Pests I have known

At least - pests I got to know this year. 

Aphids and Whitefly

Aphids are very small soft-bodied insects, and I've seen green, white, yellowish, black, and brown aphids in my garden.  They will congregate on young stems and leaves, beneath older leaves, and often on flower buds and young fruit.  They penetrate the plant tissues with their mouth to feed on them.  An interesting fact is that they secrete a sweet sticky substance that some kinds of ants like to feed on.  The ants like the stuff so much that sometimes they will carry the otherwise slow-moving aphids up onto plants and place them there to return and harvest their secretions! 

Being small, aphids will usually not cause significant damage unless they occur in very large numbers.  They can be easily dislodged from plants using a water hose (make sure you aim the hose upwards to get them from underneath leaves).  They are also easily controlled with horticultural oil, which can be made at home (I'll let you Google to find what sounds like your favorite recipe).  Ladybugs LOVE aphids, and so do Preying/Praying Mantises.  Welcome both into your garden! 

Whitefly are similar in habits to aphids, only my experience has been that they can take over and more quickly cause real trouble in your garden.  They can be controlled with horticultural oil but application is trickier since they will fly off the plant at first hint of trouble, making it difficult to douse them efficiently.   On the plant they may look like a soft moldy substance, but upon gentle agitation of leaves they'll fly up all over the place and in your face. 

A byproduct of an infestation of aphids, and also of whitefly, is something called sooty mold.  Like aphids, whitefly secrete a sweet sticky substance.  Should enough of that stickiness remain on your plants for long enough, sooty mold can begin to grow within the sticky stuff on your plants.  It is very black and almost looks like somebody spray painted your plants.  The sooty mold will often do more damage than the aphids or whitefly themselves, as it blocks out light and oxygen from reaching plant cells.  Prune off effected plant parts and destroy them far away from your garden.  Don't add them to your compost pile.  Then get rid of the aphids or whitefly. 

In my garden this year I had a few aphids here and there, mainly on the squash flowers and substantially on the tenderest growth of my okra plants.  I did see the ants helping them out on the okra.  They were not enough of a problem for me to do much other than spray them off the plants as I watered each time.  Whitefly showed up more recently, but as my summer garden was already in decline, I've not given them any attention.  Since cleaning out the garden in preparation for some fall planting, I've not noticed the whitefly at all.  They do need host plants to be close together in order to thrive. 

Leaf Miners and Vine Borers

You know you have leaf miners when you see their tracks on the leaves of squash, cucumber, and sometimes tomatoes or peppers.  They are pretty harmless - I've never had trouble enough with them to warrant any treatment; they generally don't do enough damage to enough leaves to significantly set the plant back. 

You know you have vine borers when a leaf and stem on your squash plant wilts and turns yellow, then brown.  I'm not including a photo of the borer itself as you won't see them unless you cut off the affected stem, slice it open, and find the disgusting-looking grub slithering about inside.  Since they hide out underground until they bore into thick stems for their sustenance, they are very difficult to control.  The best non-chemical method is to be vigilant, and as soon as you see a leaf beginning to wilt, do as described above and stomp the life out of the buggers. 

Squash Bugs
The photo here shows an immature squash bug - a smaller, round grey version of the adult - which are larger, more elongated, and brown - almost blackish in color.  They can be confused with stink bugs, but are not quite the same insect.  Some varieties have long angular legs and can look quite scary. 

I had few of these in my main garden plot, but I believe a large infestation of them to be the cause of the sudden and complete death of all butternut and acorn squash in my compost garden. They will congregate in large numbers on the central stems, vines, leaves, and fruit of squash plants, and sometimes cucumbers.  At first they appeared to be causing no real damage, but they seemed to launch a sudden and complete attack on the plants all at once, sucking the life out of them.  Literally my plants were green one day and wilted, yellow, and browning the next.  Next year I will not tolerate these curious-looking insects in my garden.  They are very easy to step on, and if that doesn't work next year I'll look up what other methods can be used to eradicate them. 

Deer

Yes, deer.  We've got plenty in the area, and although I have not actually seen any in our yard for several years, the half-eaten apples under the apple tree are plenty suspicious.  I went out to the garden one morning to find the 3 okra plants on the end were completely defoliated.  They were already several feet tall and so I knew it could not have been rabbits.  It was too much damage to happen over one night to think it was some sort of insect, and the remaining bits of leaves had very obviously been chomped, not nibbled.  Those 3 plants were located right along any path that would be taken to the apple tree, and so I feel pretty good about my conclusion.

Other than the loss of those squash plants here at the end of the season and the deer keeping 3 okra plants pruned beyond production, there was no other significant damage from pests and I used no control methods other than spraying them off.  Once again I'm convinced that healthy plants and a well-maintained garden are a wonderful pest preventative.  At the end of the season I slacked on weeding and I noticed several new potential pests here and there - it became obvious to me that weeds are an exceptional place for pests to live, hide, and breed within your garden. 

My Compost Garden

It's always fun when you compost haphazardly as I do and when you mix that innocent-looking black richness into your garden soil and - Vavoom!  You find yourself growing more than what you planted.  It's kind of like a trip down memory lane of last year's farmers' market purchases.  It's kind of fun wondering what those sprouts may be - were they heirloom plants that will grow true to their variety and bring you a reliably-yummy garden vegetable?  Or are these seeds from a hybrid variety meaning there's no telling what strangeness may occur from here on out?  Normally I'm cautious about such a garden, as most frequently the latter has occurred, and oh - the strangeness!  But having purchased consistently from the AFM last season, I decided to give it a grow. 

There were a few tomatoes popping up, and my mind ran wild - could they be those Russian Purple variety, or that green-striped variety, or grape or cherry or plum tomatoes?  And the squash/melon/pumpkin vines which seemed to be doing very well - it was quite hard to maintain patience in wondering WHAT were they gong to BE?!  And then there was this lone determined sunflower. 

The tomatoes turned out to produce one normal-looking modest-sized tomato.  Which the birds pecked profusely.  Ah well.

The vines turned out to be a variety of pattypan, butternut, and acorn - what luck!  At first I was stir-frying the young butternut as I'd never seen a young butternut before - and let me tell you, they are quite yummy that way.  Then upon visiting my grandmother and seeing her intentionally-planted butternuts, I realized my error and was sad that I'd sacrificed those tender little ones instead of allowing them to mature to their wonderful ripe sweetness.  The acorn squash I recognized right away and since they matured much faster than the butternut, we had a satisfying harvest. 

The sunflower?  It is towering over our roof.  Just when we thought it couldn't get any taller, it would shoot up another 2 feet.  It appears, however, to be sympathizing with my crookneck squash and zucchini - no flowers.  Who knows. 

It was fun to learn that I could grow acorn and butternut squash without trying, and it became obvious to me that tomatoes do need attention if they are going to produce adequately, or at all. 

My new garden's first season

was rather satisfying.  Satisfying not in the great quantities of vegetables it provided (though the ones it did provide were immensely satisfying) but in the overall experience of this new plot.  As I mentioned in the very first post here, gardening is about trial-and-error.  I definitely learned some things that will give me greater success next year.

In my new plot I had 3 heirloom tomato plants, 2 hills of Tendergreen cucumbers, 2 of Armenian Long cucumbers, 2 "red" bell pepper plants, 7 green bell pepper plants, 2 cayenne, 2 hills of yellow crookneck squash, one of zucchini, 1 small row of green beans, 1 row of okra, 2 rows of corn, 2 hills of pumpkin plants, and basil.  Here are the results:

I am apparently lucky to have had any tomatoes at all - a neighbor from down the way explained there was a fungus in town that wiped out everybody else's.  So - go me and go heirlooms.  From mid-July onward I've been able to harvest about 3 nice maters each week.  They seemed slow to ripen and as a result, often ended up being attacked by birds before they were ready to pick.  I wouldn't mind so much if a bird would actually eat a tomato, instead of pecking holes in multiple fruits and leaving them to decay on the vines.  

Tomato goal for next year: plant earlier, look into some natural fertilizers to help boost production

This is the second year I planted Tendergreen cucumbers, and I'm still very pleased with how they grow and produce.  The Armenian long are a similar variety to the "English" cukes in the store that come wrapped in plastic.  I don't think I'll grow those again.  They sneak up on you - they'll stay this tiny little thing for a week and then BAM - you walk out there to find this monstrous overgrown cukemonster that seemed to have evolved overnight!  They take up a lot of garden room, and overall they did not produce in a significant quantity.  

Cucumber goal for next year: plant earlier and then begin successive plantings 2 weeks later, and try out an heirloom variety along with the tendergreen.

Peppers did pretty well - and I was exceptionally pleased with the results as I've had little luck with them in the past.  Plus, we eat a lot of peppers.  I think 9-ish plants is a good number, but next year I'll forgo the "red" bell pepper as they never really produce much different from the "green" bells and they tend to be more expensive as plants.  Cayenne peppers? - Are they really this easy for everyone?  Or maybe I can strut around a little bit because I am GREAT at growing profuse numbers of beautiful cayenne peppers.  Too bad they're too hot to be a real food source.  I'll be drying some and making hot pepper vinegar with the rest. 

Pepper goal:try one new, heirloom variety.


When it comes to squash and zucchini - I'm stumped.  Normally these are the easiest veggies to grow, but something was going very wrong in my garden for their taste this season.  I've looked all over the internet and places where I've found this problem mentioned, no solid determination was made as to the source of the problem and no good suggestions were made as to a remedy.  The dang female flowers would not open.  If they don't open, they don't get pollinated.  If they don't get pollinated, they don't make no squash.  Or zucchini.  And after a few weeks of this, they quit making female flowers altogether!  Dang chauvinists.  There I was with the most beautiful, huge, big dark leafy green squash plants that anybody had ever seen!  Seriously!  I could have won an award.  And by the end of July I stared them down and ripped them from their roots.  Beauty will earn you nothing in my garden unless you are a vegetable.  I actually wonder if the problem is endemic to this garden spot as a whole as I felt strongly the cukes should have many more female flowers as well.

Squash goal: get soil tested, talk to some experts, try different varieties, preferably heirloom.

My row of green beans?  Well, it wasn't.  By the time I planted them I was tired of caring for seedlings and so I won't speculate as to the problem since they never got the attention they deserved.  Goal for next year - try harder.

This was the first year I grew okra, and - yeah boy! - I can do it, I can do it well, and next year I'll plant more!  And next year I will NOT burn myself in 12 different places trying to fry said okra and hopefully I will no longer fear frying okra and so hopefully I will not get shamefully behind on picking it such that what remains is suitable only for dried arrangements.  

Okra goal: plant more, maybe stick to grilling, roasting, and steaming.


This was also the first year ever I grew corn and again - I can do it!  Yummy stuff.  We ate all of it raw, some of it before it even made it into the house. 

Corn goal: plant earlier, plant successively.


The pumpkin plants?  I took the boys on a 3-day trip to visit friends at the beach and forgot to remind my husband to specifically water the young pumpkin plants every day.  They died. 

Pumpkin goal: plant earlier and pay attention!

My successive plantings of basil turned out very pleasing results!  I planted 3 times, 2 weeks apart, using up an entire package of seed over the 3 plantings.  I had wonderful fresh basil throughout July and August, still do - and plan on drying some. 

No - this garden did not provide the abundance of produce I'd hoped for, but it provided enough to get excited about and it most definitely lowered our grocery bill this summer.  And I'm excited about what I learned.  How 'bout y'all?  What did YOU learn?  Please share in comments!!!

Pesky Sides

Yes I've been delinquent on this page.  I've set out to write the next post several times, but really I think it's taken me getting out in my garden all season to figure out what I really think about pest control.

I could have titled this one "Dealing with Peskies Naturally" and then the next one "Dealing with Peskies Chemically," but I've come to believe that the two methods are often blurred. 

Natural methods can include spreading ground cayenne pepper around young seedlings to prevent slugs or cutworms from felling them.  It can include placing small dishes of beer in your garden at night to lure, make drunk, and drown your slugs.  Horticultural oil can be found/made in "natural" versions - it's a simple pesticide made of very small amounts of dish soap and vegetable oil added to water.  If you use an all-natural dish soap this would be considered an all-natural garden solution against small, soft-bodied pests like aphids.  Even if you use a commercial dish soap, it's not all that toxic in your garden and easily washed off your produce before consuming. 

Use of a pyrethrin-based pesticide is also considered natural.  Pyrethrin is a substance that is naturally derived from the seeds of plants in the chrysanthemum family.  There are two ways to look at this - YAY for a COMPLETELY ALL-NATURAL poison!  Or BOO for a completely-all-natural POISON.  Yes it is an all-natural substance that completely breaks down naturally in the soil of your garden.  Yes it is very effective in both repelling and killing garden pests.  Yes it is a neurotoxin.  Yes it is toxic to bees, birds, fish, pets, and humans.  Though it is not persistent - as in persisting long periods of time in the bodies of animals or within the environment, it is highly toxic, able to even cause death in pets - much less fish or birds!

Here's where the line gets blurred.  Here's where you need to choose your side. 

Then there's a host of chemical pesticides out there - which by design are persistent both in your garden, on your produce, and in the environment, and which by design are highly toxic.  If you read the labels you will see described those measures for "proper and safe use," but really - it all comes down to Parts Per Million.  Parts Per Million is the scientific format for keeping up with what may or may not be deemed "safe" levels of pesticides in your garden, in the rainwater that washes them from your garden, in the streams and rivers where it is concentrated from widespread use on the land, in the fish who live in these streams and rivers - and so on until it gets into our food supply both on the front end - from direct application on our produce - and residually as they invade our environment and are stored in the fats of animals that we later consume as meat. 

It's just bad mojo. 

I don't want to go all doomsday on you, but as gardeners we have a responsibility - to garden sustainably, and to learn how it can be done so that we can teach others, teach our children, and contribute to the permanent change that is so desperately needed. 

I apologize for not having more practical information to offer, but I can't write about things with which I have no personal experience.  I did not use any form of pesticide in my garden this year, and I'm grateful to be able to say that it did not affect my harvest hardly at all.  I'll discuss more about that in the next post.

I do fully recognize the attractiveness of chemical or natural pesticide use - when you desperately want to save your tomatoes from destruction by a pest invasion, but only you can make that decision for yourself. 

Consider these things as you form your opinion and choose your pesky side:

What effect will my choices have on the local environment (your garden, your yard, your neighbors' property)?

What effect will my choices have on the larger environment (everything solvable that goes into/on your garden will eventually wash somewhere - into the ground or as storm runoff into a stream which leads to a river which leads to...)

What effect will my choices have on what I produce from my garden and on those who consume this produce?

What can I learn from my choices that I can share with others and improve the way people in my community garden?  

What am I teaching my children through my gardening choices?

Dealing with Peskies Mechanically

Mechanical methods include the physical removal of pests.  For example, aphids can be hosed off of leaves rather easily.  Yes they may climb back up there, but if you stay at it a few days in a row there's a decent chance they will give up.

Another example - vine-borers.  These are nasty things.  They are little evil worms that bore into your squash or pumpkin (and sometimes cucumber) vines and dine voraciously.  It's obvious very quickly when you have one as the leaf at the end of that vine will promptly wilt.  Since they are inside the stem of your plant, there's no use spraying anything - so go ahead and get a garden knife or pruner, cut that stem off at it's base, slit the stem open and look until you find the detestable creature, and then gain great satisfaction from stomping the life out of it.

In some cases you may get an infestation on just one plant - usually the one on the end of the row or edge of the garden.  I have had situations when literally - just one plant - is very quickly overcome but there's no sign of problems on the adjacent plants.  Assess the situation quickly, but it might be more beneficial to sacrifice the one plant and dispose of it as far away from your garden as possible in order to keep the problem from spreading.

Sometimes you may experiment with growing a particular type of vegetable or ornamental plant, only to discover that a certain pest is prevalent in your area and will always attack that type of plant no matter what you try.  This is where I step back and consider the big picture.  Many vegetable plants we grow these days are not native to our location.  Even the ones that are native in origin have often been bred to no longer resemble the plants that were once native.  In some cases certain plants aren't quite suited to our garden environment and may always struggle to thrive, therefore inviting pests to come take advantage of the situation.  The way I look at it, if a plant variety just isn't going to be happy to grow in your garden, or if the same pests repeatedly take it over time and time again - you've got 2 choices.  1 - douse it with chemicals, or 2 - give it up.  I'd rather eat vegetables that have not been doused with chemicals, and I'd rather not introduce harmful chemicals into my garden environment.  It is way more worth it to me to stick with the things that grow well than to go against my conscience trying to convince any plant to thrive when the odds are against it. 

Mechanical methods of pest removal can be very effective if you are vigilant with inspecting your garden closely and you are consistent in your removal of anything suspicious.  This method is certainly worth a first try, even if you choose to move onto other remedies.

Peskies

I have delayed writing this one.  (Sorry Christyn!)  There's just so much that could be discussed.  What to do, what to do! - when your plants are being invaded!  I'll give the discussion a start, and we'll see where it goes.   Garden pests can include critters, bugs, and fungi - but for now we'll deal with the bugs.

Rule #1 Regarding Garden Pests:  Pests will rarely attack a perfectly healthy plant. 
This is what I've always been told, and in my experience, it's rather true.  A healthy plant has its defenses up, and just like humans, plants do have pretty good defenses.  But allow your garden to wilt, allow weeds to crowd your plants, allow a nutrient deficit to get out of control - and you'll be invaded.  Keeping your plants happy and healthy is your first preemptive strike.


Monitor your garden regularly for water needs.  It's been raining a lot this week, but if next week is dry and your garden is already producing fruit regularly, it may need some supplemental watering.  Much damage can be done if your garden is allowed even just one good wilt.

Weeds readily bring pests into a garden.  They allow nocturnal insects a place to hide during the daytime, they keep the ground moist in a way that provides habitat for slugs and the like; since weeds often have a shorter life span and go into decline readily, they invite pests to themselves that will then move onto your garden plants once the weeds have expired.  Weeds also compete for sunlight and nutrients so that your plants won't get as much as they could and therefore might begin to suffer.

If you notice that your plants are yellowing or your blooms are dropping off prior to setting fruit - those are signs of nutrient deficiencies.  Consider mulching with a rich compost, watering your plants with a "tea" made from soaking compost in water for most of a day, or purchase a good organic (or not-so-organic, depending on your persuasion) fertilizer.  Follow package instructions carefully for any sort of chemical fertilizer since adding too much can "burn" and very much harm your plants.

Inspect your plants regularly.  If you find a branch on a tomato that may have been bruised and the branch is starting to decline, go ahead and clip it off.  Remove any declining leaves and take them far away from your garden in order to discourage any sort of fungus from gaining a foothold.  Look very carefully for any signs of pests - look closely enough that you would discover if a half-dozen aphids were setting up camp on a cucumber bud.  The earlier you might find a pest problem, the more success you will have in fighting it.

If your garden does begin to experience a pest problem there are basically 3 ways you can deal with it: Mechanically, Naturally, or Chemically.  We'll be discussing these in subsequent posts, so stay tuned...

Keep a close eye on your tomatoes, watch out for blossom end rot

Blossom end rot occurs when your tomato or pepper plants are not absorbing calcium fast enough to support maturing fruit.  The result is a rotting that occurs at the end of your tomato or pepper, and it ruins it completely. In my experience gardening in the southeast, this will very often occur with your first fruits, and excessive amounts of rain greatly increase your chances for it.

Acidic soils, like we have in the southeast, tend to chemically tie up calcium so that it is not as readily absorbed as quickly-growing tomato or pepper plants would like.  One solution is to add lime to your soil to chemically mediate the acidity.  Another is to add compost to dilute the acidity.  An old-fashioned trick that I have had some success with is to pour any expired milk onto your tomato plants.  Last year someone suggested that I break up an egg shell and put it in the planting hole for each of my tomatoes and after following this advice I had zero blossom end rot!  Too bad I forgot to do it this year, but I'm going to crush some shells and put them around my plants this weekend. 

All this rain we've had this week means that your plants have been absorbing plenty of water, and plenty of other nutrients that are more readily available than calcium.  This promotes fast growth and encourages maturing of your veggies, but without enough calcium to go with it your first crop may be a disappointment.  Keep an eye out for it and the due dates on the milk in your fridge.  And if you like tomatoes better than milk, forget the due date and dump it!

Last Spring Garden Harvest

I didn't intend to grow potatoes this year, but one that I'd bought from Athens Locally Grown didn't make it into a dinner before it sprouted, and to show the boys the process of growing potatoes, we planted it.  Not too bad of a return, eh?  Especially for a shady spot.  This garden bed is located along our front porch and there's a redbud tree in front of it.  It will work great for an early spring garden since it's sunny until the redbud gets it's leaves, but this potato plant could have used some extra sun.  So Mommy learned some things along with my boys!  Here's a pic with the proud helpers:

The same day I also harvested the rest of my rainbow chard:

We ate both at dinner that night.  There's no better food than that which goes from garden to table in so short a time!

Cages are not just for tomatoes and beans!

Other viney crops will also benefit from caging or staking, and in some cases by growing up instead of out, you can save on soil space and plant more plants.  Growing plants up may also increase their exposure to sun, depending on your garden conditions, but note that anytime you grow something taller, it may block out sun from a shorter vegetable growing next to it. 

Some squash, cucumbers, and the smallest melons or pumpkins can benefit from a cage or some sort of staked fencing to grow on.  Cantaloupe, watermelon, butternut squash, all but the smallest pumpkins, etc. are just too big and the weight of the fruit will cause the vines to break - so leave these on the ground.  There are some vining varieties of smaller squash though, and these along with cukes will grow up if given the chance and a little help.  Getting these vegetables off the ground prevents a variety of pests that may attack the fruit itself, and overall just helps the plant produce a prettier crop.  These are great plants to train up a cage or fencing instead of letting them sprawl, since they take up so much room growing along the ground and can often interfere with neighboring plants.   You can use cages similar to the ones I described in the previous post - making your own, or those smaller ones available at your garden center will probably do fine in this case.  Just remember to make sure your cages are staked, in case of thunderstorm.  Installing fence posts and running some strong chicken wire between them is also a great solution.  Either way you may need to help these vegetables along by wrapping them onto the structure a little as they grow.  Look for the fine tendrils that arc out from the vine, and place them close to a wire, wrapping a little as necessary to get them to find it.

Those smaller cages at the garden center are also great for bell pepper plants!  Pepper branches break easily, and one hefty pepper during a storm can bring down half a plant!  With a little support, you'll maintain much more of your plant and get more peppers.

Staking for your Beefsteaks

 Real tomatoes need real support.  Those little 3-4' slightly conical cages that are still the staple sold at garden centers?  - Not gonna do it.  Those adorable swirly garden sculptures that claim to support your cosseted red deliciousness?  They are adorable, aren't they.  Not gonna do it.  Maybe for dwarf tomatoes, maybe for that "patio" variety, but if you're growing a real 'mater, get yourself a real cage.  Think this through - on any given good day in July, your prized tomato plant may have anywhere between 6 and 30 maturing fruits.  Roughly 3 medium-sized ones weigh a pound, so you might have anywhere between 2 and 15 pounds of anticipation on that vine.  Then bring along a Georgia July thunderstorm.  You just don't want to risk it.

My best recommendation: if you're going to grow your own, make your own.  Use something called WWM, which some folks refer to as Woven Wire Mesh or Welded Wire Mesh.  Some may even call it woven welded wire mesh but WWWM starts to invoke some sort of wrestling match.  WWM is used as reinforcement in building sidewalks or other concrete structures; it's laid into the concrete form as the concrete is being poured.  It will be available at Lowe's or HD in rolls and you'll have to cut it into sections to form each cage.  One roll might cost in the range of $50, but will make 8 or 10 cages - so go in with a friend or sell the extra to cover costs.  They will last for years! 

When choosing your WWM, consider the width (or height in your case).  5 feet is great, 6 is better.  Also consider the size of the mesh - 6" squares are pretty good.  4" is kinda small - imagine sticking your hand in, grabbing onto a luscious half-pound tomato, and then trying to get it and your fist back through the mesh.  If you've got a 4" mesh you might get stuck there like a raccoon in a trap.  I mean - who could risk letting go of a half-pound tomato lest it fall onto the ground to it's demise?!  I would have to stand there until a rescue operation became available.

Once you have your roll of mesh, unroll it, cutting it into lengths of about 5-6.5 feet.  5 feet will get you a cage of roughly 18" diameter, 6.5 feet will be more like 24" diameter.  When you cut the mesh, cut just before a vertical wire, leaving the lengths of horizontal wire free.  This way when you wrap it into a circle, you can use these free lengths to fold back over the other side of the mesh in order to secure it into a circle.  Hmmm... maybe next year I'll make some more and do a tutorial with photos... that would probably be nice huh.  It's all rather self-explanatory once you start doing it though.

After your cages are put together, very carefully place them over your plants, making sure not to break or bruise branches.  And then - stake your cage.  A 24" wooden property stake can work; I use a 5' steel fence post.  Hammer the stake into the ground directly adjacent to your cage **make sure you're not hammering into any underground utilities!  Call Before You Dig if you have any question!  You can call 811 or 1-800-282-7411 for them to come mark or flag your utility lines. Click here for more information.  The stake should sink into the ground at least 8" if you've got hard ground and 12" or more if your ground is soft.  Then tie your cage to the stake on at least 2 places.  You can use twine, string, old hosiery, or fabric as ties.

As your tomato plants grow, inspect them regularly and gently re-insert any branches that poke through the caging.  Leaves poking through are fine, but if a branch gets out and grows to become a high-producer, it will weigh the branch down onto the cage, bruising and even breaking it.

In the next post we'll discuss the benefits of staking or caging on other types of vegetable crops.

The higher the stakes, the greater the payoff

Your plants need your support!
Many common vegetable plants are some sort of vine needing a framework on which to grow, and even non-viney vegetables can greatly benefit from some sort of staking or cage.  Staking your plants gives them the support they need to grow, saves on garden space, allows more convenient access for harvesting, and when properly located will increase the exposure of your plants to the sun.  The taller your staking, the taller your vegetables can grow, allowing them to produce a better crop!  There are many forms of staking out there - too many to talk about them all, but I'll mention a few here and in subsequent posts in order not to go too long at one time.  

Sweet peas, runner beans, and the like are the most obvious in need of something to grow on - without it they would just ramble around on the ground in a big mess and eventually find another garden plant to overcome.  Their vines send out twirling tendrils in search of something to grab onto, and they will grab onto just about anything!  The most common form of staking for these types of plants include some sort of light fencing or trellis, homemade twine runs, and long poles or sticks installed in a teepee formation.

With fencing, almost any sort will do, except for solid wooden privacy fences.  Those often don't have enough small spaces for the tendrils to weave through and wrap around.  Chain link fencing does fine, chicken wire is great as long as it is well-supported every 6 or so feet.  Wooden trellis sections work great and are a little more decorative - just steer clear of those made of pressure-treated lumber as generally you won't want arsenic near where you're trying to grow food.  Metal trellis sections are wonderful - just make sure that if using any type of trellis that it is well-anchored.  If it were to fall over in a wind, your plants could be ruined.

A twine run is built by installing some sort of post every 8 or so feet, then running some sort of cable between each post along the top and bottom.  Then you take jute twine or nylon string and wrap it up and down between the two cables, zigging and zagging down the line.  It helps if you give it two wraps at each intersection with the cable, or even tying a simple knot to provide better stability.  The "V's" formed by your twin should be spaced, at a minimum, twice the distance between your plants.  The post and cable part of your framework can be left for years to come, but often the twine or string is removed at the end of the season and replaced again next year.  The advantage here in using jute is that it is biodegradable and therefore compostable, though you can't count on it breaking down in one season. 

Bamboo or other poles pushed into the ground and tied at top into a teepee formation work fine and can be a lot of fun for kids - they will usually find a way to make a small doorway to climb inside!

Eat your Weedies!

Most weeds need to just be taken out, like this crabgrass with a little bermuda grass mixed in:

Other weeds... like this dandelion:

You can eat in... as in a salad:

This is one of my favorite salads.  Dandelion greens have a strong flavor and so they need a strong accompaniment.  Like Powdermilk Biscuits, it "gives shy people [or tired mommies] the strength to get up and do what needs to be done."  Recipe:

1.  Make sure you are dealing with an authentic dandelion.  The leaf should not be fuzzy at all, and the veins should be reddish, not white, at the base of the plant.  Look up pictures online if you are unsure.

2. Pick healthy leaves, and wash.  Chop finely.

3. Toss with generous amount of olive oil, 1/2 as much lemon juice, 1 clove garlic - minced, and a tablespoon or two of capers.  Then sprinkle generously with sea salt. 

If you till it, they will come

We're talking about crabgrass.  The relationship of plants to their soil, and the relationship of the local ecology to your garden is a fascinating thing.  When ground is disturbed by removing the existing plant material and digging or tilling up the soil, there is a specific order in which a variety of species will sprout, grow, mature, and then be overtaken by another species.  This is called natural succession.  Successional growth has been mapped out for the different areas of Georgia, and the first thing that will grow on disturbed ground is crabgrass.  It is guaranteed.  If you dig up a sunny spot and leave it, you will get a substantial cover of crabgrass with a few other things mixed in. 

Weeding is one of my least favorite gardening chores, yet it has to be done on a weekly basis to keep the invasives from stealing sun, water, and soil nutrients from your garden plants.  The job is much easier if you get at them while they're young - so be vigilant. 

Pulling weeds is one of those chores that you might begin to do while you're just out walking your garden - you might not be planning on working that hard as you stoop down to pull a few, and then notice a few more, and then a patch over here... you start to get vindictive, you get this crazy look in your eyes, and then it becomes addictive.  Before you know it you'll be down on the ground in your clothes that weren't meant to get dirty with a whole lot of soil under your fingernails!  Sometimes it helps to have a spouse around who can forcibly lay their hands on you,  hold you back, and talk sense into you. 

Sometimes the sense that needs to be talked involves the procurement of a good hoe.  Hoeing doesn't involve stooping and for the most part keeps your fingernails clean, but you might want to invest in some light gloves or be okay with some minor blisters that will soon callous over.  

Spraying weeds?  It can be done.  I won't discuss it here.  Besides, if you go and do that there is the likelihood of it drifting onto your veggie plants and that's just no good. 

As with anything else, prevention is great: mulch your garden.  If you have raked leaves leftover from last fall, those will work great.  Grass clippings work great too but be aware that they will still contain any chemicals that may have sprayed on your lawn and they are also likely to include some weed seeds.  Purchased hay is good but can also contain seeds; pine straw will contain less seeds; wood chips work fine but make sure they have been aged a few months so they won't steal nitrogen from your garden soil during their early decay process.  If you have a continuous supply of compost, that will make a great mulch as it will build up your soil.   Weeds will grow in compost better than these other mulching materials, so you'll likely still be doing more weeding if you make this choice.  Newspaper makes decent weed prevention as well, but if slugs are causing trouble in your garden you might want to skip it as slugs can hide and multiply under a thick cover of paper. 

Additionally, if your method of irrigating your garden allows you to water your plants only and  not the space in between plants, you'll reduce the amount of weeds that germinate. 

Now that's more like it

 Added a Rutgers Tomato, 3 bell peppers, 1 yellow bell pepper, 2 cayenne peppers, 1 spot planted with yellow squash, 2 spots with Tendergreen cucumber, 1 spot of Armenian long cucumber, and our first planting of basil.  I plan on adding 1 more tomato, successive plantings of basil, and then a few row crops like corn, okra, and green beans.  I've not grown row crops before so I'm curious how they'll do.  Only one way to find out!

Mother's Day Tomato

What a beautiful weekend we had!  With the earliest days of May so unseasonably HOT, it sure is nice to slow summer down and enjoy some lighter temps and most wonderful breezes.  And no better time to get something going in that nice, beautiful plot! 

I started with transplanting a tomato that I hadi mistakenly planted in a poor spot about a month ago.  In a hurry to give it a home, I put it on a corner of my spring garden that I thought would get enough sun, but instead it was just too shady.  Though you certainly don't want to plan on transplanting a tomato after it's begun growing, it can happen successfully if you dig a big hole, add plenty of compost, and then dig up as big of a root ball around the tomato as possible.  The more roots you get, the better, and those tiny little webs can extend pretty far! Then after planting, water it really well and be prepared to water it a couple times each day.  It will also be important to water the leaves as leaves will soak up moisture too.  Since you've just set the plant back by disrupting it's roots, you'll need even more watering to make up for what those roots won't absorb for a few days.  Once the roots get established again, you'll be back on track. 

So... despite all this help I had....

I now have a transplanted tomato:

My best friend will have to remind me what variety this is, but it is an heirloom.  It looks a little lonely... hoping to take care of that today.

Announcing the Digging Red Clay Demonstration Garden

A good portion of my front yard
+

(plus a wonderful husband who was not present in this photo)
and then the heavy equipment moved in to grade it smooth:

= one of my favorite things:

A fresh new garden spot, all ready to plant.

I'm so excited about starting a new garden, and about comparing notes with my friends!  

Let's grow some things together, and see what we discover and harvest along the way!

The White House Garden, or Yes, I am opinionated.

I came across this article about the garden begun by Michelle Obama at the White House last year.  I love it.  Now, if you read the article, the headline offers a bit of a sensational slant... oooooo, the garden isn't *really* organic!  What are they really up to?!  But I agree 100% with what they are doing. 

From what I've read, it did start out with intentions of being an organic garden, and how exciting it is to me that they would try that!  But technically speaking, "organic" is a very difficult standard to meet.  Some folks may go as far to insist that "organic" means that all materials that are used as compost be organic - meaning that all kitchen scraps that go into the compost pile be from vegetables that were organically grown themselves, or even that any manures used be taken from sources where the livestock was organically or naturally raised.  It just gets tricky.  And when it's the White House Garden, you know the Republican press is going to be snooping around trying to prove some tomfoolery if you put it on out there, claiming it to be organic. 

So - as the article says, it's not organic, but that's not the point.  The point is, they are growing something, they are doing it naturally, they are learning from the process, they are sharing food and sharing knowledge, and they are setting a very fine example both here and abroad.  They are also making what I feel is a very important change to be made in our country right now: actively changing the way food gets to their table.  There's a lot of other good changes that come along with making that step - economic, social, cultural, and environmental changes to name some.  

So get out there and grow something! 

Succession Gardening: Plant, Harvest, Repeat.

Having a long growing season means many crops can be planted more than once!  If you got an early start on summer veggies and they flourish and produce strong, they may start giving out at the end of July or August.  Since our season lasts into October, start some late plants to extend the time you can enjoy your produce.  Fresh seedlings may be hard to come by as the season progresses, but seeds are still an option and so is a technique called layering.

Layering works spectacularly well with tomatoes, and it can also work with cucumbers.  As the existing tomato plants in your garden mature, choose a healthy branch or two at the base of the plant, and gently weigh it down a bit so that it lays on the ground.  If it doesn't reach all the way to the soil, keep a weight on it overnight or for a few days - you could gently lay the handle of a rake or something across it, but be careful not to break, bruise, or tear it off your tomato plant.  Once the branch is in good contact with the soil, pinch the leaves off of a section about 5" long and then shovel soil over that section of the branch.  Leave it for a couple of weeks, making sure the buried portion gets plenty of water, then chop the branch between the parent plant and the part of the branch you have buried.  Leave it for another week so that it gets the idea that it's on its own, then dig up the new plant and put it in its own great sunny spot. 

Or in the case of row crops like corn, okra, or green beans which generally bloom and produce all they are going to within a few weeks and then give out, you might want to seed one row or patch, and then a second one two weeks later, and even a third or fourth round after that.

Herbs such as basil work great in succession as well.  Once herbs bolt, or flower, they are past their prime in flavor and will soon go dormant.  If you scatter basil seeds a little at a time - say on a weekly basis - you'll have a much longer harvest period.  This is a great advantage for herbs that are best used fresh, as you likely wouldn't have need for all that basil at one time!  (Unless of course you are making a lot of pesto.)

I'm trying to convince my early spring garden

that sex is overrated... but it isn't working.

This is called bolting.  Summer vegetables are desirable for the fruit that follows flowers, so flowering is encouraged.  Early spring crops or herbs are usually more desirable for their leaves, and once they begin to flower the plant stops putting energy towards growing beautiful, flavorful leaves and instead focuses on reproducing.  This is a photo of my collards.  My arugula and spinach are at it too!

I had high hopes for my spring garden this year as I started it plenty early enough.  I'm usually a bit late with it, but this time had it right.  I mixed compost and ash into the soil, planted my seeds and seedlings, and mulched my beds with leaves leftover from autumn.  And then I waited.  I must admit that I'm still rather childlike when it comes to planting seeds.  Though I fully understand it takes at least 7 days, if not 14, for seeds to sprout, I still go out and look at them the next morning, just in case.  And I check on them every morning after that.

This spring was a little different from past springs when it came to my early garden though.  I checked, and I checked, and I checked... and I got really, really sad.  There was nothing - not after one week, not after two, not after three, and not after four.  I began to think it must have been a really bad idea for me to hang a new birdfeeder right near my new garden, wondering if the birds had eaten spinach and snow pea seeds or sprouts in addition to sunflower seeds and millet.  And I began to feel really discouraged about this gardening season; after all, early spring gardens are pretty easy to grow!

But then, I saw some green, and what I realized is that with a prolonged winter/cooler spring, the soil took longer to warm up and delayed germination.  Whew!  It wasn't me!  My seedlings were finally off to a great start.  But next we had several days when temps were in the mid-80's!  This will send young plants into their unruly late teenage days faster than anything else... and so, without producing big, full, beautiful leaves, my garden produced flowers.

I am still able to enjoy some great spinach since I planted a lot of it, and the romaine takes its time to flower, and though the arugula's flowering makes it quite potent, I like it that way - so I'm happy  with the results overall.  I also learned a great lesson about the intricacy of early spring gardens, and I now know how to watch the temperatures better next year.

My consolation prize with the collards is that I'll begin this year saving my own seeds - to plant either this fall or next spring.  I need to look into what's best as some seeds need to endure a "winter" before they will germinate.  It may be that if I want to plant the seeds this fall I'll need to put them in the freezer for awhile first.

The best kind of salad

is the first one that goes from garden to table in a matter of minutes.  Here we have romaine lettuce, spinach, and some very spicy arugula, with a little chard for a garnish.  Mmmmmmmm....

Seeds and Seedlings: How to Plant Them

When planting seeds, the things to pay attention to are spacing and depth, and recommendations for both can be found on the back of the seed packet.  Spacing is how far apart you'll be planting your seeds.  Most instructions on spacing suggest planting more seeds closer and thinning them later - removing or transplanting every-other sprout so that they have enough room to grow.  This gives you the opportunity to make sure you get the number of sprouts you want but also making sure that each sprout has plenty of room to grow.  If you plant more densely with the intention of thinning your sprouts, don't get sentimental about them later and decide to forgo thinning.  Each plant needs appropriate space for its roots to grow, for its leaves to spread out, and for its leaves to catch all the sun it can, unhindered.  I've ruined a garden by not wanting to pull out those beautiful extra shoots - they were too busy competing with each other to produce any fruit.  Likewise, be specific in following the recommended planting depth.  Some small seeds you can simply drop on top of the soil, and maybe gently rake a little dirt on top.  Larger seeds need to be pressed as deep as 2- 2 1/2 inches.  One good rule of thumb is to plant a seed as deep as 1 1/2 times the length of the seed. 

In order to germinate (sprout), seeds need warm soil and must stay wet.  By this time of the season, your soil will be warm enough; but keep a close eye on how fast your soil might dry out.  If we don't get consistent rain, you may need to water your seeds as much as twice/day to keep them damp.  If a seed is in the process of germinating and it dries out completely, it will die.  Continue to keep close watch on your tender sprouts as they also cannot afford to dry out, and you'll want to be vigilant about pests at this stage.  The pests that most commonly attack my sprouts are slugs.  That cayenne pepper trick I mentioned earlier works just fine; I reapply after a few waterings or after rain.  Generally once a sprout gets several inches tall and has put out 3 and more sets of leaves, it isn't all that susceptible to pests.  Healthy plants are the best deterrent against pests or disease.  We'll talk more about this later, but for now - feel free to leave comments about your pest issues and I'll tell you what I know about each one.

When planting seedlings, the things to pay attention to are also spacing and depth.  Hopefully you'll have a good tag or label on your plant with a recommended spacing, and as far as depth you'll want to plant so that the soil level in your garden just barely covers the top of the potting soil held together by the seedling's roots.  Before planting your seedlings, water them well.  If the soil your seedlings came in is dry, the water you give them once they are planted my not penetrate their roots, instead running around the roots into your garden soil, failing to give them a great start. 

When removing seedlings from plastic pots, first squeeze the bottom of the pot on all sides to loosen the roots.  Then pull very gently on the stem while pushing on the bottom of the pot.  If the plant does not slide out easily, squeeze the bottom of the pot some more.  You don't want to pull hard on the stem since those young roots are tender and will break easily, sometimes ruining the plant.  If you've got plants in peat or cardboard-type pots, it is true that you can plant the entire pot straight into your garden.  Well, true mostly.  Be sure to remove any plastic labeling first, and it's very important to peel off the portion of the pot that extends above the level of potting soil.  The material that these pots are made of wicks strongly, and if any of the pot extends above the soil in your garden, it will suck up all the soil moisture around the roots and send it sailing on the spring breezes.  I also feel around the pot a bit - often the plant's roots have not penetrated the very bottom of the pot and when that's the case, I peel off that portion of the pot too - just to give more opportunity for plant roots to make a strong escape into my garden soil.  Once you've planted your seedlings, water them well - giving them a great start with plenty of moisture, but also helping your garden soil to make the best contact around the new plant's roots. 

A Final Note About Spacing
There are a few of ways to look at plant spacing.  The idea of Square Foot Gardening, popularized by a book and PBS series of the same name, is where you intensely nurture your soil and then use a closer spacing in order to maximize a small gardening space.  This method also recommends staking or growing upwards as much as possible, so that more ground area is available for more plants.  Square foot gardening is very successful when your soil is rich and you're able to consistently tend to your plants to keep them healthy.  Another way of looking at gardening is to have fewer plants and to give each plant all the room it needs to flourish.  The difference between the two is that with square foot gardening you may have 6 or 8 pepper plants in an area that is 4' x 4' and though those plants won't get huge, the intensive care they receive will make them thrive and produce well.  On the other hand, by giving 3 or 4 pepper plants the same 4' x 4' area, they will have plenty of room to grow as big as they want - producing a great crop due to their size and lack of competition.  In a more traditional row-type garden, farmers often plant more seedlings closer than would be ideal - even spacing peppers 1' apart.  They will most certainly not reach their full health or potential this way, but because there are so many plants, the harvest may be the same as with a handful of plants that were maintained intensely. 

Seeds or Seedlings?

When shopping for seeds and seedlings, one can get overwhelmed at a garden center.  The shelves of seedlings - fresh young plants available in 4-,6-,or 9-packs and sometimes in singles - are just begging you to take them home and put them in your garden.  You'll see as many as twenty different types of tomatoes; a wide variety of mild, sweet, and hot peppers; several different versions of pickling, burpless, long, and seedless cucumbers; and by the time you get to the squash you won't even care anymore whether it has a crook in it's neck!  And then as you start to add up that $3.50 or so per single plant or per pack, you'll feel compelled to wander over to the seed displays, thinking you may fare better over there.

It is helpful to do some homework before you go.  First, get in your head which vegetables you really want in your summer garden this year, and think about how many of each you might like.  Remember that you'll likely get more produce from a few plants that are well-cared for than many plants that you can't keep up with.  Prioritize, and make up your mind ahead of time what is most important to you.  If you want to grow tomatoes, do you want full-sized fruits, or plum tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes?  It's also helpful for you to measure and sketch out your garden space, thinking through how much space you really have.  Four square feet of garden space are great for 2 full-sized tomato plants, 4 pepper plants, 4 eggplant, 3 cucumber plants, and 2 squash or zucchini plants.  Go ahead and make a shopping list, complete with the numbers of each type you intend to buy. 

You can feel confident that when it comes to seedlings, the ones you see in your local garden center are appropriate for your garden.  Unless something is labeled "new," generally the varieties sold in most garden centers are tried-and-true.  Look carefully at your labels though - to make sure that the banana pepper you might be buying is a sweet and not a hot variety, or to understand ahead of time that a particular tomato might be completely ripe and ready to eat when it's still yellow!

When it comes to tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, I do recommend that a beginner or novice gardener go ahead and start with seedlings.  Seedlings will get off to a great start if planted correctly and watered, and you'll soon be that much closer to a harvest.  Seed selections are often very similar to the seedling varieties available, but there will likely be a few more unique types to choose from.  Seeds will obviously take longer to get started - usually 1-2 weeks before germination (sprouting) and then another 2 weeks to reach the size of the seedlings you see at your garden center.  There's also a lot that can happen to those sprouts along the way.  They will be much more susceptible to drying out, being attacked by pests, or even catching some sort of fungus.  Even if you want to experiment with a few seeds, go ahead and get a good start with a couple of ready-to-go plants, just so you won't get completely discouraged if things don't work out as well as you might hope. 

On the other hand cucumber, squash, and melons grow strong quickly straight from seeds; so well in fact, that it can be a waste of money buying seedlings.  An old-time rule of thumb for these crops is to plant the seeds straight into your garden soil on May 1.  These days you're completely able to do so earlier - certainly by April 15.  Maybe it's global warming... I don't know.  You'll still need to make sure the soil where you plant the seeds and the appearing sprouts stay damp, and this may require daily watering.  Bright sunny days can dry soil out quickly, but so can wind - so keep your eye on both when you're debating whether to water.  Water only to keep the soil damp and not sopping; too much water can encourage growth of fungi.  Pests to look out for early on are slugs and cutworms - they love to chew through the base of these type of sprouts at night.  In general, it's a little early for these pests, but if you find a felled sprout or two one morning, generously sprinkle some cayenne pepper around the remaining ones. 

Row crops such as okra, green beans, lima beans, field peas, or corn are almost always directly seeded into the soil, though I did happen to see some corn seedlings at Lowe's a couple of weeks ago.  These crops are also better seeded a little later in the season when it's consistently warm at night, and so I'll save them for a later post. 

Solstice and Equinox: Astronomy and Plants

A Solstice occurs twice each year and represents the two extremes of the earth's axis in relation to the sun.  Generally in the northern hemisphere June 21 is our summer solstice and December 21 is our winter solstice, and they also respectively represent the first days of summer and of winter. In the southern hemisphere it's the other way around. These dates can shift a little due to slight differences in actual astronomical time and how we measure time with our calendars.    June 21 is the longest day in the northern hemisphere, meaning that the ratio of daylight to darkness on that day is most disproportional in favor of daylight.  Beginning on June 22 and each day thereafter, the sun will rise just a little bit later and set just a little bit earlier, slowly increasing the amount of darkness in each 24 hours. 

An Equinox also occurs twice each year and represents the mildest angles of the earth's axis in relationship to the sun.  Spring Equinox generally occurs on March 20 and Autumnal Equinox generally occurs on September 22.  On these days there are 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. 

One of the strongest relationships between the astronomical calendar and summer vegetable crops is how sensitive they are to the ratio of daylight to darkness.  The amount of time a plant is exposed to sunlight, and then the corresponding time it is in darkness trigger different responses.  As a young plant enjoys the ever-lengthening days of sunlight, it grows big and tall, full of beautiful big leaves and then begins to flower; but the moment it realizes the days are decreasing it begins to focus it's energy on one thing: make fruit and therefore seeds. It's a biological clock kindof thing.  The growing season between the Last Frost Date and summer solstice can be viewed as a plant's youth, the season after summer solstice as the plant's sexual prime, and as the season begins to close toward the First Frost Date and Autumnal Equinox - the plant will be in old age and will be fighting for any last ditch effort to leave behind some final prodigy.

So as you plan your garden plantings, you'll want to plant as early as is safe, but many common vegetables can be planted up until the end of May with flourishing results.  Even planting late, your seedlings will be in tune with this astronomical clock and will actually grow more quickly as a result.

End of Tax Season = Open Season for Planting your Garden!

Here in the northern part of Georgia, we are very lucky to have a lengthy growing season. Some crops you can seed into your garden in late January, others can be planted as late as September!  But for the bulk of vegetables that we commonly desire to grow ourselves, April 15 marks the free-for-all for getting it into the ground.  This is based on a very important calculation: the estimated Last Frost Date for your area.  Frost can kill tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, and the like - and so if you're planting such summer crops prior to the LFD, you'll want to watch the weather report and have some type of plan for caring for your seedlings should you get caught by a late cold snap. 

The LFD for your area can vary based on who you talk to, but in general, your local extension service can tell you the most "official" date.  There will be a general LFD that is generally accepted for your locale that doesn't change from year to year, but there are also really smart people out there who calculate the specific date annually.  The Farmer's Almanac has a great chart (www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-dates) where you can enter your zip code and it will not only give you an LFD, but will calibrate a planting calendar with specific dates of when to plant what - even down to planting according to moon phases!  Following that schedule will surely make you feel like you know what you are doing. 

Right where I live, it's been a little debatable whether our LFD is April 1 or more like April 15.  The Farmer's Almanac just told me that there is a 50% chance that we will be frost-free after March 30.  But just a 50% chance.  So if you live near me and you want to plant and move forward having no regrets, April 15 is just fine - and it's a sunny Saturday with a sunny Sunday to follow - so if you haven't already, get out to a garden center and buy some seeds and/or plants! 

Don't buy too many though - keep in mind the area that you have available to plant, and remember that that little tomato seedling in a 9-pack will really need about 18" -24" square to grow to it's full potential.  Start small, and no hurry - I'll follow this post up with why you can still take your time planting. 

Raise Your Beds

Raised-bed gardening can be thought of as a hybrid between gardening in the ground and gardening in containers, and it has many of the same advantages as both of these methods.  Raised beds are essentially a small retaining wall of some sort - wood, brick, masonry blocks, even hay bales can work, and in some cases you might even see tires used for this purpose.  Sometimes the tires are painted white first - it all depends on the look you might be going for.  Regardless of your chosen materials, once your wall - or frame - is built, it is then filled with a good planting soil or compost mixture, and then your raised bed garden is ready for planting!

A raised bed garden is very appropriate when your underlying soil is either very hard, very rocky, very weedy, or infertile.  It gives you the opportunity to bring in the best garden soil or compost you can find (or you can afford) instead of relying on the dirt you happen to be blessed with.  Unlike container gardening however, a raised bed has a larger soil source available for root growth, for insulation against heat or cold, and for absorption and availability of water.  Four things are basic to building a raised bed garden: finished height of your garden, subsoil preparation, building the frame, and choosing your soil.

Finished Height of your Garden
Desired height of your raised bed should be decided upon before you begin, as it will determine how you accomplish all other steps.  The higher your garden, the less you have to work the subsoil.  If you are raising your bed a minimum of 24", your subsoil will only need a little scarifying.  As roots of vegetable plant thrive best when given at least 18" of friable soil, any height less than 18" would necessitate some digging or tilling of your subsoil.

The height of your garden will determine what type of materials you use for your frame - and vice versa - your preferred materials will influence the exact height of your garden.  For instance, if you are using simple wooden boards for your frame, they can be purchased in say 6", 8", 10", 12" or more widths.  Basic hollow concrete blocks are roughly 7 1/2" tall.  Two of them mortared together will provide a height of 15 1/2".  As you formulate in your mind the height you're going for, make sure the materials you might consider will easily accomplish your goal within budget.

The taller your garden frame, the more area you will have to fill with garden soil.  Simple mathematics can help you get an idea of how much soil you'll be needing.  Measure the ground area your garden is intended to cover.  If you're building a frame that is to be 4' by 8', you'll have 32 square feet of garden area.  If this frame is to be one foot tall, you'll need 32 cubic feet of soil.  If it is to be 2 feet tall, you'll need 64 cubic feet.  If purchasing bagged soils or compost, look on the bag for a determination of how many cubic feet of medium is included in each bag.  If purchasing garden soil or compost in bulk, you'll divide the number of cubic feet by 27 in order to communicate your needs in cubic yards.  If you're going to be shoveling your own compost from a local horse farm or the like, measure the interior of the truck bed you intend to use and compare the cubic feet with your garden needs to see how many truckloads you'll need to shovel.  Keep in mind that regardless of the soil volume you determine, your soil will settle throughout the growing season and you'll likely need to add soil or compost to your garden after each of the first few planting seasons. 

I strongly recommend that if you are planning out a raised bed garden, you carefully consider garden height with regards to your budget.  I know from experience that it's very easy to underestimate the amount of framing material or the amount of garden soil you'll need to accomplish your goal.  Again - if the work or costs seem to get too high quickly, start small.  Begin with your intended garden height, but go with a smaller square footage to start out with. 

Subsoil Preparation
Subsoil refers to the surface of the soil on which you plan to build your garden.  At the least, you'll want to remove any existing grass, weeds, or other vegetation from the soil surface and scarify, or scratch up the subsoil.  Removing any existing plants will prevent undue settling, and scratching up the soil's surface will improve drainage.  Imagine that if the surface of your subsoil were rock hard and you built a solid garden frame and filled it with soil, it would have the potential of holding in too much water similar to a container garden with no drain holes. 

Again, vegetable plant roots thrive when they have at least 18" of loose, friable soil, and so if your finished garden height is to be 12", you'll need to loosen the top 6" of your subsoil.  If your garden height is to be 6", you'll need to dig up or till 12" deep into your subsoil.  Keep in mind that this 18" would be measured from the top of the soil in your finished raised bed garden, which will likely be an inch or so lower than the finished edge of the frame.

If your decision to opt for a raised bed garden is based on an undesirable weed problem within your subsoil, you may wish to consider some sort of landscape fabric to be placed as a barrier between your subsoil and the fresh soil you are bringing in.  In this case you should be planning on providing a healthy 18" soil depth for your garden, and you should purchase some quality fabric.  A couple of years ago I went searching for some good fabric to use for a similar application and I was completely disgusted with what I found at Lowe's and at Home Depot.  The stuff tore easily when I pressed my fingernail into it, and I do not keep my fingernails long or sharp!  Instead I called a landscaper friend of mine and asked him if he had a spare length of silt fence - and that did the job I needed it to do!

Building Your Frame
Budget is often the guiding factor in choosing materials and construction methods for a good garden frame.  If your budget is very small, consider looking around online for a potential source of free concrete blocks, bricks, wood, or landscape timbers.  Pre-formed masonry blocks intended for use in building retaining walls are excellent choices and there's a good chance you could find enough left over from a contractor's job to meet your needs.  If your budget is substantial and you're looking for a permanent, professional-looking frame, mortared brick or concrete masonry finished in stucco is perfectly suitable; however, when constructing a solid masonry wall that is more than about a foot in height, you'll want to make sure that appropriate drainage holes are fashioned along the lower rows of bricks or blocks so that excess water does not undermine the construction over time.

When using wood there are the two options of natural wood or pressure-treated lumber.  Pressure-treated lumber has had chemicals applied to the wood under high temperature and pressure and these toxic chemicals (they used to include arsenic) have been proven to leach into garden soil.  It will have an obvious green color to it and will have labels or stamps indicating it has been treated.  Most if not all lumber sold as "landscape timbers" are highly impregnated with chemicals, and true railroad ties contain the additional evil of creosote.  Thus using natural lumber is a safer choice and the only choice if your desire is to garden organically, but you cannot count on natural lumber to give you a permanent garden structure.  If using natural lumber for your frame, you'll need to have in mind replacing a board here and there beginning in the 3rd or so year after starting your garden.  Nails work just fine in holding such a garden frame together; screws work even better.  Just make sure with either fastener that it is suitable for outdoor use so you'll get the longest life possible out of them.

Another great and easy way to put natural lumber together is this great little deal from Gardener's Supply Company:  

You simply slide your boards into the slots to form a corner.  They are also available in 10" and 12" heights, and in a version that pivots so that you're not restricted to right angles.  The finished garden can look something like this:

Choosing Your Soil
If purchasing bagged soils for filling your raised bed, I'll again recommend a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of mushroom compost (or some other composted manure or organic matter) and soil conditioner.  If purchasing your soil in bulk where it will either be loaded into your own truck or delivered to your home in a dump truck, you'll want to be specific in what you ask for.  Simple "topsoil" is decent but is likely to have a high clay content and possibly a high content of weed seeds.  Often a mix of topsoil and compost will be available, and this is very suitable.  Compost alone will also likely do the trick.  Question the manager carefully about sources of topsoil, weed seed content, sources of compost, and whether the soil has been treated chemically in any way or if any chemical fertilizers have been added.   If either of those last two points are affirmative, it's not all bad, depending on your slant towards growing it all organic.

Terra Cotta vs. Terra Firma

Any day of the week a garden will be healthier and produce better when it's got good ground and ample sunlight; but should either of these be unavailable or severely limited, container gardening can be a great alternative.  There are a few very important differences between growing your garden in the red clay or growing it in red clay pots that need to be understood in order to make your potted garden a great success. 

First of all, whatever soil you begin with in your containers will be all the soil your plants will ever have.  For this reason, use the biggest containers that will be practical for you.  Practicality will be based on what containers might be available to you already or how much money you might be willing to spend on one or more planters.  Consider also if at any point you will have need to move your garden.  If you are planning on moving in July you may not want to start your herb garden in the largest half-barrel you can find! 

You will also want to make sure that your plants have the best soil they can to start out with.  I love using a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of soil conditioner and compost such as mushroom compost.  This mixture provides appropriate drainage and also a lot of necessary nutrients that will be available throughout the season.  Potting soils, unless some sort of fertilizer is included, are often low in nutrients and instead are simply providing a structural medium for plant roots to grow in.  Potting soils are also often made primarily of peat moss, which tends to cake up and repel water when very dry and then hold onto water for too long once it gets completely wet. 

The second characteristic to be aware of with container gardening is drainage and the need for a more consistent water supply.  Any pot or planter must have holes drilled in the bottom or your garden will fail.  Plant roots require plenty of water, but too much water pooling in the bottom of a pot prevents absorption of valuable oxygen and the plant will die.  There is the potential of working magic in a solid pot by adding a thick layer of gravel at the bottom and then putting your planting soil on top of that, but really it's just so much better to have a well-drained pot.  The limited soil area again comes into play with water needs as the less soil, the less available medium for holding moisture.  Potted plants will require more consistent watering.  During the hottest, driest days of summer in Georgia, it is likely you will have to water smaller planters twice each day. 

Then, the nature of good drainage combined with repeated watering brings up the subject of leaching.  Leaching is the process by which essential nutrients are literally washed out of the soil by rainwater or irrigation.  Whereas it is possible to garden directly in the ground without use of any kind of chemical or organic fertilizers, it is nearly impossible to successfully do so while container gardening.  If you are choosing to garden in containers, unless your soil medium contains fertilizers already, you should have in mind early on what slow-release granular fertilizer(s) or what form of water-soluble fertilizers you'll be using.  Granular fertilizers come in the form of tiny round pellets that you sprinkle on top of your plant's soil.  Make sure that any form of granular fertilizers you use are "slow-release" as otherwise they will be too strong and will "burn" your plants, causing your garden to fail.  Water-soluble forms are crystallized powders that you mix with water and then irrigate your garden with it.  Granular slow-release fertilizers can be applied once, usually not more than twice during the growing season; the recommended use for water-soluble forms is usually once every week or two weeks.  Both forms are available in either chemical/synthetic formulas or in organic/all-natural versions, and both should be used as directed on the labels.  We'll discuss the details of N-P-K and other nitty gritties of fertilizers later, but for now - anything sold for use in vegetable gardening would be a suitable choice. 

Lastly, understand that plants grown in containers are generally more susceptible to the elements than plants grown in the ground.  Tall plants like tomatoes will be less stable and will either need a larger, heavier pot to prevent toppling over on a windy day, or some sort of fence or trellis for support.  Whereas the ground works to insulate plant roots from extremes of heat and cold, potted plants will react to these extremes more readily.  If you've started an early spring garden in containers and a cooler night (like our 41-degrees last night!) might be a great time for moving the pots into the garage or against a south-facing wall of your home to help keep them warm.  Extremely hot weather makes a huge difference in how quickly the roots dry out and the heat alone can cause plants to seek dormancy as quickly as possible.  Again, the larger the pot and the more soil available to the roots, the more insulated the roots will be from these extremes.  Conversely, the larger the pot and the more soil available means the heavier the pot will be and so it will be  much more difficult to move quickly should you desire a warmer or cooler location for your plants.

Some basic guidelines overall - here again, start small.  Well, start small in terms of the number of containers and the overall number of plants, while aiming at the largest containers practical.  Make sure water is very conveniently located to the spot you have in mind for your container garden.  As with traditional gardening, invest in your soil from the beginning - give them the best start as you can't replace the soil without damaging the plant once the roots have started filling out.  Wood, concrete, or clay planters work great; plastic containers work fine but are much less durable and insulate the planting soil less than any other material.  A good rule of thumb when deciding the number of plants you can grow in containers is similar to square-foot gardening in the ground: you'll need a full square foot of soil area for the bigger plants such as peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  Four smaller plants such as lettuce or herbs can probably fit into the same area, and the like of carrots and radishes can be grown 6 or maybe even 9 to the same square foot.