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Despite some initial rockiness my organic garden is off to a great start for this, my second season, 2009.

The rockiness came from my first attempt at indoor seedlings. I could not find any prepackaged organic starter soil and for reasons I cannot fathom now I decided to not use my own soil. I let an employee at Home Depot talk me into creating my own soil-less mix of sphagum peat moss and organic plant food 1:1. To make a long and painful story short this concoction was toxic to my seeds and I lost 2/3 of them - and a month of indoor growing time - to the attempt. Zero sprouts.

Thankfully I still had some seeds left, my food coop had their annual seedling sale and I was able to trade some pedal power (delivering a big poultry watering can from the south side of town to the north side of town using my bicycle and trailer) for a few plants from a friend.

Now, a few weeks later, things are in full swing. :)

I have expanded my garden in two ways:

1) I will be training all of the vine squashes to trail out of the raised beds. This increases their available space exponentially, though it will take moving them around when I have to mow the back yard.

2) I added 4 5-gallon terracotta pots for overflow.


I have enhanced my garden in 4 ways:

1) I have planted lots of flowers and better placed together those flowering plants that require pollination in order to attract more bees.

2) Today I added something that's been on my wish list for a while: grapes! A 6-foot pyramid trellis with 1 canadice (red seedless) plant and one himrod (green seedless) plant. These replace 2 of the original ornamental landscaping plants that never did well.

3) Strawberries! Some of you may recall a silly issue I had last year where I bought a windowsill strawberry planter whose seeds turned out to be cherry tomatoes. :p This year I bought organic seedlings from a local gardening place that my wife and I transplanted into two strawberry pots (the kind that have little cups around the sides), and the leftovers went into one of the overflow pots.

4) A dwarf Japanese apple tree. We actually transplanted this last Fall and have been told it should produce this year. This replaced another failing ornamental landscaping plant.


I have prepared for my garden better this year by:

1) Attempting indoor seedlings long before the last frost. I did not succeed but I learned a lot.

2) Getting the proper tools and equipment to better control and expand the automatic water drip system.

3) Reading up on each plant to learn better how to care for them.

4) Lots of compost. :)


It is still early in the season and the late start will set back my overall production a bit but things are looking good so far.


Lost to the gophers:

Cucumber x4
Dill x2
Cilantro x1
Hungarian pepper x1


Death toll:

Gophers: 8 plants
Dogs: 3 gophers


Here is what has sprouted and is growing well:

Corn x6
Pumpkin x2
Watermelon x2
Zucchini x5
Cucumber x2
Summer squash, vine x4
Summer squash, bush x2
Scallop squash x4
Cilantro x1
Sweet basil x2
Bib lettuce x6
Butter lettuce x8
Multicolored carrots x30
Finger carrots x20
Snap bean x3
Bush bean x3
Snap pea x3
Slicing tomato x2
Cherry tomato x2
Chard x1
Spinach x3
Strawberries x27
Bell pepper x2
Broccoli x3
Cauliflower x3
Nasturtiums x10 (edible flowers)
Chives
Green onions
1 large onion-like plant that I cannot identify but that grew from a sprig handed to me by a friend last year


I intentionally planned to overproduce by a bit for 2 reasons:

1) I want to be able to give some food to the local food banks and programs.

2) I want to learn how to can this Fall.


The tomatoes and strawberries have required lots of pruning lately as they are growing like weeds, the zucchini is already budding, my dogs have 3 confirmed gopher kills (I couldn't figure out what was digging in my raised beds until our wolf mix brought me one as a present a couple of weeks ago), I have compost coming out of my ears, I have a ton of wildflower seeds on standby to fill in any gaps and to help attract bees, and the drip system is dialed in.

So far there have been no pests other than moles. No squash bugs, no aphids, etc.but I am ready for them if they show up. The local gardening center sells lady bugs and I know what the squash bugs look like (and they are relatively slow so you can catch them by hand and squash them).

I'm still a rookie but things are looking promising indeed. :)

Good deal. Do you have pictures?

I'm having better success with my gardens this year also.

Landscaping cloth is my friend this year. :D - Dale

Sounds great Brian. I do what I call gardening using organic practices because it is only the fourth season in my new place and I do not know what the others might have sprayed around. Another couple seasons and I can consider it organic.

In Nevada can’t you direct plant seeds, you must have good long seasons. Here in north central NC I direct seed everything, tomatoes included. I started this after having some volunteer tomatoes and sweet peppers do fantastic, better than transplanted ones. Sure the neighbors can have a few earlier vegetables but my plants are very strong and deep rooted. They seem more adept at surviving the hot, dry summers than transplanted ones.

I also suck at any indoor plant, too much love and attention I think.

My spring vegetables are about over, summer crop is starting to blossom with lots of green tomatoes and tiny peppers. Come September I’ll plant the fall crops, same as the springtime.

Good eating!!!

In Nevada can’t you direct plant seeds,
You can but our growing season is just a little too short and violent to count on it. Our typical season is the 3rd week of May to the second week of October, but as the planet warms up things are changing. For example, late last August we had 3 straight days over 100F and that killed the breed of corn that's supposed to flourish here, with 2/3-sized ears on each stalk. Conversely, a storm came through in the first week of October that dipped the temperature down to about 34F for just one night and that killed off my squashes a few weeks early, with roughly a dozen vegetables on the vines.

This is why I wanted to do indoor seedlings this year, to give my plants an extra 6 weeks over last year's season. Too bad it didn't work out. :(

Suspect your "moles" are actually gophers (aka ground squirrels) which are the gardener's nemesis out west. True moles are carnivorous and only cause collateral damage to your crops as they dig tunnels in pursuit of grubs and worms. Gophers (and voles (meadow mice) in wetter climes) are vegetarian and love to dine on vegetables. A good mousing cat hanging out around the garden can be a good gopher and vole deterrent.

Woody, ditto regarding the qualities of volunteer vegetable seedlings. Cherry tomatoes are a weed and would totally take over my garden if I didn't keep them weeded out of the areas where I didn't want them to grow. Cukes, squash, melons, leaf amaranth, cowpeas, pole beans, and lettuce are also decent self-seeders and sometimes produce interesting and climate-hardy improvements over the cultivars originally grown in previous years. I usually let some of my most vigorously growing vegetable specimens go to bloom, both to produce seed and as a nectar source for beneficial insects.

Right now I have a growing a monster lettuce plant that popped up on its own last fall (a cross from last winter's Winter Density X Rouge d'Hiver). It grew through the winter totally unprotected and totally undamaged by winter lows of 10F, and has now formed a leafy mass 3 feet across and 3 feet high as it thinks about getting ready to flower.

Suspect your "moles" are actually gophers (aka ground squirrels) which are the gardener's nemesis out west. True moles are carnivorous and only cause collateral damage to your crops as they dig tunnels in pursuit of grubs and worms. Gophers (and voles (meadow mice) in wetter climes) are vegetarian and love to dine on vegetables.
Oh, right you are! Thank you for the correction. The original post now reflects this.

Brian,

Seems like you are off to a good start. Document each year where you planted what and results etc.

You should look into floating row covers. No organic gardener should be without these. I now have no potato beetles or cabbage worms that used to really be a problem. They also protect from minor frosts and offer protection from the wind, which is also a big problem for my garden. I even use it to cover sprouting seeds.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2008-02-01/No-spray-Way-to-Protect-Plants.aspx

Wayne

You can but our growing season is just a little too short and violent to count on it. Our typical season is the 3rd week of May to the second week of October, but as the planet warms up things are changing. For example, late last August we had 3 straight days over 100F and that killed the breed of corn that's supposed to flourish here, with 2/3-sized ears on each stalk. Conversely, a storm came through in the first week of October that dipped the temperature down to about 34F for just one night and that killed off my squashes a few weeks early, with roughly a dozen vegetables on the vines.

This is why I wanted to do indoor seedlings this year, to give my plants an extra 6 weeks over last year's season. Too bad it didn't work out. :(

I'm a little surprised that heat killed your corn--so long as it has water it usually likes the heat--sweet corn has always been hit and miss for me too, maybe because I skimp on fertilizer?

Just a quick suggestion for stretching your season a little. If you're like me you'd like to start your peppers, eggplants and other hot season plants out earlier by giving them protection. Use a five gallon water cooler bottle with the bottom cut out as a cloche (i.e. a mini-greenhouse) over your young transplants. It keeps them warmer in the early season and keeps the pests off--they start off a lot better. The only problem is cloches take storage space in the off-season.

When I've asked our local water distributor if they have any leakers, they've always been kind enough to give some bottles to me instead of dumpstering them. It's a re-use idea that might be up your alley.

In my garden the radishes and green onions are just finishing, but the lettuces, spinach, basil and cilantro are going strong. Garlic and cooking onions are starting to develop bulbs. For some reason the peas didn't do well this time (no big loss in my opinion). The pepper plants that have cloches look happy, the others don't. The bean hills look good but they haven't started climbing their tri-pods yet. Melon and pumpkin plants are waiting to emerge.

Strawberries are just ripening and it looks like we'll have a good crop of all three of our varieties this season. The blueberries and raspberries have fruit set on, but it's too soon to tell how well they'll do. No peaches this year, their flowers (and most leaves) were killed in the bud by harsh cold this winter. The apples came through the cold OK, but I haven't checked how the fruit set--we had cool, drizzly weather during blossom time so the pollinators weren't very active.

Suspect it was the ultra-low relative humidity that accompanied the 100+ degree temps that killed the corn. Corn originated in high humidity locations in Mexico and had to be selected for over the eons by native Americans to be able to grow in low-humidity desert Southwest, but the extremes of the desert climate can still cause them grief.

If you want to extend your growing season, you could set up cold frames. The design I use in my garden works well in locations that get a lot of sunny days during the cooler parts of the year and maintains above freezing temps inside down to 10F. They keep my garden producing cool season vegatables all winter. I usually leave them in place past the last possible spring frost date and it gives the heat lovers an early boost on the growing season. I had self-sown cherry tomatoes pop up in them last Nov after I had set up the frames following the first fall frost. They grew slowly all winter and are now over 6 feet high (self-sown tomatoes that popped up in the uncovered beds are now 2 feet high).

Currently in my garden the fava beans are about finished for the season (canned about 50 pints) and the sugar snap peas are mid-way through their season (about 40 pints so far). The June bearing (May bearing in my climate) strawberries are done, but the everbearers are still producing. Sweet cherries and mulberries are in mid-season. Blackberries and summer squash are just starting to come in. Jeruselum artichokes are 7 feet high. Pole beans are 5 feet high, yard long beans are 3 feet high, corn is 3 feet high. Onions are starting to go dormant and will ready to lift in another week or two. Radishes, lettuce, leaf amaranth, chard, collards, kale, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower are all being currently being harvested. Irish potatoes are blooming and am in the process of transplanting sweet potatoes into the fava and pea beds as they are cleared out. Cowpeas are being seeded into the natural farmed beds where fava beans were grown during the winter. Hopefully will be harvesting cherry tomatoes within a week.

It rained all through yesterday evening but I was able to get some pictures this morning.

My garden:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/medium/1_-_Garden.jpg

This was (is?) the gopher's favorite bed. You can see the areas they dug out recently:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/medium/2_-_Gopher_bed.jpg

Here are the cucumber seedlings I was able to rescue but each of them has been damaged by the gophers. I've rebuilt that mound twice but have since given up on it:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/medium/3_-_Gopher_damage.jpg

This is our new grape trellis:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/4_-_grapes.jpg

And here are the strawberries that we keep on the patio:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/medium/5_-_Strawberries.jpg

That is a huge rosemary bush in the back of pics 1 and 2! Nice. :D

That is a huge rosemary bush in the back of pics 1 and 2! Nice. :D
I wish! That's just an ornamental bush. I do have a rosemary bush on the other side of the yard (placed there by the original landscapers as an ornamental) that's about the size of a microwave. I pruned it last weekend and pulled out about about a third of its mass that was dead. The rest of the bush seems to be thriving, though. I have learned how to cook with rosemary thanks to that bush. :)

Oh, sorry. Honestly, though, you don't need THAT much rosemary. As awesome as it is, you can have too much of a good thing.

Have you had success with corn before? I've never had success with it in my small garden. I've heard it's better to have a LOT of it, for pollination.

Have you had success with corn before? I've never had success with it in my small garden. I've heard it's better to have a LOT of it, for pollination.
Not yet. Last year (my first year) the low humidity combined with extra hot temperatures in August killed it off early. This year I am trying a locally produced seed variety which lots of folks swear by. We'll see how it goes as the season progresses.

My front yard project: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drimportracing/sets/72157619390012756/show/

Maybe it will distract the neighbors until I can get the grass mowed and the bushes trimmed.

That's my friend Bryan from Rhode Island doing all the work while I take pictures, he is a Mayflower descendant and new hypermiler too. :D - Dale

Back yard garden: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drimportracing/sets/72157619309225269/show/

I put a hat in the picture to get a perspective of size. It rained a few days ago so I also took pictures of my new botanical Slip and Slide. :eek: - Dale

I will have to post some pics of our garden.

Strawberries
Blueberries
Blackberries
Black raspberries
Red raspberries
lettus
yellow peppers
red peppers
beans
Asparagus
Cabbage
Broc
Caulflower
Tomatoes (golden cherries)

here are the pics I took this morning.
the new rain barrels (I install 2 yesteday and after the storms tonight we have 110 gals of fresh rain water) :D
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/519/medium/West_RB.jpg
west side Strawberry bed
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/519/medium/West_SB_s.jpg
hanging pepper plant (we have red and yellow)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/519/medium/hangers.jpg
Raspberry Heaven
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/519/medium/Raspberries.jpg
the main stawberry patch (we also have another small bed infront of the back patio)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/519/medium/SB_patch.jpg
Golden Cherry Tomatoes
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/519/medium/Tomatoes.jpg
Cauliflower, Sweet Potatoes in the back and hopefully peas where the gate is
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/519/medium/caul_and_SP.jpg
Lettus, Blue berries in pots, black berries, black raspberries in the back, cabbage and Broccoli
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/519/medium/BB_BB_letus.jpg
Green Beans and Asparagus (for next year)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/519/medium/Asp_and_GB_s.jpg

Great stuff, Jason. :)

Very nice!

it sure helps with the food bills, and it if FRESH. The Kids love it.

Jason,
Nice variety. I dropped the ball on the berry planting this year, with each year I hope to get progressively better and more diverse. Raised beds and homemade compost are next years goals. I'm getting zucchini and yellow squash nearly everyday now.

Looking forward to seeing the tomatoes put on, I've got some heirloom pink, purple, yellow and of course not so traditional red planted, I started 72 from seed and originally 50 some looked strong but after a few days of bad gardening I culled it to about 40 that survived my inattention, The neighbors got 15, I planted 5 which you see in the garden and I repotted the other 20. I lost track of which ones were what kind so it will be interesting to see how it all turns out. - Dale

Great thread everyone!

This is my first year gardening and I found 4 friends to share a couple of plots at the nearby community garden. Being a city boy, this is all pretty amazing stuff and a great learning experience for me! I am primarily responsible for planting and weeding the corn and the broccoli.

I am also in charge of the website (http://sites.google.com/site/gardenlog/) where we take pictures to track our progress. I'm calling it a Glog (Garden Log). I'm trying to get pictures every 5 days or so to watch the progression of it all.

So Jason, how did you get the upside down pepper to grow? I can see that it is a 2 liter bottle, but did you add the soil and seed while it was already upside down? Or did you turn it after it sprouted?

- Rob

Actually, the wife bought the peppers cheap at a local place and they were about 3-4" already. I just trimmed the bottom of the 2L to almost cut off, so it make a hinge. Then I put some wire on through the sides near the top, took the plans out of the tray, dipped the leaves in water to help lubricate them, carefully put the plant in the bottle and pushed the leaves out the neck. Filled with soil and watered. I would think you would want to trans plant things to the bottle instead of starting from seed as I think they would have a tendence to try and grow up through the soil, but once they have sprouted it should work. As I have done on mine at home, I have wrapped in foam insulation so that they don't bake in the sun to much. That is what the topse turvey (Sp) product does with a outer shell, just a shade thing and to make it look pretty. But hey, I am not in to pretty, I just want them to grow and for pennies to make, you can't beat it :Banane18:

Dale, it is always fun anyway to have the garden suprise you with what is growing. My wife direct planted some small Cantulope and the birds or something redistributed them. We thought that they were eaten, but lately we have seen the leaves of a vine popping up in places that they were not placed. :D
We gave away 3 buckets of strawberry plants about 2 months ago, and just thinned out the raspberries and gave them way at work. We have some more Blackberries growing up from where they were before in the Strawberry patch, so I guess we will be giving those way or try and transplant those over to the other section. It keeps you on you toes, and you have to keep watching it everyday.

In addition to being fresh, you can grow the better-tasting cultivars (i.e. Brandywine tomatoes and other heirlooms) that lack some of the qualities valued by commercial growers, shippers, and grocery stores, so you'll never see them in the stores and rarely at the farmer's markets. The qualities valued by the commercial markets include looks pretty, ripens all at once on the plant for convenient one-pass harvesting, tough skins so they can be ping pong balled into their shipping containers without damage, and a long shelf life so they still look decent a week after harvest. "Tastes good" is near the bottom of their list and I've read about university breeding programs where they were so concentrated on improving the former qualities that the researchers had never even tasted the fruit produced by the new great-looking, good-shipping, long-storing cultivars they were releasing for commercial production.

I used to hate eggplant because of the nasty aftertaste found in the typical grocery store eggplant, but then I grew some in my garden and found that they had a totally different and excellent flavor when picked straight from the garden and have been growing them ever since.

I'm growing shredded lettuce! Actually, the other veggies are shredded, the lettuce is more beat to a pulp. We had enough hail to nearly cover the ground, twice in 4 days. The first time, we were 1/2 mile from home on the big bike when it started.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3459/3698593242_206de117f0.jpg

This is a 2 day harvest excluding the tomatoes. Mine are still green but bigger and uglier which should indicate their superior anticipated tastiness. There will be as much to pick in 2-3 more days. Not bad for an 8' X 30' plot. The big zucchini is 18" long and is still soft. I unfortunately can't claim organic for my garden.

I used 2 tsp of soluble Miracle-Gro for 2 gallons of water each of the three times I've fertilized this year once in May, June, and then July. I've Sevin dusted twice for insects but will be able to reduce that to once next season or not at all with new methods that I've learned as I'm concerned with running off pollinators and much prefer everything as nature designed with a completely self sustaining ecosystem.

I'm going to incorporate more organic methods each season. I consider August to be my next season and will plant my fall vegetables then. My friend and I are thinking about installing a greenhouse in each of our back yards for the winter season. I have a 13' x 20' portable pole carport that if I remove the tarp cover and wrap it in clear plastic should be a cheap alternative to an expensive greenhouse.

I would like to know what you use for pests, both insects and rodents?
How do you supplement your soil? Do you compost?
What would you plant in August? Your climate zone might be important to mention too!
Do you save your seeds or buy from garden centers each year?
What are the 10 best tips you can pass on to a new gardener?


Let's keep this thread growing! :D - Dale

I handpick squash bugs, leaf-footed bugs, and cabbage loopers. I've found that a foliar spray of seaweed emulsion is very effective for making pole beans, plums, blackberries, peaches, cherries, and many other crops less attractive to Japanese beetles and other insect pests. The emulsion contains lots of micronutrients that may be in short supply in the soil, that allows the plant to rev up its chemical defenses against the pests. You spray it on the leaves once or twice just before the beetle season starts and its good for the rest of the summer. Or if you procrastinate and come out to find your bean leaves covered with feasting/mating beetles, spray them with seaweedemulsion, and several days later there will scarcely be a beetle to be found on them.

I sheet compost in the garden paths and mound compost sheep manure/hay next to the garden.

In August I plant cole crops for the fall/winter growing season here in zone 7a.
September/October, more brassica, radishes, beets, storage carrots, lettuce.
Late Oct/Nov, lettuce, spinach, corn salad, miner's lettuce.

Save some seed, buy some seed (mostly on-line. the garden centers for the most part don't carry the cultivars I grow, or don't have them in stock at the times that I would be planting them).

So I looked up:

seaweed emulsion and how to make it: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/organic/2002080041031662.html

cole crops: broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage...

brassica: cole crops

corn salad: http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/corn_salad.htm :confused:

miner's lettuce: http://www.backyardnature.net/sierras/minelett.htm

Thanks for the educational leads, basjoos. :D - Dale

Great looking spread, Dale!

So far, we have picked and eaten lettuce, onions, tons of tomatoes, bush beans, bell peppers, carrots, and broccoli. The cucumbers are between 4-12", so some of it should be ready by next week. The corn is at about 7' tall, has tassled, and silked, so we should have some of that in the next couple of weeks as well.

I haven't taken any "harvest" pictures, but I have to do that soon and post it like you did.


I would like to know what you use for pests, both insects and rodents?


We planted Marigolds and Zinnias on the perimeter and in bare spots within the garden to repel the rabbits, chipmunks, and squirrels and it seems to have been effective since they are running rampant all around the garden, but haven't eaten anything (yet, knock on wood).

Haven't had to combat the insects too much this year, but that was probably just luck on our part. I am going to try the seaweed emulsion for next year, thanks for the link. We are headed down to Holden Beach at the end of July, so I may just harvest my own, dry it, and brew it next spring.


How do you supplement your soil? Do you compost?


We plant/transplant clover in amongst the corn to feed it nitrogen. We also use a Mantis to plow everything left in the garden in the fall for next spring. It does a great job of finely chopping the remnants and putting them 4-6 inches deep into the soil. We do rake it out in the spring to get the large clumps out.


What would you plant in August? Your climate zone might be important to mention too!


Too cold for us to have a second harvest up in zone 5.


Do you save your seeds or buy from garden centers each year?


We mostly harvest our own seeds, dry them in the garage all winter, and start them indoors in Feb/Mar. We did buy plants this year for the Roma and Brandywine tomatoes, since this was our first year with them.

- Rob

So I looked up:

seaweed emulsion and how to make it: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/organic/2002080041031662.html

cole crops: broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage...

brassica: cole crops

corn salad: http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/corn_salad.htm :confused:

miner's lettuce: http://www.backyardnature.net/sierras/minelett.htm

Thanks for the educational leads, basjoos. :D - Dale

I get my seaweed emulsion from Neptune's Harvest.

Cole crops and brassica are not identical in meaning. Cole crops are European in origin and are selections (European cabbage, collards, kale, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower) of Brassica oleracea.

Brassica includes the cole crops, but also includes mustards, turnips, rutabagas, canola, rapeseed, Chinese cabbage, komatsuna, and a host of other related Chinese vegetables.

Incidentally, many Chinese brassicas (and also the Chinese spinach cultivars) are much more productive in cold frames during the short days of late fall/winter than their European and American counterparts. Their drawback is that they tend to bolt sooner when the days start to lengthen in March.

If you are growing lettuce under cold frames through the winter, use the European cultivars (Winter Density, Rouge d'hivor, and others) bred for winter use, as they are much cold hardier and productive under short day conditions than the usual lettuce cultivars people grow during the normal growing season.

I do a lot of handpicking bugs also. It really helps to be in the garden every day so you can see the beginning of an infestation rather than find it when it is out of control. My go to pesticide is Pyola from Gardens Alive. The stuff works great for me.

I had blister beetles two years ago on the tomatoes. Let me tell ya, those are some nasty little buggers! Within a day (from one evening to the next) there were literally a thousand of them and they devastated two of the tomato plants. Pyola did the trick, those little bastages fell like rain. Two weeks after they disappeared I was still getting blisters on my ankles from the grass around the garden! I hosed the tomato plants every day for those two weeks to the point fruits were splitting. I would rub my arm over the plants and a while later blisters. I didn’t dare eat anything out of the garden after that. :eek:

Sorry for that rant, it was very traumatic for me and the first time I’ve ever seen them.

The best defense against insect pests is happy and healthy plants. Keeping your whole garden happy and healthy invites good insects and friends to help control the problem visitors. Do you have any toad houses? Any praying mantises? It doesn’t take many friends to help you control the unwanted visitors!

I do the marigolds and nasturtiums also. Not really sure if it helps but looks nice and attracts bees. Speaking of bees, my bee balm finally took off this year and I will be planting a few bunches near the garden. My wildflower plots are within 50’ of the garden and they also attract beneficials and bees.

Rodents and deer? I have the garden fenced in! I bought 8’ metal fence posts, put a 3’ x 2” x 3” mesh fence up and clothes line around the tops of the posts to make it look scary for the deer. Wendy, my black lab, helps also by poop and peeing around the garden. She’s a good girl and will go about where I tell her so we can spread it around.

Human hair, soap, dryer sheets all help deter larger pests like deer and rabbits. Don’t use them all at the same time and vary the use. Apparently they will get accustomed to the smell after a while and you will need to switch to another one. I save all my bar soap when it gets to that really small, thin piece and breaks on you and use it the next season around the yard. The barber is used to me asking for floor sweepings so all the jokes about it have stopped there.

The next part is not for the squeamish so if you have tender eyes, please stop now. I pee in a bottle at home and spread that around nightly. Sure you can urinate while you are outside but I save it all when I am inside. Not only does it deter varmints (due to the carnivore odor I believe) but it is high in nitrogen and the wildflowers love it!

What else... Compost is your friend! If you have never composted you would be amazed at how easy it is and at what you can mix in the pile; paper, cardboard, table scraps, yard waste, cotton clothing… Following just a few simple rules it is a no fail process. Basic rule is don’t overload it with too much of one thing, keep it diversified. I’m not referring to piles like Basjoos sheep manure/hay or leaves but to the household waste piles. Have more than one pile, I have a long term pile and short term piles. Keep it damp, mixed and happy and before you know it you have home made black gold.

I select my best producing plants with the traits I liked and let them go to seed. I will stop picking them after selection and let them have a nice happy life producing seeds for me. I do still buy seeds to try new varieties but try to do most by myself.

Sheesh, I think this is long enough now.

- Woody