After months of digging, leveling, hauling and hammering I finally have something other than resentment growing in my garden. I believe I did it! I believe I created my own vegetable heaven! And here’s how you can too.
every photo, I’m going to include a little tip on why I did any particular thing. For now, the garlic on the fence to cure it.
So here are the 19 tricks and tips that will make your garden productive and gorgeous!
Tip #1. Garlic
Garlic needs to be cured for two weeks outdoors in the shade so it will store for a long time. ( when it rains I cover it with a tarp)
At this very moment …
At this very moment, there are tomatoes ripening on the vine. Potatoes are growing under the soil, strawberries are bursting with color and Honeydew melons are sweetening by the day. that is how it will go till the end of summer unless I have to contend with … the massacre. The massacre is the influx of voles, raccoons, rabbits and cabbage moth. I’ve done everything possible to stop all the pests. It was hard work to do what needed to be done, but it’ll pay off by saving me vegetables later.
Let’s start with the design of the garden. I went with traditional rows as opposed to the trendier 4′ x 4′ square foot raised beds because I could fit more in this way and because I actually prefer the look and feel of long rows in a garden. It feels nostalgic to me.
My garden consists of a path that runs from the front gate to the back so I can access things I have beyond the garden fence like a compost bin, building materials, and my raspberry bushes.
As you can see, the beds are raised but they are not boxed in with wood. The advantage of this is cost and effort. Boxing in huge raised beds would cost tons of dollars and they’d all start to rot in a few years. I’d have to deconstruct the beds and buy more and rebuild the beds.
the soil falls around the edges so you can’t plant close to the edges as you can in a traditional, boxed raised bed. The only disadvantage though is that weeds grow on the sides of the beds so it’s a lot more weeding.
I’ll think about gradually turning them into boxed in beds if it all gets into my nerves this year, otherwise, I’ll stick with the raised, boxless beds.
Tip 2. No-dig gardening.
meaning you don’t till, prod or lift the soil at all. every year you add inches of compost on top of your beds and plant directly. Worms are magical little creatures for aerating beds and so plant roots. Do. Not. Dig. “potato beds don’t do well with no-dig”
Tip 3. A bean trellis
making a bean trellis that’ll last couple years buy some 1 x 1’s. hammer them into the soil or dig an inch deep hole and place a length of wood into each hole. Pull the pieces of wood together at the top and attach it with twine. Add a piece of wood lengthwise at the top and attach it. use plastic netting, chicken wire or run string back and forth between the wood to create a trellis for the beans to grow on.
Tip 4. weeds
stopping weeds in either beds or paths lay down a layer of newspaper then top it with 2-3″ of natural, cedar mulch. I have had a total of 4 weeds poke through in the entire summer. And actually they weren’t “weeds” they were quack grass. The newspaper eventually decomposes at which point you just need to top up your mulch every year.
Tip #5. corn
Corn is one of my favorite things in the garden because it’s a hit with me and it’s a hit with kids. a year ago I had my nephew and friends come to my garden to pick their own corn, then we went straight to my house and cooked it. I make a bet they forget 80 percent of what they did last summer but they always remember the corn.
Don’t grow corn in a single row. Each corn stalk pollinates those around it and it does a much better job of that if it’s grown in a clump. a square bed of corn will is more successful than a row. Also, don’t grow two varieties of corn near each other (especially ornamental and edible) because they’ll cross-pollinate and you’ll end up with some weird-ass corn.
Tip #6. Carrot
for carrots to germinate, plant the seeds into wet soil and then cover up for a week. Flatwood is the best option because it helps the seeds maintain contact with the soil. also, The wood keeps them dark which they like and keeps the soil damp. your carrot germination is screwed if the soil dries out, and since they’re so close to the top of the soil carrot seeds tend to dry out immediately unless you use this little trick.
Tip #7. Basket
Regularly keep something in your garden for putting vegetables in to take home, whether your home is 20 steps away or a 5-minute drive. How do you think you’re going to carry it all? if you think you’ll remember to bring a bag whenever you go into the garden you’re wrong.
For the times I forget it, which is almost always. I have a Tupperware container near my garden table filled with plastic bags.
Save baskets or bags for carrying vegetables in your garden at all times. Also, make sure you don’t wash the vegetables right away if you want them to store well. Brush the soil off of the veggies and leave it like that.
Wash them just before you’re going to prepare them to eat.
Tip #8 the plastic bubble?
what’s in that plastic bubble? it’s row cover that feels kind of like cloth. Row cover is a very lightweight that rain and sun can get through but bugs cannot. Not even the tiniest little midges.
It is the best way to grow hole-free kale, swiss chard, cabbage. It’s also the only way to grow broccoli that isn’t filled with cabbage worms.
To keep crops clean use row cover. you can make hoops out of flexible plumbing pipes or just “float” it right over the plants, holding the edges down with wood and rocks. This necessary for tall vegetables like kale.
for making the hoops, hammer rods or bamboo sticks into the ground on either side of the bed. rods and sticks must be smaller than the circumference of the plumbing pipe so the pipe can slip over the rod. This will hold the hoops in place.
you can buy hoops for around $2 per hoop or just drape the row cover over the hoops and secure with rocks or strips of wood.
Tip #9 potatoes?
I think I have a love of all things potato. Although clearly, I still feel like saying it. Potato chips, french fries, mashed potatoes, gnocchi, scalloped potatoes, roasted potatoes (recipe coming up Wednesday for the very BEST, crispy roasted potatoes).
I never met a potato I didn’t eat. So I grow a lot of them. This year I’m growing Russet baking potatoes, Kennebec potatoes (which are my preferred variety for french fries), Chiefton red (red potatoes make the best potato salad), and an epic variety of purple potatoes called Russian Blue that is dark, dark purple on the inside and out PLUS it retains its color after cooking. I’ve spent a lot of time experimenting with potatoes and making them easier to grow and I’ve come to decide this …
I have never had any huge loss of potato production from not hilling. on the other hand, I have experienced HUGE potato loss by using that dumb “grow in the straw” method.
it was easy dropping a potato onto the ground then covering it with couple feet of straw easy until its time to clean all the straw at the end of the season.
the method was useless and resulted in a harvest of about 4 potatoes. You may have experienced differently, but this is how it went for me.
Tip #10 watermelon
The other hit in the garden with kids are the melons. it is a life experience to sit down in a garden and consume a just picked Honeydew still warm from the sun
Don’t water your melons as they’re getting to the point of ripening. You’ll just dilute them. Less water when ripening = sweeter melons. The more melons ripening on the vine the less sweet they’ll be because they all have to share the sugars the vine leaves have produced. If you have a couple of melons of around the same size growing on the same plant pinch 2 of them off if you want a really sweet melon.
Tip #11 garden cleaning
Looks clean? I was taking pictures of it for a blog so yes, I cleaned it up a bit. But this year I actually vowed to keep on top of things no matter how busy I was. once the garden gets out of hand there’s no coming back.
pull weeds every time you go out into your garden. Make it a habit. The more you weed the fewer weeds you’ll have. Weeds flower and go to seed fast; in about the same length of time as a Quentin Tarantino movie runs. THIS is the crucial point. it will never end If you don’t get the weeds before they go to flower and seed you’re starting the cycle all over again. If you take the time in the spring and especially for that first year to get rid of all the weeds as they appear and never let them go to seed. We’re talking about actual weeds, not weed-weed. If you want to grow weed-weed that’s a whole other post.
12. Examine plants carefully before buying
The easiest way to limit disease in your garden is to avoid introducing it in the first place. Getting a disease with a new plant is not the kind of bonus that any of us wants. One of the hardest things to learn is what a healthy plant should look like, making it difficult to know if the one you want is sick.
It is a good idea to collect a few books, magazines, and catalogs that show what a healthy specimen looks like. Don’t take home a plant with dead spots, rotted stems, or insects. These problems can easily spread to your healthy plants and are sometimes hard to get rid of once established.
13. Use fully composted yard waste
Not all materials in a compost pile decompose at the same rate. Some materials may have degraded sufficiently to be put in the garden, while others have not. Thorough composting generates high temperatures for extended lengths of time, which actually kill any pathogens in the material. Infected plant debris that has not undergone this process will reintroduce potential diseases into your garden. If you are not sure of the conditions of your compost pile, you should avoid using yard waste as mulch under sensitive plants and avoid including possibly infected debris in your pile
14. Keep an eye on your bugs
Insect damage to plants is much more than cosmetic. Viruses and bacteria often can only enter a plant through some sort of opening, and bug damage provides that. Some insects actually act as a transport for viruses, spreading them from one plant to the next. Aphids are one of the most common carriers, and thrips spread impatiens necrotic spot virus, which has become a serious problem for commercial producers over the past 10 years. Aster yellows (photo, right) is a disease carried by leafhoppers and has a huge range of host plants. Insect attacks are another way to put a plant under stress, rendering it less likely to fend off disease.
15. Clean up in the fall
It is always best to clean out the garden in the fall, even if you live in a moderate climate. This is not only an effective deterrent to disease but also a good way to control diseases already in your garden.
Diseases can overwinter on dead leaves and debris and attack the new leaves as they emerge in spring. Iris leaf spot, daylily leaf streak, and black spot on roses are examples of diseases that can be dramatically reduced if the dead leaves are cleared away each fall. If you are leaving stems and foliage to create winter interest, be sure to remove them before new growth starts in spring.
16. Prune damaged limbs at the right time
Trimming trees and shrubs in late winter is better than waiting until spring. Wounded limbs can become infected over the winter, allowing the disease to become established when the plant is dormant. Late-winter pruning prevents the disease from spreading to new growth. Although late-winter storms can cause new damage, it is still better to trim back a broken limb than ignore it until spring is underway. Always use sharp tools to make clean cuts that heal rapidly, and make sure to cut back to healthy, living tissue.
17. Choose and site plants appropriately
Successful gardening is based on using plants appropriate for your zone and site. If you set a shade-loving plant, like an azalea, in full sun, it will grow poorly and be easily attacked by diseases and insects. I once had a crape myrtle planted were part of its leaves was in the shade. This was the only part of the plant that had powdery mildew.
Plants have defenses similar to a human’s immune system, which swings into action when plants are under attack from an insect or disease. If plants are under stress, they cannot react with full strength to fight off or recover from diseases. Stressed plants, therefore, are more likely to succumb to these afflictions
17. Water properly
Watering your garden is a good thing, but since many diseases need water just as much as plants do, how you go about it makes a big difference. Many pathogens in the soil and air need water to move, grow, and reproduce. To avoid giving these diseases an environment they love, choose watering methods that limit moisture on a plant’s foliage. Soaker hoses and drip irrigation accomplish this. If you are watering by hand, hold the leaves out of the way as you water the roots.
The most common leaf problems are exacerbated when leaves are wet, so overhead sprinkling is the least desirable option. If you choose this method, however, water at a time when the leaves will dry quickly but the roots still have time to absorb the moisture before it evaporates.
18. Plant disease-resistant varieties
Disease-resistant plants are those that might get sick with a particular problem but will fight off the disease instead of succumbing to it. For instance, some tomatoes are coded as “VFN resistant,” which means the tomato variety is resistant to the fungi Verticillium and Fusarium and to nematodes.
If you start looking for these codes on flowers, you’ll probably be disappointed because disease resistance is rarely identified on plant tags. This doesn’t mean that numerous flower varieties are not resistant to disease. Many rose companies offer plants that are resistant to diseases like powdery mildew and black spot.