Ingredients to a
Successful Vegetable Garden
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
Grow Your Own Food
We Can Show You How
Click on Classes Tab
And Scroll down to
Howard County
Ingredients to a
Successful Vegetable Garden
•
•
•
•
•
Healthy soil
Full sun
Sufficient soil moisture and air
Maximize the use of garden space
Keeping pests to acceptable levels
• IPM
• Grow recommended vegetable
varieties
Importance Of These Ingredients
• Healthy soil grows healthy vegetables which
resist insect attack
• Vegetables require maximum sun exposure
• Vegetables require an inch of water (.62
gallons) per week per square foot of garden
area
• Plants can withstand some pest damage (10%)
but don’t let it get out of hand.
• HGIC recommended vegetables grow
What is Healthy Soil
• Soil rich in organic matter (OM) with
lots of invertebrates
• Has lots of pores for air and water
• Add OM to garden every year
• Build up a reserve of humus
• Six inches of OM for new gardens
• One inch for established gardens
Healthy soil (cont.)
• Soil with proper pH and nutrient levels
• Do a soil test
• Follow recommendations
• Univ. of MD recommends adding .2 lbs.
of N/100 sq. ft.
•
•
•
•
2 lbs. 10-10-10/100 sq. ft.
3 lbs. of 7-3-1 (soybean meal)
1.8 lbs. of 12-0-0 (blood meal)
.2 lbs/% N = lbs. of fertilizer
Healthy soil (cont.)
• Online references at www.extension.umd.edu/hgic
• Click on “Information Library”, “Publications”
and “Soil, Mulch and Composting”
• HG11 - Soil test basics
• HG110 - Selecting and using a soil testing
laboratory
• HG 42 - Soil amendments and fertilizers
• HG 35 – Backyard Composting
Sun
• Plants do best with full day sun
• Minimum requirement for fruiting
plants is 8-10 hours
• Minimum requirement for leafy greens
is 6 hours
• Some cool season leafy greens
(lettuce) will benefit from shade as
temperatures increase
Soil Moisture
• On average plants require one inch of water a week
• One inch of water equals .62 gal./square foot
• On a 4 by 8 foot bed, that’s 20 gallons of water
• Moisture needs to be delivered to the plant roots
• Most efficient method of delivery is drip irrigation
• http://www.youtube.com/UMDHGIC Search for “Drip Irrigation”
• Alternatively, use a soaker hose
• Mulching plants helps conserve soil moisture
• http://www.youtube.com/UMDHGIC Search for “Mulchzilla”
• Place mulch over soil after soil has warmed
Maximizing Space Using
Intensive Planting
• Assume a four foot wide bed
– In a 2 or 3 foot long area plant 5 broccoli plants in
an x pattern
– Plant 4 lettuce plants between the broccoli plants
B
L
B
L
B
L
B
L
B
L
B
L
B
L
B
Intensive planting (con’t)
• Assume a two by four foot square garden area
– Plant three row of green beans (36 plants). Plant twice
during the year. Plant legumes after heavy nitrogen
feeders.
– Plant four rows of beets, carrots or onions (48 beets or
carrots, 24 onions)
– Side dress (add additional fertilizer to) some vegetables as
they grow
– Plant peppers and eggplants in the same pattern as
broccoli above
• Plant tomatoes three feet apart on the north or west
side of the garden
Succession Planting
• Cool season vegetables grown spring and fall
– Broccoli, kale, cauliflower, lettuce, beets, collards,
turnips, Swiss chard, carrots, mustard
• Warm season vegetables start May 15
– Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash
• Use transplants when possible
• Rotate crops
– Plant beans after broccoli
– Don’t plant tomatoes, eggplant or potatoes where
they have been before
Start early, end late
• Garden from 4/1 to 12/15
– See GE 007 or HG 16 for planting dates
– Broccoli, kale, lettuce, beets, carrots, onions, peas,
potatoes can all be put into the garden in mid March
through April
– In June replace with summer crops
– Succession plant short days to maturity vegetables
• Carrots, beets, every 3 weeks
• cucurbits late June, use transplants and row cover
– In August, transplant fall broccoli, etc.
– In late August, early September, plant spinach, lettuce,
turnips, and other fall crops
– Fall spinach and kale will winter over for spring crop
Integrated Pest Management
• 95% of insects aren’t vegetable pests
• Use simple steps and common sense
• Study – know your pest
• Beans – Mexican bean beetle
• Cucurbits – squash bug, vine bore and cucumber beetle
• Brassica – imported cabbage moth/looper, harlequin bug
• Solanaceous plants –Colorado potato beetle, flea beetle
• Spy – look for pest and eggs under leaves
• Squish large bugs– don’t use insecticide when fingers will
work
• An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure
Common Vegetable Pests
Mexican Bean Beetle
Adult
Eggs & larvae
• Row cover
• Crush
• Pyrethrum, neem, spinosad spray top and bottom of leaves
Common Vegetable Pests
Squash Bug
Adult
•
•
•
•
Eggs & nymphs
No organic pesticide for homeowners
Floating row cover
Hand pick tear out section of leaf with eggs
Kill nymphs with neem, horticultural 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
Cucumber Beetle
Stripped
Floating row cover
Pyrethrum, neem oil, spinosad
Spotted
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
Harlequin bug
Adult
Eggs & nymphs
• Row cover
• Crush
• Insecticidal soap alone or with pyrethrum or neem
Common Vegetable Pests
Colorado Potato Beetle
Adults
Floating row cover over hoops
Surround (kaolin clay) – reapply after rain
B.t. var. tenebrionis and spinosad
Common Vegetable Pests
Flea Beetle
Adults
Floating row cover over hoops
Surround (kaolin clay) – reapply after rain
Pyrethrum, neem, spinosad
Common Vegetable Pests
Stink Bugs
BMSB Adult
•
•
•
•
•
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 organic pesticide available for homeowners to kill adults
Beneficials v. Pests
• Attract predators and parasites with flowers
•
•
•
•
•
Plant open faced flowers and herbs
Mint (anise hyssop, thyme)
Carrot (dill, yarrow)
Aster (tansy, marigold, zinnia)
Brassica (alyssum, dames rocket, Asian greens)
• Ultimately, predators will increase as prey is available
• Purchasing predators tends not to be effective
• Ducks, chickens and toads
• Make a toad house
Physical Controls & Barriers
• Hand pick and destroy
• Easy with large pests
• Squash or drop in soapy water
• Apply a barrier on the plant (Surround)
• Kaolin clay
• Use label rates
• Cover the bed with a barrier (row cover)
• .5 or .6 oz. per square foot
• Can use 9 gauge galvanized wire to support
row cover or simply lay over plants
Targeted Applications for Specific Pests
• Bacillus Thuringiensis
– Imported cabbage looper and other caterpillars
• Horticultural oils
• Insecticidal soap
Broad Spectrum Killers
• With all pesticides
– Always read the label
– Follow label instructions
• Pyrethrums – contact killer nerve toxin
– Pyganic
• Spinosad – ingestion, nerve/stomach poison
– Low toxicity to beneficial insects
• Neem oil – azadirachtin growth regulator
– Works on contact and by ingestion
Resources
• Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC)
– 800-342-2507
– http://www.extension.umd.edu/hgic
– Click on “Information Library” and “Publications”
• Grow-It-Eat-It website
– http://www.extension.umd.edu/growit
– Click on “Vegetables”, “Common Vegetable
Problems” and “Insect Pests”
• YouTube - Search subject
http://www.youtube.com/UMDHGIC
This program was brought to you by
Maryland Master Gardener Program
Howard County
University of Maryland Extension