Summer Vegetable Gardening Cynthia Sandberg Love Apple Farms - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Summer Vegetable Gardening

Cynthia Sandberg Love Apple Farms www.LoveAppleFarms.com

Class Introduction

Please keep your talking to a minimum, allowing you and your neighbors to get the full value of the class. Please raise your hand if you have any questions, but try to hold them for later - have faith in my agenda. Too many questions get us

• ff track and delays the class.

Add your name/email to Links List if you'd like to receive a PDF of this presentation as well as links to resources discussed in class. What this class doesn't cover:

• Every possible topic a gardener should know.
• Winter vegetable growing.
• Every possible method of organic gardening.

Class Agenda

• Soil fertility
• Bed Amending
• Direct sowing seeds in garden
• Individual fruits and veg
• Irrigation
• Pests
• Flat sowing
• Germination instructions
• Supplemental fertility and next

steps

Start from the Ground Up

Soil pH

X

• Rainfall increases soil acidity
• Add lime to raise pH
• Add sulfur to lower pH

Importance of N-P-K: Macronutrients

• Nitrogen (N): Green growth
• Phosphorus (P): Root growth and flower/fruit

production

• Potassium (K): Overall plant health

Micronutrients

• Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Molybdenum

(Mo), Boron (B), Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), Chlorine (Cl), Iron (Fe), Nickel (Ni)

• Needed in trace quantities, too much can hurt

plants more than it can help

• Regular additions of
• rganic matter, such as

compost, usually meets micronutrient needs

Purchase Good Top Soil If you Need to Fill New Beds

50/50 BLEND OF THESE TWO

Mulch on Paths for Weed Suppression

Organic Amendments

• Feed your soil like you feed your body
• Cannot "Miracle Gro" soil into good health
• Vegetables are fast-growing plants
• Need more fertilizer than perennials because you

are harvesting (taking away nutrients)

• Always amend beds before planting
• Soil test will reveal deficiencies and

make amendment recommendations X

Every Garden Should Have a Compost Pile and Worm Bin

Bed Amending Recipe

For a 50 square foot bed:

• 1 wheelbarrow homemade compost OR

1 bag G&B Harvest Supreme (compost)

• 2 quarts G&B 4-6-3 Tomato, Veg, & Herb Fertilizer
• 1 quart pure Worm Castings

Note: Double up if your soil is poor (very sandy or heavy clay)

Bed Amending Step by Step

• Sprinkle all amendments evenly on

top

• Turn over soil using a spade fork
• Rake smooth

Our new favorite "Magic Bullet"

Mykos Mycorrhizal Fungi

• Sprinkle on root ball as you plant
• Beneficial "live" fungus that attaches and

spreads with rootzone

• Helps keeps plants from being infected by soil

borne diseases

• Helps plants "communicate" to each other when

under insect attack and produce enzymes to ward off attackers & attract good bugs.

• Helps plants use water more efficiently

Sowing Requirements for Summer Veg

Must Direct Sow Either Must Transplant Carrot Greens: Lettuce, Mustards, Arugula, Chard, Kale Tomato Beet Squash, Zucchini, Melon, Cucumber, Pumpkin Pepper Radish Onion Eggplant Turnip Corn, Bean Potato

Direct Sowing Root Vegetables

• Sow seeds 1 per square inch
• Cover with 1/4 inch of soil
• Don't let surface dry out
• Use floating row cover
• Use thinnings as flavorful,

unusual garnish

Solanaceae Family: Nightshades

Tomato

• Start from seed in Feb or March
• r buy transplants instead
• Plant outside April/May
• 2' - 3' spacing
• Lots of fertilizer
• Trellis with big tomato cage
• Varieties avail today:

Sungold (gold cherry), San Marzano (paste), New Girl (like Early Girl), Hippie Zebra (striped beefsteak), Mortgage Lifter (red beefsteak), Hawaiian Pineapple (bi-color beef), Green Zebra

Pepper & Eggplant

• Start from seed in Jan or Feb or buy

transplants instead.

• Plant outside late April or May
• 18" spacing
• 2' - 4' tall
• Trellis with small tomato cages,

bamboo, or trellis netting

Growing Potatoes In Pots

• Buy certified
• rganic seed

potatoes

• Link to potato seed

supplier in email

• "Chitting" seed

potatoes: Lay out seed potatoes by sunny window until they sprout (if they aren’t already)

Growing Potatoes In Pots

• Use new 15 gallon pots, or sterilize used 15 gallon pots

with bleach solution

• Use sterile (new) potting soil
• Fill pots with 2" soil, add 4 - 5 potato pieces, cover with 2"

soil

Growing Potatoes in Pots

• Once shoots reach 8 - 10",

cover up to top leaves with soil

• Continue until they grow out
• f the pot
• Keep watered
• Once potato flowers and dies,

potatoes are ready to harvest

• Potatoes require full sun

• Many different

varieties and colors

• Requires tall trellis

○7' tomato cages ○String trellis

• 6" spacing
• Edible flowers
• Longer season

than bush beans

Pole Beans

Bush Bean

• 1' - 2' tall
• Green or Purple
• 8" - 10" spacing
• Small tomato cage, trellis netting, or

bamboo

• Edible flower
• Shorter season

Let’s talk about Cucerbits

Melons & Summer Squash Cucumbers & Winter Squash

Melons

• Vining plant
• 1' spacing

Issues:

• Wet soil contacting

skin makes it susceptible to pests

• Don't like cold

soil/low nighttime temps Solution...

• Wait to plant until May
• Lay clear or black UV plastic over amended bed
• Cut "X"s in plastic to plant through
• Must have drip irrigation under plastic

June 24, 2010 (Melon Experiment)

July 25, 2010 (Melon Experiment)

'Hearts of Gold' Cantaloupe (orange flesh) 'Eden's Gem' Muskmelon (green flesh)

Sugar Baby Red Watermelon Italian Honeydew

Cucumber

• Use trellis to grow cukes on or

let sprawl on ground (best to use plastic on bed to prevent fruit contacting ground)

• Lemon (Yellow), American

Slicing (Green), and Pickling

• 8" spacing
• Careful when transplanting -

don’t disturb roots too much.

Summer Squash vs. Winter Squash

• Large, bushy plants
• 2' spacing
• Grow very quickly - harvest
• ften during

season's peak

• Soft, edible skin
• Eaten fresh
• Large, long vining plants
• 1' spacing
• Harvest entire crop at end of

season, when tendril closest to fruit has dried up

• Hard skin
• Usually stored, eaten in

fall/winter

Summer Squash

Patty Pan, Zucchini, Zephyr Crookneck, Yellow Zucchini

Winter Squash

Waltham Butternut Jack be Little Pumpkin Red Kuri (Potimarron) Acorn Squash

MORE SQUASH (PUMPKINS)

Atlantic Giant Moonshine

MORE PUMPKINS

Galeux D’Eysines Rouge Vif D’Etampes (aka Cinderella Pumpkin

Ornamental Winter Squash

Speckled Swan Gourd

Corn

• Miniature Rainbow Popcorn (7')
• White Extra Sweet (6;)
• Oaxacan Green (10’)
• Hybrid varieties will yield more
• 1' spacing
• Must sow/plant in blocks 4' x 5'

for adequate pollination

Oaxacan Green Corn

Okra

• Heat loving
• 5' tall
• 2' spacing
• Beautiful plant

SUMMER GREENS: Arugula, Mustards (inc Mizuna), Swiss Chard, Chrysanthemum Greens

• Transplant in bunches
• f 2 - 3 plants
• Plant bunches 6" apart
• Edible flower

Irrigation

• Drip irrigation is more efficient than hand watering, soaker

hoses, or sprinklers

• Easy to install from your spigot
• Water early in morning if you can
• Don't rely on a timer - check each bed daily
• Take our Irrigation class next week

Gopher Trapping - Not Wire!

Deer Fencing

• Necessary to keep

them out

• Sprays don’t work

and take up too much time.

• 8' tall
• Attach to T-posts
• Deer will eat

everything!

Organic Pest Control

• Be an observant gardener - inspect leaves on regular basis
• Act on an issue immediately with appropriate controls before the

population gets out of control

• Organic controls must be reapplied
• Remove overpopulated plants and dispose of responsibly
• Use preventative methods

○ Proper spacing in between plants for airflow ○ Biodiversity ○ Proper watering with irrigation ○ Weed control

Aphids

• Green, Black, Red, Grey
• Watch for curling leaves
• Organic pesticide: Pyrethrin, Safer Soap,

Neem Oil

• Organic preventative: Garlic spray
• Beneficial bugs: Lacewing, Ladybug
• Give infested leaves to chickens

Squash Bug

• Attack all cucerbits, not

just squash

• Smell like bananas when

squished

• Hand pick early in season

before population explodes

Cucumber Beetle

• Striped or spotted
• Carry diseases
• Pyrethrins
• Hand pick
• Attracted to yellow flowers

Slugs, Snails, Earwigs, and Pillbugs

• Sluggo Plus is organic and

effective

• Hand pick late at night with

flashlight

Beneficial Bugs

Lacewing Soldier Beetle Lacewing larva and aphid Soldier beetle larva

Beneficial Bugs

Ladybird beetle Honeybee & Bumblebee Ladybird beetle Larvae

Flat Sowing Instructions

• Sow 3 cells of each type of vegetable/fruit = 16 per flat
• Don't poke seeds into soil or make a divot
• Only use as many seeds as what is written on seed jar
• Space seeds apart evenly
• Half labels, pencil only, push label in so it contacts

bottom of flat

• Pass in circle, clockwise
• Seeds will go around several times
• Only have 1 container open at a time
• Put lids back on tight after selecting

Seedling Tray Care

• Flat care instructions will be in links list email
• Water flat 3 times and cover with plastic
• Optimal temperature: 75 degrees
• Remove plastic cover once 1 seed sprouts
• Regulate heat mat with instant-read meat thermometer or soil probe

with thermostat

• Heat mat vastly speeds up germination and can be used for years to

come.

Seedling Tray Care

• Bring sprouted 6-packs outside in morning and inside at night
• Once sprouted, water every day.
• Transplant into small containers once seedlings show several sets
• f leaves, and outside in light all day and night.
• Transplant deeper than they were before once you put out in a bed.
• Use Happy Frog soil, Sunland, Black Gold.
• Fertilize seedlings with worm casting tea after fourth week alive.

Supplemental Fertilizing

• Plants will need additional fertilizer, particularly if yellowing
• Best fertilizer: Worm Casting Tea
• Recipe: Big handful of castings in a 5 gallon bucket of water
• Let sit for two days, stirring occasionally or add aquarium pump

and aerate for super mad pro skills.

• Strain through cheesecloth or FRC or strainer and apply to plants

with a watering can or garden sprayer

• Do twice a month during growing season
• WCT has been shown to: increase fertility, reduce incidence of

disease and reduce bug stress

Amendments for Sale Today

• Heating Mats
• G&B Fertilizer
• Worm Castings
• Organic Pesticides
• Set-ups: 32 pots and one tray
• Trellis Netting
• Jeweler’s Loupe
• Our favorite fan nozzle
• Floating row cover to protect new sprouts
• Landscape staples to pin down FRC