Even the most efficient gardeners tend to glaze over when confronted with a long plant list, but most of us can cope with cleverly devised, four-plant gardens. 

Below are “recipes” for three different themed planting combinations containing edible and ornamental elements that can be contained or planted in gardens as space permits. The end results combine garden multi-tasking with great flavors and high ornamental value. And, if you want more options, you can create your own!

Herbal Tea Garden

Herbal tea ingredients: Rugosa Rose, Lemon Balm, Pineapple Mint, Lady Godiva Pot Marigold
These herbal tea ingredients add a twist to the classics.

Ingredients:

  1. Variegated Pineapple Mint (Mentha suaveolens ‘Variegata’, USDA Hardiness Zones 5-9)
  2. Everblooming Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis
    Lady Godiva® Orange)
  3. Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis, Zones 3-7)
  4. Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa, Zones 2-7)

Turn leaves or flowers of these easy-to-grow plants into tasty teas.  The requirements are simple: full sun (at least six hours per day for roses) and well-drained, average soil.  Make sure to avoid spraying the plants with any product not formulated for use on edible crops.

If you have a bit of space, create a dedicated four-ingredient tea garden with a rose at the center, surrounded by lemon balm, pot marigolds, and variegated pineapple mint. Container gardeners can grow the ingredients in separate pots, or mixed in a large container or two.

Rugosa roses are fragrant enough for their petals to be of value in teas, but their hips are the most common herbal tea ingredient. They will not form if the roses are cut, so let the flowers set fruit. Rugosas are noted for their large hips, which resemble cherry tomatoes. Mature hips will be bright orange-red and give slightly when pressed.

Among the best hip producers are those of fragrant hybrids, like the pink-flowered ‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’ or the double white ‘Blanc Double de Coubert’.  They also bear thorny stems, so harvest carefully.  Use the hips fresh or dry until brittle in a slow oven (110 degrees Fahrenheit) or dehydrator.  Drying time varies depending on the size and quantity of hips.

Lemon balm and pineapple mint are vigorous members of the mint family, but both are wonderfully fragrant with leaves that maintain their flavor when dry. Lemon balm has been known to self-sow and escape garden confinement if neglected, so shear off its tiny blooms as they appear. Likewise, pineapple mint spreads by rooting stems, so it is best contained in a pot. Fortunately, the variegated form is more ornamental and less aggressive. Harvest pineapple mint and lemon balm leaves before the flowers form and air dry by arranging the leaves on trays and setting them aside for several days until dry and crumbly. 

Pot marigold is the only annual in the garden, so it will need to be planted yearly. Standard types set lots of seed and tend to self-sow, but Lady Godiva® does not. As a result, it is not messy, and it blooms all summer long, unlike the others. Gather fresh pot marigold flowers for tea. Dry them as you would balm and mint leaves.

Marinara Garden

Roma Tomatoes, Bush Basil, Greek Oregano, Flatleaf Parsley
Plant these to make fresh marinara. Just add garlic–to the sauce or your garden.

Ingredients:

  1.  Bush Basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Spicy Bush’)
  2. Greek Oregano (Origanum vulgare ssp. hirtum)
  3. Italian Flatleaf Parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. neapolitanum)
  4. Roma Plum Tomatoes (Lycopersicum esculentum Roma varieties)

Put an Italian accent in your garden and kitchen with these four plants.  Start with the tomatoes. Bush-type (determinate) Roma tomatoes are squat, meaty, and full of flavor for sauces and paste. Provide them with at least eight hours of sunlight per day. Choose quality varieties, such as the high-yielding ‘Paisano‘ or tasty golden ‘Sunrise Sauce‘. A spacious half whiskey barrel filled with a rich potting mix, like Fafard® Ultra Outdoor Planting Mix, and a caged tomato plant in the center is a great starting point. Install the low-growing herbs around the outside edges of the barrel. Be sure to feed with a fertilizer formulated for vegetables and herbs. (Click here to learn more about growing tomatoes in pots.)

Rich, aromatic annual basil is probably the best-known herb for flavoring tomato sauce and the easiest to grow, given full sun and good soil. There are many available basils, but compact sweet basils, such as ‘Spicy Bush‘, are best for container growing.  (Click here to learn more about growing basil in containers.) Use them as an exuberant edging around tomato plants, either alone or alternating with other herbs. Pinch off the flowers before they bloom to encourage foliage, and harvest leaves regularly for best taste. Macerate them in olive oil and freeze to store.

A low-grower with good heat and drought tolerance, Greek oregano is another indispensable marinara ingredient. Grow it along with basil and parsley in beds or containers by the kitchen door, or alternate with basil and parsley in a dedicated tomato bed. Its leaves are best dried for longterm use.

Low-growing flat-leaf parsley is the fourth member of the marinara quartet. With its fresh flavor, it can stand up to the bold tastes of basil, oregano, and tomatoes. It can also stand with them in plantings, brightening up a window box or planted in a large container alongside basil and oregano. Versatile and full of vitamins, flat-leaf parsley is also a champion seasonal edging plant. Preserve it as you would basil.

Summer Fruit Salad Garden

Compact Raspberries, Compact Blueberries, Compact Melon, Everbearing Strawberries

Ingredients:

  1. Everbearing Strawberry (Fragaria x ananasa ‘Tristar’)
  2. Compact Cantaloupe (Cucumis melo ‘Green Machine’)
  3. Compact Raspberries (Rubus idaeus Raspberry Shortcake®)
  4. Compact Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum Jelly Bean®)

You don’t have to own an orchard—or even a garden plot—to grow your own fruit.  A mixed planting of blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries will provide snacks and desserts through much of the summer. 

Blueberries bushes feature pink or white, bell-like flowers in spring, followed by tasty berries in July and lovely red leaves in the fall.  Use a compact variety, like Jelly Bean® (1-2 feet), along with a petite raspberry bush-like Raspberry Shortcake® (2-3 feet) as the centerpieces of your sunny planting scheme. The little shrubs will flourish in garden situations or large containers. Surround them with smaller pots or edge with strawberries, like the everbearing ‘Tristar’, which provides lots of berries in June and then a consistent flow of berries until fall.

A short-vined, small-fruited melon, such as the “ice cream” muskmelon ‘Green Machine’, will provide you with delectable melons in a small garden space or pot. Give them full sun and great garden soil amended with Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost or potting mix, and the vines will give you sweet melons that are just the right size for a scoop of ice cream. (Click here to learn more about how to grow edibles in containers.)

Your fruitful garden will need consistent moisture throughout the growing season.  Investing in netting or other protection to keep away hungry birds and guarantee you a taste of the sweet fruits of your labors.

Spring to Fall Vegetable Rotation Planting for Non-stop Garden Produce

How-To: Spring to Fall Vegetable Rotation Planting Featured Image
Row cropping or blocked beds make it easy to rotate crops from one year to the next.

Vegetable gardening is a dynamic process. Gardeners have to shift from cool-season spring vegetables to warm-season summer vegetables back to cool-weather crops. In between, savvy gardeners rotate their crops to maximize their output and health. Here are some seasonal planting and rotation tips that will help vegetables transition effortlessly and produce well from one season to the next.

Planning for Rotation

Raised beds in garden
Raised beds allow for easy yearly rotation and soil and weed maintenance.

Vegetable gardens are not like perennial beds, you cannot establish a set planting design and stick with it from year to year. Instead, vegetable gardens must be divided into planting areas for easy rotation. Raised beds make it easy, but if you are working with standard in-ground rows or blocked beds, plan beds to accommodate a variety of crops of different sizes to anticipate yearly shifts.

A four-square design is a good option because it allows gardeners rotate crops on a four-year basis. Root crops, cole crops, and greens can be planted in one plot, Solanaceous crops (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and eggplant) can be planted in another plot, the third plot can be planted with squash, melons, and/or cucumbers, and the fourth plot can be planted with corn, beans, okra and/or sweet potatoes. Each year, the planting combo can be switched for a full rotation.

Rotation for Temperature Needs

Seasonal vegetables
Keep seasonal vegetables in their place. Classic cool-season crops for spring include peas, cabbage, and lettuce. (Image by Jessie Keith)

Longtime vegetable gardeners know that there are vegetables suited for cool months, warm months, and those that will thrive despite temperature fluctuations. Some of the basic crops that fit these temperature requirements include the following:

Cool-Season Vegetables: Cole crops (cabbage, cauliflower, collards, broccoli, broccoli rabe, kohlrabi, and kale), greens (arugula, endive, lettuce, mustard greens, radicchio, and spinach), spring root crops (radishes, potatoes, scallions, spring carrots, and turnips), fall root crops (leeks, parsnips, and rutabagas), and peas.

Warm-Season Vegetables: Artichokes, beans, corn, eggplant, melons, okra, peppers, summer squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and winter squash.

Temperature-Neutral Vegetables: Beets, summer carrots, Swiss chard, cucumbers, and onions.

Rotation for Pest and Disease Prevention

Garden with pest prevention
Rotation and maintaining weed-free beds reduces many crop pests and diseases.

When some vegetables get diseases, the disease-causing pathogens remain in the soil for several years where the infected plants were planted. These include many fungal diseases, bacterial diseases, viral diseases, and crop-specific nematodes. Rotating crops in new planting areas in the garden on a two- to three-year basis will help protect future vegetables from getting these diseases.

The most susceptible crops for soil-borne pests and diseases are carrots, cole crops, cucumbers, lettuce, melons, potatoes, squash, and tomatoes. Cucumbers, melons, and squash get many of the same diseases, so consider this when devising your rotation plan.

Many weeds also harbor diseases that can damage crops, so keeping gardens weed free does more than reduce competition for nutrients and light. Maintaining clean beds benefits crop health.

Rotation for Nutritional Needs

Beans growing on poles
Beans fortify the soil and are a good follow-up for heavy feeders like tomatoes and squash.

Some vegetables are heavy feeders that deplete the soil of nutrients and water, while others take less from the soil or even added essential nitrogen. The most heavy feeders are tomatoes, squash and melons.

It is also essential to feed your soil yearly with rich organic matter and fertilizers formulated for vegetables. Two recommended Fafard products for added fertility are Fafard Garden Manure Blend, which provides natural nutrition and essential soil microbes, and Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost.

Cover Crops

Alfalfa
Alfalfa is a top winter cover crop to aid the rotation process.

Winter cover crops are a great help to vegetable gardens. Some, like alfalfa, add nitrogen to the soil and set deep roots to break up difficult, clay-rich soils down below. Others, like winter wheat or rye, add needed cover to protect your beds from heavy infestations of winter weeds. They can also be tilled into the soil in spring for added organic matter.

Spring-Summer-to-Fall Rotation Ideas

If you do not have the space, yearly crop output, or inclination to follow a set yearly rotation schedule, consider planting complementary spring-summer-fall crops in these five sequence options.e

Peas, tomatoes and turnips
Peas are fast and help fortify the soil for summer tomatoes, and cool-season turnips are fast and not heavy feeders.
Carrots, beans and kale
Carrots set deep roots and grow quickly, beans fortify the soil and finish by early fall, and kale is fast and withstands frost.
Spinach, peppers and broccoli rabe
Spinach is fast and finished by late spring, heat-loving peppers take time but produce well into early fall, and broccoli rabe is very fast and takes frost.
Peas, squash and Cole crops
Peas produce quickly and help fortify the soil for summer or winter squash. Cole crops can be planted among dying winter squash vines and withstand frost.
Lettuce, corn and cabbage
Lettuce thrives in cool weather for spring harvest, corn can be planted among lettuce for summer, and cabbage is ready to plant once corn has declined.

Good rotation will improve your vegetable gardens for the long term. Formulate a smart rotation plan and maintain a journal to keep the process in memory.

The Sweetest Spring Carrots

Sweetest Spring Carrots for the Garden Featured Image


Poet John Keats said, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” And a spring carrot is truly a thing of beauty, if even if it is covered with dirt when pulled from the ground. Wash off the dirt and take a bite of that carrot. You will discover its inner beauty. Time spent in cool spring soil gives home-grown carrots a fresh sweetness that store-bought roots will never have.

The key to harvesting tasty early carrots is planting the right types. Fortunately, there are plenty to choose from—even if your “vegetable patch” is just a series of containers.

There are two ways to grow carrots for early harvest: let fall-planted carrots overwinter in the ground and harvest them early in spring before they flower. Varieties planted in fall are specialty winter carrots, like the 7-8-inch long, heirloom ‘Imperator’ carrot (75 days), which is ideal for winter growing. If you did not do that, but want carrots as early as possible, sow them in spring as soon as the ground can be worked. Carrots generally mature in 60-75 days, though faster-growing cultivars are available, which mature in as little as 50 days. When you are checking available varieties online, in print catalogs, or seed displays, pay attention to the number of days to harvest and choose those that mature in the shortest time.

Spring Carrot Types

Nantes-type carrots
Nantes-type carrots are typically fast to produce.

Nantes-type carrots are among the best for spring planting, and they are easy to grow, even if your soil is less than ideal. Choose a variety like ‘Nelson’, which matures is only 58 days and produces  6-inch, blunt-tipped little carrots with both sweetness and great orange color. ‘Nantes Half Long’, which matures in about 70 days, is another good choice in this category and does not form a woody central core like some other varieties. The finger-sized ‘Adelaide’ (50 days) is another Nantes type favored as a baby carrot. Harvested at about 3-inches long, it is perfect for salads.

'Adelaide' baby carrots
Baby carrots, like ‘Adelaide’, develop faster and are extra sweet and crisp. (Image by Nanao Wagatsuma)

There are other baby carrot varieties that are fun to eat, easy to grow, and perfect for early planting and harvesting. These are not the “baby carrots” that you buy in the supermarket, which are often processed from broken carrot pieces, but carrots bred for compact size. Not only do these carrots mature quickly, but they are also the right size for raised beds or containers.

The Dutch-bred ‘Yaya Hybrid’ carrot matures in as little as 55 days, producing roots that are 4 to 5-inches long. They are quite sweet, and if you don’t eat them out of hand, they also work well in carrot cakes or muffins. The ‘Caracas’ hybrid is even shorter and rounder than ‘Yaya’, reaching 2 to 3-inches long. At only 57 days to maturity, it will be ready in a hurry. Though not as perfect as the supermarket babies, they are much tastier. ‘Thumbelina Baby Ball’ matures in as little as 60 days and boasts round, 1 to 2-inch carrots with smooth skin. Once washed, they do not need peeling

Long-rooted, specialty varieties, like the red ‘Malbec’ (70 days), crisp, golden ‘Gold Nugget’ (68 days), ivory ‘White Satin’ (68 days), and the award-winning, reddish-purple ‘Purple Haze’ (73 days) are all good choices that will bring extra color to your table.

Growing Spring Carrots

Pulling out carrots
It is important to space carrots 3-inches apart for full development. Otherwise, they will grow in irregular sizes.
Fafard Natural & Organic Potting Soil pack

Whatever variety you choose, soil preparation is important. Since carrots are roots that have to push down through the ground, give them an easy time by making sure the soil is loose, rich in organic matter, and free of stones. If you live in an area with clay soil, incorporate lots of well-aged compost, like Fafard® Premium Natural & Organic Compost, into your soil and work it in well

When soil conditions are simply impossible, plant carrots in raised beds, or grow them in containers filled with rich potting mix, like Fafard Natural & Organic Potting Soil, which is OMRI Listed® for organic gardening. The baby types are excellent for container growing. Follow the seed packet directions for your variety and make note of their days to harvest.

Whether you grow in-ground or in containers, plant carrot seeds in early spring as soon as the soil can be cultivated. They will start growing their best when temperates reach 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Carrots like a sunny spot and regular moisture. In garden beds, make sure the soil has been loosened to a depth of at least 9 inches. (Click here to learn how to double dig for better root crops.) Sow the seeds in rows; spacing is not an issue because seedlings can be thinned after germination. If you feel uncomfortable handling the tiny carrot seeds, you can purchase larger, pelleted seed. Make furrows about 1/4 inch deep, and cover the seed with a thin layer of soil (adding a top layer of water-holding peat can aid germination). Water gently so that the little seeds stay put. In as little as 14 days, they will germinate, and your carrots will be on their way

Novice gardeners are always hesitant to thin seedlings, but it is important to give your carrots some elbow room. When the seedlings are about 1-inch-tall, thin them so they are spaced 3 inches apart.

Protecting Carrots

Carrots in various colours
Carrots come in all colors and sizes, so be creative when choosing varieties.

To keep Peter rabbit and his vole friends away from your garden carrots, plant them in tall pots or surround them with chicken wire fencing that is at least 3-feet tall. The bottom 6 inches should be below soil level, with the ends of the wire bent away from the garden bed. When you water your plants or check on them, make sure that there are no gaps in the fencing where animals have found their way in.

Vole
Voles and rabbits are two common pests that love carrots.

Mark your calendar for the number of days that your carrot varieties need to mature. When they are ready, let your kids join in the harvest! Before harvest, loosen the ground around the carrot a bit with a garden fork and then pull. Otherwise, the carrot tips may break off in the soil. Harvest what you need immediately. The rest of your crop can stay in the ground a few more weeks, or a bit longer if you live somewhere with very cool early spring and summer temperatures\

Growing carrots is easy and will increase your horticultural self-confidence. It is a great thing to do with kids, and it will bring out your inner kid. You may never want a supermarket carrot again.
 

Organic Plant Protection with Improved Horticultural Oils

Organic Plant Protection with Improved Hort Oils Featured Image
Oil-based insecticides have come a long way in the last few decades.  Lighter and more versatile than the “dormant oils” of yesteryear, today’s horticultural oils can be used at most times of the year and are effective against a wide variety of insects.  They’re also among the most benign pesticides, decomposing within a few days of application and causing minimal harm to beneficial insects and other untargeted organisms.  Accordingly, many brands of horticultural oils are OMRI LISTED for organic gardening.

New and Improved Horticultural Oils

Magnifying glass focusing on aphids on leaves
These oils are a great remedy for soft-bodied arthropods, such as aphids.

Most new-wave horticultural oils derive from petroleum, although an increasing number are vegetable-oil-based.  In all cases, they’ve undergone several rounds of processing to remove impurities, such as sulfur that can damage leaves and other soft plant tissues.  Their relatively high purity (92 percent or greater) and low viscosity allow them to go places – such as directly on foliage – that are largely off limits for old-school “dormant oil sprays.”
Almost all horticultural oils work not by poisoning pests but by mechanically coating and smothering them.  Consequently, they’re an excellent remedy for infestations of slow-moving, soft-bodied arthropods, such as aphids, mites, and whiteflies.  They also control a number of plant diseases, including powdery mildew and aphid-transmitted viruses.
Neem oil departs from the norm by disrupting insects’ feeding and development via several biologically active compounds.  Virtually non-toxic to humans and other mammals, it’s effective against a relatively wide range of pests, including some that are resistant to other horticultural oils.

Horticultural Oil Conditions

Spraying hort oils on plants
Many older hort oils were best applied in late winter or early spring.

Horticultural oils come with a few provisos.  First, they lose their effectiveness in rain, drought, cold (sub-40 degrees F), heat (90-degrees-plus), or high humidity.  Additionally, even highly refined horticultural oils can sometimes cause minor damage to flowers and tender new plant growth.  Horticultural oils are also said to be mildly toxic to a number of plant species including ferns, Japanese maples (Acer palmatum), and smoke trees (Cotinus spp.),  although this may not apply to the highly purified oils currently in use.

When to Use Horticultural Oils

Spraying hort oils on flowers
Many new hort oils can be applied at almost any time of the year.

Of course, horticultural oils are effective and ecologically friendly only when they’re properly used on visible pests at vulnerable points in their life cycles.  A thorough, targeted coating of oil at the right time will put a serious dent in a susceptible pest infestation.  Conversely, indiscriminate spraying will likely do more harm to beneficials and foliage than to pests.  It’s always good horticultural practice to know your enemy and to read the label.

Late Winter

The horticultural oil season begins in late winter, as temperatures moderate and overwintering pests begin to shake their slumber.  Hemlock woolly adelgids (pest info here), euonymus scale (pest info here), and spruce spider mites (pest info here) are among the insects and mites to look for and treat at this time.

Spring

Mid to late spring is a good time to spray “crawler” stages of armored scales (pest info here).  Weekly applications of neem oil will help contain lily leaf beetles (pest info here).

Spring to Fall

Use horticultural oils from mid-spring to fall to control the likes of aphids, lacebugs (pest info here), spider mites (pest info here), powdery mildew (pest info here), and sawfly larvae such as “rose slugs” (pest info here).  Mild days in late fall are a good time to spray scales, mites, and other pests that survived early spring treatment.

Oils for Indoor Plants

Indoor plant pests are also fair game, whatever the season.  Your spider-mite-infested weeping fig and all your other insect-plagued houseplants will welcome a quick visit to the back porch for a spritz of death-dealing horticultural oil.  Or you can give your plants (and their insect pests) a bath by inverting them into a bucket filled with highly diluted horticultural oil.  Outside or in, horticultural oils are an environmentally friendly solution to a host of insect problems.

Permaculture Gardening

Asclepias tuberosa
The goal of permaculture is to create a landscape that sustains itself, its natural surroundings, and the people who steward it.

The first and perhaps most important choice in creating a garden is this: will it work WITH its surroundings, or against them?  We can try to grow what we want to grow, heedless of the garden’s natural and domestic conditions, or we can choose plants and strategies that fit the situation on (and under and above) the ground.  We can pour on the labor and chemicals to try to force the garden to bow to our will, or we can go with its currents, letting its characteristics be our guide.  One choice leads to landscapes that are at odds with their setting, such as lawns in Phoenix.  The other leads, in some cases, to permaculture.

Permaculture means different things to different people.  Perhaps its ideal goal, though, is to create a landscape that sustains itself, its natural surroundings, and the people who steward it.  Such a landscape rides with the rhythms of nature, with plants and microbes and soil and air working together as a cohesive, self-nurturing unit that requires minimal inputs of nutrients and labor.  Here are some ways to do this.

Plant for the Site

senna marilandica
If you know the right plants for the right site, you are on the right track.

Know your site. What are your soil and sun factors? What plants best fit your yard and wants? Then you can make smart choices for your yard and garden. (Much as you love raspberries, they’ll languish in too much shade.  How about elderberries instead?) The garden’s domestic setting is also a factor.  For instance, plantings should generally become less formal and more naturalistic with distance from buildings and paths.

Manage Natural Processes

Fafard Garden Manure Blend packWork with natural cycles and processes. Start a compost pile for spent vegetation and uneaten produce, to return their nutrients and organic matter to the soil.  Mulch with beneficial amendments (such as Fafard Garden Manure Blend) and fertilize with organic materials that support beneficial soil microbes and boost organic matter. Disturb the soil as little as possible, to maintain its structure and to avoid bringing buried weed seeds to the surface to germinate.

Sustain “good” insects by minimizing pesticide use and by utilizing plants that attract them (such as members of the parsley and aster families). Cut back native perennials in early spring rather than fall, to provide food for birds, protection from erosion, and refuge for beneficial insects.

Choose Diversity

Array of flowers and plants
Plant using a wide diversity of beautiful plants suited for wildlife and the site. (image by Jessie Keith)

Use a wide diversity of plants – including natives – that complement and balance each other horticulturally and ornamentally. Try for a harmonious patchwork of species with different forms, colors, pollinators, pests, associated beneficial insects, and other characteristics.  Include a variety of trees, shrubs, and perennials to provide structure, and interplant with numerous edibles and ornamental annuals to increase diversity and yield.  Intermingle heavy-feeding plants (such as tomatoes) with nitrogen-accumulating plants (such as legumes) to balance and replenish soil fertility.  Introduce some non-invasive, self-sowing ornamentals and edibles (such as celandine poppies and perilla and forget-me-nots), which make excellent subjects for a dynamic, self-sustaining landscape.

Choose Multi-Function Plants

diospyros virginiana meader qg
American persimmons are perfect “dual-purpose” trees that are beautiful and produce edible fruit.

Create plantings that have multiple uses and functions. Why not plant a couple of pawpaw trees, whose handsome, rounded, bold-leaved crowns will produce fruit for the table and provide food for zebra swallowtail caterpillars?  Or a highbush cranberry, for its platters of white, late-spring flowers; its fall harvest of red berries that make excellent preserves; and its attractive maple-like foliage that turns burgundy tones in fall?  Or the stately American persimmon tree (Diospyros virginiana) with its edible fall fruits prized for baking? Or one of the many colorful leafy vegetables (such as ‘Rainbow’ chard and red orach) that are both ornamental and tasty?

Make the Natural Connection

Monarch butterfly on milkweed
Milkweeds make a natural connection with the monarch butterflies they feed. (image by Jessie Keith)

Connect the garden to surrounding natural areas by using plants that attract, shelter, and feed native insects and animals. A clump of columbine will draw local hummers to their nectar-rich flowers; a planting of winterberries (female and male) will feed yellow-rumped warblers and cedar waxwings and mockingbirds with their brilliant red berries; and a Dutchman’s pipe vine will host pipevine swallowtail larvae, which make excellent food for nestlings. Then there are the ever-popular milkweeds, which are essential to monarch butterflies.

Consider integrating “volunteer” seedlings of native plants into the garden, rather than indiscriminately weeding them out.  Conversely, avoid introducing plant species (such as winged euonymus and Japanese barberry) that are likely to invade and disrupt nearby natural areas.
At its best and most satisfying, a garden that follows these principles develops into a dynamic little ecosystem of its own, where plants and wildlife and humans all have a place.  Permaculture does not aspire to “permanent” landscape features such as a perpetually green, weed-free lawn. Rather, it’s a collaborative effort between plants and gardener to create a cultivated landscape that is shaped and steered by nature’s ever-changing forces.  A permaculture garden never stops evolving – just as a permaculture gardener never stops learning and marveling.

Beating The Five Most Common Vegetable Garden Pests Naturally

Jessie's daughter picking Colorado potato beetles
My daughter is picking Colorado potato beetles from potato plants.

For the past 11 years, I have grown my vegetables in a community garden plot, which has provided a rough, real education in plant pests, diseases, and weeds. Why? Because these mega veggie gardens are pest hot spots, and summer is the worst time of year for the beasties.  “Bad” insects always attack my beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and eggplants–threatening to destroy fruits and foliage, and sometimes spreading disease as they munch and crunch along. I must use every tool in the toolbox to fight them. And, if the bugs beat my crop, I often start the crop again, if there is time and the season allows. Sometimes beating pests is just a matter of retooling planting time.

The five most common vegetable garden pests that I battle in mid to late summer are Colorado potato beetles, striped cucumber beetles, eggplant flea beetles, Mexican bean beetles, and harlequin cabbage bugs. Each return year after year with regularity, but some years are worse than others. The severity of the previous winter usually indicates the severity of my pest problems–the milder the winter, the harsher the pest problem. Last winter was pretty warm, so this summer the pests are rampant. Here are some ways that I have learned to overcome them.

Colorado Potato Beetle

Colorado potato beetles
Colorado potato beetles are mating on top of a potato plant.

The surest way to attract Colorado potato beetles to your garden is to plant potatoes, but if you don’t have potatoes, they will go for your tomatoes and eggplant secondarily. (Fortunately, they don’t appear to be attracted to tomatillos.) The fat, striped adult beetles emerge from the soil in late spring to feed on emerging potatoes and then lay clusters of orange-yellow eggs on leaf undersides. They yield highly destructive little orange larvae that eat foliage nonstop and grow quickly. You can kill the insects at any stage, but it’s easiest to pick off the adults and eggs. (Click here to view the full life cycle of these beetles.) The beetles can complete up to three life cycles in a single season, so once you have them, you generally have to fight them all summer.

Colorado potato beetle larvae on tomato
Colorado potato beetle larvae (left) on tomato.

These insects are highly resistant to insecticides, so it pays to choose non-chemical methods of control. Time and time again, well-timed cultural control, and proper winter cleanup have proven to be the best means of battling them. Cultural control is essentially picking off the adults, eggs, and larvae and/or pruning off egg- and larval-covered leaves and branches. I generally smash picked specimens, but you can also drown them in a bucket of water. Good picking should start in mid to late spring and continue until all signs of these pests are gone.
(To learn everything there is to know about Colorado Potato Beetles, visit potatobeetle.org.)

Spotted and Striped Cucumber Beetles

Symptoms of bacterial wilt
The symptoms of bacterial wilt, which is spread by the striped cucumber beetles.

As their names suggest, striped and spotted cucumber beetles favor cucumbers, but they also attack melon vines. Small, striped or spotted cucumber beetles look so cute and innocent, but they are so destructive. Every year my cucumber crop is a crapshoot. Why? It’s not because of the damage they cause by feeding on plants and fruits. It’s the catastrophic bacterial wilt that they spread from plant to plant. Once cucumber vines get cucumber bacterial wilt, there is no turning back. The leaves will start to show droop, and eventually, whole stems will collapse, and the vine will die.

Yellow beetle

These pests may have two to three cycles in a season and are next to impossible to control, even with harsh chemical insecticides. Floating row cloth cover can keep them at bay, but it is a hassle and does not allow pollinators to reach the plants. For me, the best course of action is to choose bacterial-wilt-resistant cucumber varieties. Cornell University Extension offers a great list of resistant cucumber varieties from which to choose. Of these, I have grown the short-vined slicer ‘Salad Bush,’ which is great for container growing. Two more reliable varieties are ‘Marketmore 80‘ and ‘Dasher II.'(Click here to learn more about striped cucumber beetles.)

Eggplant Flea Beetle

Eggplant flea beetle damage on eggplant leaf
Eggplant flea beetle damage on an eggplant leaf.

Tiny jet-black eggplant flea beetles are the smallest summer pests in this list, but they can devastate an eggplant in a matter of days. The small but numerous insects leave little pockmarks all over a host plant’s leaves. Badly damaged leaves barely photosynthesize, resulting in poor, weak plants that produce puny fruits.

If you want to grow eggplant, you have to protect them from eggplant flea beetles. There are plenty of insecticides that will kill these insects, but only a few non-chemical cultural practices will stop them. The best method that I have found is protecting plants with summer weight floating row covers that transmit a lot of sunlight while physically keeping insects from the plants. The key is covering plants early and then securing the row covers at the base, so the tiny beetles cannot crawl beneath them. Holding cover edges down with bricks, pins, and even mulch or compost works. The only caveat is that you may need to hand-pollinate plants for fruit set.

Good fall cleanup of infested crop plants will also keep populations down from year to year. On average, eggplant flea beetles will complete up to four generations in a single season.
(Click here to learn more about these pests.)

Harlequin Cabbage Bug

Harlequin adult bugs on summer broccoli
Harlequin bug adults do damage to summer broccoli.

These ornamental stink bugs are the worst enemy of summer kale, broccoli, and other brassicas. They suck the juices from the leaves, causing pockmarks all over them. The most striking destruction I have ever witnessed was with enormous Portuguese kale that I had nurtured to a bold 2′ height through spring. Once the numerous beetles started to attack in early summer, the plant had no chance.

There are a few management practices that will help stop these bugs. Floating row covers can also be used, as was suggested for the eggplant flea beetles, but harlequin cabbage bugs are big enough to pick off by hand if you have the time and can handle the slightly stinky smell they emit when disturbed. Small nymphs are also susceptible to treatment with OMRI Listed® insecticidal soap.

Two to three generations of harlequin cabbage bugs can occur each season. By late summer, they are no longer a problem so that you can plant your fall cabbages and kales with confidence.
(Click here to learn more about these pests.)

Mexican Bean Beetle

Mexican bean beetle larvae on bean leaf
Mexican bean beetle larvae and their damage on a bean leaf.

Like Colorado potato beetles, it’s the larvae of Mexican bean beetles that do the harshest damage to bean plants. The adults emerge in late spring, but they rarely cause major problems on bean plants until midsummer. The adults are orange, black-spotted beetles that lay clusters of orange-yellow eggs below the leaves, much like the Colorado potato beetle. The unusual larvae are fuzzy, bright yellow, and devastate leaves as they feed along the leaf bottoms.

Beetle on damaged leaf

Tou can control these pests as you would Colorado potato beetles with one exception – destructive harvesting. Destructive harvesting is the harvest and total removal of infested plants from the garden. After picking, infested plants should be pulled, bagged, and taken far from your garden. (Click here to view a YouTube video from the University of Maryland about destructive harvesting.) Beans can be replanted as late as mid-August for early fall harvest.

In general, regular weeding, good plant care, and excellent garden clean up, in summer and fall, will help keep pest populations down. Clean the ground of all leaf litter and weeds, and amend the soil with top-quality amendments for vegetables, such as Fafard® Garden Manure Blend or Natural & Organic Compost, and your plants will be more robust to resist the many garden pests that threaten to destroy them.

Vegetable Garden Soil Preparation

These tidy beds have a compost mulch layer protecting vegetables and a walkway protected with thick grass clippings.
These tidy beds have a compost mulch layer protecting vegetables and a walkway protected with thick grass clippings.

Rain and snow melt make spring garden soil preparation a challenge every year, but once you can get into the garden, get into your soil! Feeding your garden soil in spring is an investment that pays off every time. Amending, turning, tilling, fertilizing, and mulching are the five practices needed to make your garden great all season! The addition of drip hoses for easy irrigation can make garden care even more effortless.

Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost Blend packAmending Garden Soil

Rich soil yields better crops, so it pays to feed your soil. Adding the best amendments will ensure your soil is ready to work. Adding lots of compost will increase good yields, but be sure that your compost is good quality. Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost is a high-performing compost sure to give your garden what it needs. For areas where you intend to plant greens, go with nitrogen-rich amendments, such as Fafard Garden Manure Blend.

Turning Garden Soil

“No till” areas in the vegetable garden need different care.  These include beds with perennial and winter crops, like areas with asparagus, garlic, strawberries, or hardy herbs, as well as well-amended spots that are already in good shape below ground. Still, adding extra organic matter to no-till spots will ensure better growth while allowing for the addition of needed amendments. Adding a layer of compost and lightly turning it into the surface will increase organic matter while not disrupting your plants or soil structure.

Tilling Garden Soil

Compost acts as both an amendment and protective mulch.
Compost acts as both an amendment and protective mulch.

Many gardeners have bed areas that are tilled yearly. This has its pluses and minuses. Tilling brings the bank of weed seeds to the surface and disrupts soil structure and organisms, but it also increases tilth and allows organic matter to be worked deeply in the soil. If you plan to till, plan to double your amendment by adding a till-in layer and a mulch layer. First, put down a thick layer of compost or manure and till it deeply into the soil, then rake and berm bed spaces as needed. Finally add a second layer of compost to further enrich the soil and protect against weeds. The second step is extra important because tilling brings lots of weed seeds to the soil’s surface.

Fertilizing Garden Soil

Many vegetables require lots of food to produce good yields through the season. It’s essential to feed the garden well from the beginning with a good tomato & vegetable fertilizer. OMRI Listed fertilizers approved for organic gardening are best. Simply broadcast the fertilizer and gently work it into the top layers of soil where it’s needed most.  Heavy feeders, such as tomatoes, peppers, and melons, should be fed again at planting time.

Mulching Garden Soil

In addition to adding a compost mulch layer, I protect and define walkways with leaf mulch, straw or hay, and grass clippings. These natural mulches stop weeds and make it easier to traverse the garden in wet, muddy weather. They also hold water and keep root zones cool on hot summer days. By fall’s end, they have usually broken down into accessible organic matter.
Living mulches are another option. Planting a dense summer cover crop in walkways, like white clover, will keep them tidy, cool, and mud-free while also feeding the soil. Just be sure to keep the edges trimmed and turn plants under in fall.

Amendment Application Formula

When adding amendments, determine how many inches you want to add over your garden area. Here is the simple formula needed to determine this:

([area to cover] ft2 x [depth in inches desired] x 0.0031 = ___ yd3).

Example: If you wanted to cover a 20 square foot area with 2 inches of compost, the result would be: 20 ft2 x 2 inches of compost x 0.0031 = 2.48 yd3.

A thick layer of straw helps hold moisture around these okra plants while also keeping walkways clean and weed free.
A thick layer of straw helps hold moisture while also keeping walkways clean and weed free.

Irrigation

For added benefit, consider snaking a drip hose beneath mulch layers to make summer watering easier and more efficient. Below-the-surface watering keeps water at root zones while virtually stopping surface evaporation on hot days. The key is marking your drip lines from above (to keep from accidentally cutting the line with gardening tools) and securing nozzles for easy access. At watering time, just hook up your lines and let them drip for an hour or so to ensure deep watering.
Once the vegetable season takes off, your garden will be in good shape with these five steps. Sure, weeds, drought, and hot days will come, but their impacts will be minimized  and your time and garden’s productivity will be maximized.

New Vegetables for 2015

'Fantastico' grape tomatoes
The compact grape tomato ‘Fantastico’ is a super sweet, high producer that received an AAS award in 2014. (Photo care of AAS Winners)

One of the highlights of the gardening season comes in the depths of winter, with the arrival of new catalogs brimming with enticing new varieties. The following are among the best of the new vegetables for 2015.

Tomatoes

A hybrid of two long-time favorites, ‘Jersey Boy’ produces bright red, half-pound tomatoes that “brilliantly join ‘Brandywine’s sublime sweet-sour tang with ‘Rutgers’ classic rich color, shapeliness, yield and performance.” It debuts in the 2015 Burpee catalog, as does ‘Cloudy Day’, which reputedly bears good crops of 4-ounce fruits even in areas too cool for most tomatoes. 2014 All-America Selection Winner ‘Chef‘s Choice Orange’ wins plaudits for its “deep orange, beefsteak shaped fruits” with “firm, sweet, mild flesh.” They ripen relatively early on tall, 5-foot vines. Smaller in all its parts is another 2014 AAS winner, ‘Fantastico’, which yields 10 or more pounds of rich red, grape-sized tomatoes on compact plants suitable for large containers. For lovers of old-time tomatoes, Johnny’s Selected Seed now offers the Heirloom Collection, a seed mix comprising ‘Brandywine’, ‘Striped German’, ‘Cherokee Purple’, ‘Amish Paste’, and other classics.

Peas

Royal Snow Pea
The new ‘Royal Snow’ snap pea has pretty purple pods and pinkish flowers. (Photo care of Johnny’s Seeds)

New introductions for 2015 also include many veggies from outside the tomato aisle. Among the most notable are two pea varieties from the hand of Dr. Calvin Lamborn, father of the snap pea. The fleshy, 3-inch, deep purple pods of ‘Royal Snow’ make a tasty and ornamental addition to salads and other dishes (and the pink flowers are pretty too). They are also good lightly cooked. Vines of ‘Petite Snap-Greens’ are harvested when young for tossing into salads or using in stir-fries. Both varieties are available from Johnny’s.

Beans

The bush bean ‘Mascotte’ holds its long, slender, tasty pods on stems that rise above the plants’ low, mounded leafage. With its compact habit and long harvest season, it’s perfect for containers (in a fertile, humus-rich growing mix such as Fafard Professional Potting Mix) or narrow garden beds. Its many virtues earned it an AAS award, the first for a bean variety since 1991.

Pumpkins & Squash

Cinderella's Carriage pumpkins with AAS logo
The new ‘Cinderella’s Carriage’ pumpkin is a beautiful deep orange red and very high performing. (Photo care of AAS Winners)

AAS winner ‘Cinderella’s Carriage’ derives its name from the flattened, carriage-ready shape of its large, reddish-orange pumpkins, arrayed on vigorous, powdery-mildew-resistant vines. As many as seven mini-carriages are produced per plant. Similar in shape (but much smaller in size) are the fruits of a new summer squash variety from Burpee, ‘Cupcake’. Their tasty, savory-and-sweet flesh and tender dark green skin suits them for many uses including roasting, grilling, and slicing into stir-fries.

Peppers

A panoply of peppers debut this year. Two AAS winners head the list: zingy-fleshed ‘Giant Ristra’, whose fire-red, 7-inch-long fruits are perfect for stringing into swags or wreaths; and gold-fruited, sweet-flavored ‘Mama Mia Giallo’, which also offers the virtue of a compact plant habit. Its long, conical, often curved peppers are delicious fresh or roasted. Burpee introduces an 8-inch, pale-green Italian frying pepper (‘Long Tall Sally’); an early-fruiting banana type (‘Blazing Banana’); a large, moderately hot, Ancho-Poblano variety with dark glossy skin (‘Big Boss Man’), and a jumbo, foot-long, sweet red Marconi-style selection (‘Thunderbolt’).

'Giant Ristra' hot peppers with AAS logoCucumbers

And of course there are cucumbers. Compact-growing, early-bearing ‘Pick a Bushel’ is a great fit for cooler regions (as well as container gardens), producing basketfuls of cukes early in the season. Firm, flavorful, and sweet, they can be harvested young for pickles or allowed to mature to slicing size. Matures in 55 days from sowing. Fellow AAS winner ‘Saladmore Bush’ offers many of the same virtues, but bears over a longer season on somewhat longer vines.
Bon appetit!