Archive for the ‘Vegetable Plants’ Category
Growing Asparagus
12
Oct
Asparagus is an awesome little plant that needs several years and a lot of space to grow in.
You can plant your asparagus either from seeds or using the crowns. If you use the seeds, plant them in pots and start with them being indoors for about three months. If you decide to use the crowns, you can start with the plant outside in the garden.
In warmer climates crowns can be planted in the fall. Early spring is the preferred time for cooler climates, about 4 weeks before the last expected frost date. Crowns can handle some frost because they are below ground.
Asparagus is usually planted in rows, since you are going to dig trenches to plant them in. Start with a tench that is about a foot deep and 1 ½ feet wide. Working some compost into the bottom of the trench will get your plans off to a good start. Then make small mounds, about 6 inches high, along the bottom of the trench about every 18 inches.
Spread the roots of each crown over the mounds and fill in the trench until the crowns are covered with 2-3 inches of soil. As the plants begin to grow, you can gradually fill in the remainder of the trench.
Now comes the hard part. You must watch your asparagus plants for two years before harvesting. Meaning that you want to keep them pruned in the winter and free of weeds during the warmer months. When year three rolls around; that is the time that the spears can be harvested. When harvesting your spears, make sure they are about 8 inches long and that the crowns haven’t begun to open. This will give you the best results.
Your common stink bug
13
Jul
Stink bugs are those shield-shaped bugs that look incredibly harmless, forage on native plants, emit an odour when provoked and generally keep to themselves. All in all they have very little effect on our daily lives or our gardens yet we’re intent on ridding the planet of these “apparent” nuisances.
Stink bug control is a term that could colloquially be ranked with “witch hunt”. It assumes that as gardeners we are intent on removing, or at least managing, the devastating effects of these bugs. It offers us some solace that if we spread a few chemicals around we’re sure to hit the target and kill every stink bug in the vicinity. While this may be your method of gardening it goes against the grain of natural organic horticulture.
Stink bugs have a place in our gardens. As do the praying mantis, Aphidius Wasps and even sow bugs. They’re all part of the wider ecological habitat that occurs in our garden with each part playing their part.
So what do stink bugs do? Primarily, they eat. They favorite food source is native vegetation and they will only move onto exotics if their preferred diet is in short supply, or begins to mature towards the end of the season. They will sometimes eat fruit but usually they are unable to pierce its protective skin so can only consume those that are already damaged. In other words, they’re very helpful scavengers.
However, there is the reality of the reproducing stink bug. Control in this area is possibly one that needs attention, especially if you live in warmer areas where the stink bugs have the possibility of laying two egg deposits. Each deposit consists of hundreds of eggs and unless there are some natural predators available they can grow quite rapidly into plague proportions.
Therefore stink bug control is all about encouraging their natural predators into the garden – mainly local bird species. While it may seem like the best way to rid stink bugs from your garden is to grow exotics instead of natives, your exotic plants won’t attract their predators and hence the population will increase. It seems like a roundabout way of controlling these insects but the exotic option will only hinder your stick bug control efforts.
The odor that stink bugs emit when provoked is a natural defense mechanism. It is also the way these bugs find their way back to your garden once their winter hibernation period has ended. Hard-pruning your natives prior to spring is one method of control that may hinder their return to your garden, in any great numbers at least.
However, the humble stink bug does very little damage within the garden environment and unless their numbers grow to plague proportions can easily be allowed to enjoy their surroundings as we do.
Tomatoe Blight
08
Jul
A lot of gardens are probably just about ready to start bearing the fruits of their labors. When it comes to tomatoes, one of the primary concerns farmers and gardeners have each year, especially here in the NE, is blight. Most people don’t know what it is. Below we’ve pasted the two most common types of blight (there are more and other fungi that can infect your crops).
Though the explanations are helpful, the bottom line of blight is – it destroys your crop.
Early Blight, caused by the fungus Alternaria solani, can affect seedlings but generally is observed on older plants. On seedlings, dark spots develop on cotyledon leaves, stems, and true leaves. Spotted cotyledon leaves may be killed, and spotted stems may be girdled. On established plants, dark brown spots with dark concentric rings develop first on oldest leaves. Spotted leaves may die prematurely, resulting in substantial early defoliation, fruit sunscald, and poor fruit color (see the section on Tomato Fruit Rots for fruit symptoms). The disease-causing fungus overwinters in residue from diseased plants, where it can persist for at least one year. The fungus also is seed-borne and can be introduced on seed and on transplants. Disease occurs under a wide range of weather conditions. It is promoted by heavy dews and rainfall and is severe on plants of poor vigor.
Late Blight, caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans, affects both tomatoes and potatoes. On tomatoes, symptoms appear on foliage and fruit. Irregular greasy-appearing grayish areas develop on leaves. These areas expand rapidly during moist conditions and a white downy mold appears at the margin of the affected area on the lower surface of leaves. If the white fungus growth is not observed, leaves with suspicious spots can be put into a polyethylene bag containing a moist paper towel (to supply moisture) and held for one day to promote appearance of this diagnostic sign. (Fruit symptoms are described in the section on tomato fruit rots.) The disease-causing fungus overwinters in southern frost-free areas, on winter-grown tomatoes and potatoes, and in northern areas in potato cull piles and in potato “seed.” It may be introduced to tomato fields on transplants or may be wind-borne from diseased potato and tomato plants in nearby fields. Disease development is promoted by cool wet conditions.
Here is some information and tips for avoiding or minimizing the damage blight causes:
It is difficult to save a tomato plant once it has been infected with the blight – even if you spot it early and remove the infected leaves. And one infected plant is all it takes to ruin your whole crop of tomatoes (and potatoes), so here is some advice, courtesy of the University of Maryland’s Home and Garden Information Center and Cornell University’s horticulture department.
Blight winters over on living host material, such as the potatoes that might still be in the ground in your garden. Remove them and dispose of them in plastic garbage bags.
Remove any volunteer potato plants in your garden or compost pile. They can carry the virus.
Buy healthy plants from local growers. Learn what blight looks like and examine the plants for any signs. If you see something suspicious, alert the seller and the state extension service.
If you are planting potatoes, don’t use leftovers from last year’s garden or anything from a grocery store.
Blight loves cool, damp conditions and cloudy days. (UV rays kill the spores carried by the wind.) So water your plants in the morning and do it at ground level, not from above.
Inspect your plants at least once a week. More often if the weather is cool and wet.
If you find late blight in your garden, let the local extension service and your neighborhood gardeners know. Act quickly.
If you are forced to remove your plants, do it on a bright sunny day to kill of the spores that may blow around.
Late blight shows up on other plants, almost unnoticed: hairy nightshade, bittersweet nightshade, tomatillos and petunias!
If you wait until late blight shows up to use a fungicide, it will be too late. It has to be done as a preventative measure and the University of Maryland isn’t recommending that just yet since fungicides can actually lead to other diseases.
Once you begin spraying, the treatments must be regular. Use chlorathalonil or copper-based products and follow the directions carefully.
Consider planting potato and tomato varieties that have shown some resistance to late blight, such as such as ‘Allegany’, ‘Elba’ or ‘Kennebec’ potatoes and ‘Black Plum,’ ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry,’ ‘Yellow Currant’ and ‘Yellow Pear’ tomatoes.
“Mountain Magic’ and ‘Plum Regal’ have also shown disease resistance and their seeds should be widely available in 2011.
