Putting Your Garden to Sleep for the Winter

Putting the garden to bed for the winter is mostly a matter of cleaning up and covering up. As fall progresses and temperatures drop, those plants that aren't killed outright by frost prepare for dormancy. Here are some simple guidelines:

• Clear out the blackened stems and foliage of annual flowers and vegetables to prevent the possibility of their harboring disease pathogens and insect eggs over the winter.
• Gently till the soil to expose any insects who plan to overwinter; this will reduce pest troubles in the spring and your garden site will be ready come spring!
• Once most of the garden soil is exposed, add a layer of compost, leaves, manure (if you have it), and lime (if you need it). Gently till into the soil.  A fall application of 1 to 2 inches of compost or manure on top of your beds will help resupply the soil with nutrients for the next season. Many gardeners will also add an additional layer of a lighter organic material (like straw) on top to prevent nutrient leaching and keep down early spring weeds. Add whatever types of compost or manure you have access to, but make sure that the material is free of weed seeds before applying it to the garden.
• Another option is to sow cover crops such as winter rye to improve and protect the soil.  This is what I did.  I used cereal rye (Secale cereale), an annual grass used as a cereal grain and as a cover crop.  The grass grows from fall thru the winter and into spring, shielding the soil from heavy frost heaving and erosion from melting snow while filling the soil with a rich mat of roots that will provide organic matter for future crops planted in the same spot.  Around march/April the cover crop can be tilled under, cut down or folded over to kill it (this must be done before the grass goes to seed or else it will make new sprouts, a nuisance).

 

 

Photos of Mitzvah Garden Progress and Harvests

 

Garden Pest Controls

Most of the things we are taught to think of as pesticides, are insecticides, in that they also kill many more insects than the targeted species.  Poisons meant to kill Japanese Beetles, will also kill ladybugs that eat aphids, and bees and butterflies that pollinate our crops.  Poisons that drip on the ground can kill worms. 

In my garden, I have been using the organic gardening product Fungicide 3, Garden Safe brand.  It is a fungicide, insecticide and miticide, which contains Extract of Neem Oil, and can be used up to day of harvest.  It has effectively controlled Cucumber Beetles and Japanese Beetles.

Here are some other garden pests and organic controls:

Aphids:  Yellow sticky traps, water spray, green lacewings, ladybugs, garlic spray, hot pepper wax, insecticidal soap (I have also used as a spray), neem, neem oil soap.

Hornworm:  Handpicking, spined soldier bugs, neem oil soap

Slug/Snail:  Copper tape of foil barrier, sawdust, wood ashes

Tomato fruitworm:  Beneficial namatodes, green lacewigs, ladybugs, trichogramma wasps

Garden Beneficial Insects

One of the most frustrating gardening problems are the pests that chomp at our bounty!  Paradoxically, the best way to ensure that garden pests are kept under control is by creating a garden full of all sorts of bugs.  Some of those bugs are pests dining on your plants, but many of those bugs are dining on the plant eating bugs. 

Here is a list of beneficial insects to attract to your garden: Ladybug, Praying Mantis, Spined Soldier Bug, Trichogramma Wasp, and the Assassin bug.


 
Ladybug

Assassin Bug

 

 

 

Praying Mantis

Spined Soldier BugTrichogramma Wasp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Find out on the next post- Garden Pests and Organic Methods of Control

Compost: Gardener's Gold

Compost is the magic elixir that brings your soil to life and keeps it alive.  Many call it "Gardeners Gold".  The path to the garden of your dreams begins with a pile of compost!

So, what exactly is this magic elixir and how can you get it?  Compost is both partially decomposed organic matter (plants and the manure of plant eating animals) and the soil dwelling microbes that do the decomposing.  Compost helps the garden by providing nutrition, improving soil structure, increasing the ability of the soil to retain water, moderate soil pH, and feeds soil organisms. 

You can either make your own compost or buy compost in stores.  High quality compost will look and feel like dark, rich soil. 

Check out these websites it you would like to make your own.

http://www2.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home

http://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/compost/gardeners-gumbo/

What is Organic Gardening? We need to start with "The Dirt on Soil".

What exactly is Organic Gardening? 

The simple answer is that organic gardeners don't use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides on their plants. But gardening organically is much more than what you don't do. When you garden organically, you think of your plants as part of a whole system within nature that starts in the soil and includes the water supply, people, wildlife and even insects. An organic gardener strives to work in harmony with natural systems and to minimize and continually replenish any resources the garden consumes.

Good soil is the foundation of a successful garden.  Good soil is not just dirt, it is the storehouse of the nutrients plants need to grow healthy.  It also contains organic matter in the form of remains of plants and animals that lived there.  Most importantly it is composed of many living creatures ranging in size from large worms and beetles to small bacteria and fungi.  To grow healthy vegetables you need many different nutrients.  To accurately evaluate your soil's nutrient content, you need to have it tested.  The ultimate test of any soil is the condition of the plants growing in it. 

Gardeners can do a lot to improve their soil.  If the soil is too acidic or not acidic enough you can add limestone or peat moss to change this.  You can add greensand or phosphate rock or other nutrient sources if the soil is deficient in nutrients.  But if the soil doesn't have good structure...it is not something you can fix.  You will have to hire this work out to the worms. 

Well structured soil is crumbly, a lot like leftover chocolate cake crumbs.  Some of the most important organisms to get your soil into good shape are worms.  As they mulch their way through soil worms ingest clay, silt, and sand particles as well as bits of organic matter.  These nutrient rich ingredients are expelled as water soluble granules called castings.  The castings help make the soil more granular, which helps create soil capillaries and spaces that improve soil structure while allowing air and moisture to flow.  Worms also make tunnels that permeate the topsoil , allowing easy water access.  The best way to make worms welcome in your garden is to mix plenty of compost into your soil. 

Next topic:  All About Compost

Exciting Visit to Duke Farms Garden

Thrilling to see everything beginning to grow at the Duke Farms Garden!  This is about two weeks after planting seeds.

      Carrots

 

Onions

 

Radishes

 

 Beets

 

 Early Jersey Tomato Planting

 

  The Strawberry Patch

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica