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Ingredients to a Successful Vegetable Garden. Presented by: Kent Phillips kent.a.phillips@gmail.com. Maryland Master Gardeners’ Mission. To educate Maryland residents about safe, effective and sustainable horticultural practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities.
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Ingredients to a Successful Vegetable Garden Presented by: Kent Phillips kent.a.phillips@gmail.com
Maryland Master Gardeners’Mission To educate Maryland residents about safe, effective and sustainable horticultural practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities.
www.extension.umd.edu/growit Grow Your Own Food We Can Show You How Click on Classes Tab And Scroll down to Howard County
Ingredients to a Successful Vegetable Garden • Healthy soil • Full sun • Sufficient soil moisture and air • Maximize the use of garden space • Keeping pests to acceptable levels • IPM • Grow recommended vegetable varieties
Importance Of These Ingredients • Healthy soil grows healthy vegetables which resist insect attack • Vegetables require maximum sun exposure • Vegetables require an inch of water (.62 gallons) per week per square foot of garden area • Plants can withstand some pest damage (10%) but don’t let it get out of hand. • HGIC recommended vegetables grow
What is Healthy Soil • Soil rich in organic matter (OM) with lots of invertebrates • Has lots of pores for air and water • Add OM to garden every year • Build up a reserve of humus • Six inches of OM for new gardens • One inch for established gardens
Healthy soil (cont.) • Soil with proper pH and nutrient levels • Do a soil test • Follow recommendations • Univ. of MD recommends adding .2 lbs. of N/100 sq. ft. • 2 lbs. 10-10-10/100 sq. ft. • 3 lbs. of 7-3-1 (soybean meal) • 1.8 lbs. of 12-0-0 (blood meal) • .2 lbs/% N = lbs. of fertilizer
Healthy soil (cont.) • Online references at www.extension.umd.edu/hgic • Click on “Information Library”, “Publications” and “Soil, Mulch and Composting” • HG11 - Soil test basics • HG110 - Selecting and using a soil testing laboratory • HG 42 - Soil amendments and fertilizers • HG 35 – Backyard Composting
Sun • Plants do best with full day sun • Minimum requirement for fruiting plants is 8-10 hours • Minimum requirement for leafy greens is 6 hours • Some cool season leafy greens (lettuce) will benefit from shade as temperatures increase
Soil Moisture • On average plants require one inch of water a week • One inch of water equals .62 gal./square foot • On a 4 by 8 foot bed, that’s 20 gallons of water • Moisture needs to be delivered to the plant roots • Most efficient method of delivery is drip irrigation • http://www.youtube.com/UMDHGIC Search for “Drip Irrigation” • Alternatively, use a soaker hose • Mulching plants helps conserve soil moisture • http://www.youtube.com/UMDHGIC Search for “Mulchzilla” • Place mulch over soil after soil has warmed
Maximizing Space Using Intensive Planting • Assume a four foot wide bed • In a 2 or 3 foot long area plant 5 broccoli plants in an x pattern • Plant 4 lettuce plants between the broccoli plants B L B L B L B L B L B L B L B
Intensive planting (con’t) • Assume a two by four foot square garden area • Plant three row of green beans (36 plants). Plant twice during the year. Plant legumes after heavy nitrogen feeders. • Plant four rows of beets, carrots or onions (48 beets or carrots, 24 onions) • Side dress (add additional fertilizer to) some vegetables as they grow • Plant peppers and eggplants in the same pattern as broccoli above • Plant tomatoes three feet apart on the north or west side of the garden
Succession Planting • Cool season vegetables grown spring and fall • Broccoli, kale, cauliflower, lettuce, beets, collards, turnips, Swiss chard, carrots, mustard • Warm season vegetables start May 15 • Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash • Use transplants when possible • Rotate crops • Plant beans after broccoli • Don’t plant tomatoes, eggplant or potatoes where they have been before
Start early, end late • Garden from 4/1 to 12/15 • See GE 007 or HG 16 for planting dates • Broccoli, kale, lettuce, beets, carrots, onions, peas, potatoes can all be put into the garden in mid March through April • In June replace with summer crops • Succession plant short days to maturity vegetables • Carrots, beets, every 3 weeks • cucurbits late June, use transplants and row cover • In August, transplant fall broccoli, etc. • In late August, early September, plant spinach, lettuce, turnips, and other fall crops • Fall spinach and kale will winter over for spring crop
Integrated Pest Management • 95% of insects aren’t vegetable pests • Use simple steps and common sense • Study – know your pest • Beans – Mexican bean beetle • Cucurbits – squash bug, vine bore and cucumber beetle • Brassica– imported cabbage moth/looper, harlequin bug • Solanaceous plants –Colorado potato beetle, flea beetle • Spy – look for pest and eggs under leaves • Squish large bugs– don’t use insecticide when fingers will work • An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure
Common Vegetable Pests Mexican Bean Beetle Eggs & larvae Adult • Row cover • Crush • Pyrethrum, neem, spinosad spray top and bottom of leaves
Common Vegetable Pests Squash Bug Adult Eggs & nymphs • No organic pesticide for homeowners • Floating row cover • Hand pick tear out section of leaf with eggs • Kill nymphs with neem, horticultural oil or insecticidal soap
Common Vegetable Pests Squash Vine Bore Larvae • Floating row cover • Cut out borer and mound soil over wound
Common Vegetable Pests Cucumber Beetle Spotted Stripped Floating row cover Pyrethrum, neem oil, spinosad
Common Vegetable Pests Imported Cabbage Looper Larvae Adult • Floating row cover • Bacillus Thuringensis (BT), insecticidal soap • Pyrethrum, neem, spinosad – use with sticker spreader
Common Vegetable Pests Harlequin bug Adult Eggs & nymphs • Row cover • Crush • Insecticidal soap alone or with pyrethrum or neem
Common Vegetable Pests Colorado Potato Beetle Adults Floating row cover over hoops Surround (kaolin clay) – reapply after rain B.t. var. tenebrionis and spinosad
Common Vegetable Pests Flea Beetle Adults Floating row cover over hoops Surround (kaolin clay) – reapply after rain Pyrethrum, neem, spinosad
Common Vegetable Pests Stink Bugs BMSB Adult Southern Green Stink Bug Brown • True hard shell bugs like squash and stink bugs are hard to kill • Use row cover where possible • Hand pick and destroy adults and eggs • Insecticidal soap and botanicals can be used on 1st and 2nd instars (nymphs) • No organic pesticide available for homeowners to kill adults
Beneficials v. Pests • Attract predators and parasites with flowers • Plant open faced flowers and herbs • Mint (anise hyssop, thyme) • Carrot (dill, yarrow) • Aster (tansy, marigold, zinnia) • Brassica (alyssum, dames rocket, Asian greens) • Ultimately, predators will increase as prey is available • Purchasing predators tends not to be effective • Ducks, chickens and toads • Make a toad house
Physical Controls & Barriers • Hand pick and destroy • Easy with large pests • Squash or drop in soapy water • Apply a barrier on the plant (Surround) • Kaolin clay • Use label rates • Cover the bed with a barrier (row cover) • .5 or .6 oz. per square foot • Can use 9 gauge galvanized wire to support row cover or simply lay over plants
Targeted Applications for Specific Pests • Bacillus Thuringiensis • Imported cabbage looper and other caterpillars • Horticultural oils • Insecticidal soap
Broad Spectrum Killers • With all pesticides • Always read the label • Follow label instructions • Pyrethrums – contact killer nerve toxin • Pyganic • Spinosad– ingestion, nerve/stomach poison • Low toxicity to beneficial insects • Neem oil – azadirachtin growth regulator • Works on contact and by ingestion
Resources • Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) • 800-342-2507 • http://www.extension.umd.edu/hgic • Click on “Information Library” and “Publications” • Grow-It-Eat-It website • http://www.extension.umd.edu/growit • Click on “Vegetables”, “Common Vegetable Problems” and “Insect Pests” • YouTube - Search subject http://www.youtube.com/UMDHGIC
This program was brought to you by Maryland Master Gardener Program Howard County University of Maryland Extension