Holistic Vegetable Gardening
Presented by: Kent Phillips
kent.a.phillips@gmail.com
2
Maryland
Master Gardeners’
Mission
To educate Maryland residents about
safe, effective and sustainable
horticultural practices that build
healthy gardens, landscapes, and
communities.
www.extension.umd.edu/growit
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Howard County
What is a holistic approach
• Webster’s defines holistic as “emphasizing the
organic or functional relation between parts
and whole”
• When growing vegetables that means
relationship between our vegetable plants and
• Soil
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Nutrients in the soil
Water and air in balance
• Sun
• Insects
Why Practice a Holistic Approach
• To conserve scarce resources
• To mimic nature
• To maximize biological and genetic
diversity
• To provide the best environment for our
vegetables
• Healthy plants grow quickly and resist
insect attack
Keys To A Healthy Vegetable
Garden
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Healthy soil
Full sun
Sufficient soil moisture and air
Keeping pests to acceptable levels
Grow recommended vegetable
varieties
• HG 70 Recommended vegetable cultivars for
Maryland home gardens
What is healthy soil
• Lots of organic material added
• Six inches of OM for new gardens
• One inch for established gardens
• Creates a beneficial environment for soil
invertibrates and micro organisms
• Holds water and nutrients -
• Ways to add organic material
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Well composted farmyard manure
Compost
Shredded leaves and grass clippings
Organic mulches
Cover crops
What does compost do
• Creates a beneficial environment for soil
invertebrates and organisms
• Creates well-drained, deep and crumbly soil
• Allows for maximum root growth
• Improve soil structure (breaks up clay) and
creates pores for water retention and air
infiltration
• Creates a reservoir of slow-release nutrients.
What is healthy soil
• Soil with proper pH and nutrient levels
• Do a soil test
• Proper pH for vegetables is between 6.2 and 6.8
• Test will provide recommendation for macro
(NPK) and micro nutrients
• Follow recommendations
• N is the nutrient most often in short supply
• UMD recommendation is .1 to .2 #/100 sqft.
• Over fertilization can harm plants
• Uncompacted soil with lots of pores for air and water
Soil References
• Online references at
www.extension.umd.edu/hgic
• Click on “Information Library”, “Publications”
then on “Vegetables, Fruit and Herb Gardening
• HG11 Soil test basics
• HG110 Selecting and using a soil testing
laboratory
• HG 42 Soil amendments and fertilizers
• FS782 Basics of soil and plant fertility
• Videos – Click on Youtube button on GIEI
website
Sun
• Fruiting vegetables like full sun
• Minimum requirement is 8 hrs.
• Leafy greens like full sun
• Minimum requirement is 5-6 hrs.
Most commonly available
commercial organic fertilizers
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Check OMRI for specific producers (www.omri.org)
Fish emulsion:
6-2-2
Seaweed extract:
1-0.5-2
Blood meal:
15-1-0
Cottonseed meal:
6-2.5-1.5
Guano:
8 to 13-8-2
Bone meal:
4-21-0
Rock phosphate:
0-22-0
Alfalfa meal:
3-1-2
Soybean Meal
7-2-1
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Soil Moisture
• On average plants require one inch of water a week
• Equals .62 gallons/sqft.
• Equals 20 gallons on a 4 by 8 ft. raised bed
• Moisture requirements are dependent on weather and
the variety of vegetable being grown
• E.g.. Tomatoes require extra moisture to avoid
blossom end rot (BER)
• Moisture needs to be delivered to the plant roots
• Most efficient method of delivery is drip irrigation
• GIEI Youtube videos – search for drip irrigation
• Mulching plants helps conserve soil moisture
• GIEI Youtube videos – search for mulchzilla
Air
• Plant roots require air
• Clay soil – holds water tightly
• Sandy soil – doesn’t hold water
• The residual decomposition of
organic materials creates soil
structure by binding soil particles
together into large clumps or
aggregates which create pores for air
Integrated Pest Management
• Simple steps and common sense
• Study
• Spy
• Squish
• An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure
• Companion planting
• A healthy garden with good soil, adequate
moisture and proper nutrition can withstand some
pest predation
Beneficials v. Pests
• Attract predators and parasites
• Ultimately, predators will increase as prey is
available
• Planting open faced flowers attracts predators that
require nectar in their adult stage
• Purchasing predators tends not to be effective
• Ducks, chickens and toads
Common Predators
Praying Mantid
Common Predators
Lady Bird Beetle and Larva
Common Predators
Yellow Argiope
Jumping spider
Wolf Spider
Orb Weaver
Common Predators
Wheel bug
Common Predators
Syrphid fly and larva: predator of aphids
Common Predators
Parasitized Tomato Hornworm
Common Vegetable Pests
Mexican Bean Beetle
Adult
Eggs & larvae
• Row cover
• Crush
• Pyrethrum, neem, spinosad spray top and bottom of leaves
Common Vegetable Pests
Cucumber Beetle
Stripped
Floating row cover
Pyrethrum, neem oil, spinosad
Spotted
Common Vegetable Pests
Harlequin bug
Adult
Eggs & nymphs
• Row cover
• Crush
• Insecticidal soap alone or with pyrethrum or neem
Common Vegetable Pests
Flea Beetle
Adults
Floating row cover over hoops
Surround (kaolin clay) – reapply after rain
Pyrethrum, neem, spinosad
Common Vegetable Pests
Imported Cabbage Looper
Adult
Larvae
• Floating row cover
• Bacillus Thuringensis (BT), insecticidal soap
• Pyrethrum, neem, spinosad – use with sticker spreader
Common Vegetable Pests
Squash Bug
Adult
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Eggs & nymphs
No pesticide for homeowners
Floating row cover
Hand pick tear out section of leaf with eggs
Kill nymphs with neem or hort oil or insecticidal soap
Common Vegetable Pests
Squash Vine Bore
Larvae
• Floating row cover
• Cut out borer and mound soil over wound
Common Vegetable Pests
Stink Bugs
BMSB Adult
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Brown
Southern Green Stink Bug
True hard shell bugs like squash and stink bugs are hard to kill
Use row cover where possible
Hand pick and destroy adults and eggs
Insecticidal soap and botanicals can be used on 1st and 2nd instars (nymphs)
No pesticide available for homeowners to kill adults
Physical Controls & Barriers
• Hand pick and destroy
• Apply a barrier on the plant (Surround)
• Cover the bed with a barrier (row cover)
Targeted Applications for Specific Pests
• https://extension.umd.edu/growit
– Click on “Vegetables” tab, “Common Vegetable
Problems” and “Vegetable Insects Pests”
• With all pesticides
– Always read the label and follow instructions
• Bacillus Thuringiensis
– Use on brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, etc.)
– Cabbage looper and other caterpillars
• Horticultural oils
• Insecticidal soap
Broad Spectrum Killers
• With all pesticides
– Always read the label
– Follow label instructions
• Pyrethrums - contact
• Spinosad –ingestion
• Neem oil - contact and ingestion
– Azadirachtin
• These insecticides can be ever bit as deadly as
synthetic ones
This program was brought to you by
Maryland Master Gardener Program
Howard County
University of Maryland Extension