Gardening and Composting
Resources for Community
Gardeners
Sanjun Gu
State Horticulture Specialist
The Four Components of
Community Gardens
• Land
• Plants
• Gardeners
• Organizing
Arrangements
Keep in mind…
• Community Gardens (CGs) are managed and
maintained with the active participation of the
gardeners themselves, rather than tended only by
a professional staff.
• CGs often encourage food production by
providing gardeners: vegetables and other crops.
• CGs are usually NOT for commercial production.
• CGs discourage using of insecticides, fungicides
and herbicides.
Outline
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Site selection
Plant selection
Management of Soil
Management of plants
Management of Pests
Organic Gardening
Site Selection Criteria
• Criteria:
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Land needs to be secured at least three years
At least 6 hours sunlight
Have water supply
Relatively good soil
• Avoid:
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Too many trees: shady lot.
High or low pH, poor fertility and polluted soil.
Poor water drainage.
Big slopes.
Unsecure district: theft and vandalism.
It’s just too shady!
A big slope: erosion problem.
Bad Drainage and Possible polluted garden soil.
Conduct a soil test
• Ideal soil for gardening:
– Organic Matter: >3%
– pH: neutral or slightly acidic, 5.5-6.8
– Reasonable macro-and micro-nutrients contents:
N, P, K, Mg, Ca, etc.
– Without organic or inorganic pollutants
Resources for Soil Testing
• MU Soil and Plant Test Lab: 23 Mumford Hall, Columbia,
MO 65211, 573-882-3250
http://soilplantlab.missouri.edu/
• Other Missouri Soil Test Association approved
labs:
http://agebb.missouri.edu/mac/agopp/mac4.htm
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Custom Lab, 204 C St., Golden City, MO 64748, 417-537-8337
Delta Soil Testing Lab, University of Missouri, P.O. Box 160, Portageville, MO 63873,
573-379-5431
Perry Agricultural Lab, P.O. Box 418, State Highway 54 East, Bowling Green, MO
63334, 573-324-2931
MU Soil and Plant Test Labs
• MP555, Horticulture Soil Sample Information
Steps to get soil Samples
Take a spade and clean pail.
Push spade deep into soil.
Throw out a spade full of soil.
Cut a 1⁄2-inch to 1-inch slice of soil
from the back of the hole with the
spade. Be sure the slice goes 7 inches
deep and is fairly even in width and
thickness. Place this sample slice in the
pail.
Repeat five or six times at different
spots over your garden.
Thoroughly mix the six or seven slices
you have in the pail.
After thoroughly mixing, take out about
one pint of soil and mail it or, preferably,
take it to your MU Extension center or
mail it to an MU Soil and Plant Testing
Laboratory.
Soil Preparation
• Plow a/o disc—the garden area.
• Building Soil Fertility
– adding manure
• Avoid fresh manure or immature compost, otherwise use in
fall (120 days before planting) and be worked in ASAP or
covered with other organic materials such as straw, hay, etc.
• Broadcast at 2.5-10 lb/ft2, better be done in the whole CG
plot.
– adding composts: till 1 lb/ft2 (a layer of 1/3 to ½ inch)
of mature compost in garden plots every year.
– Adding green manures?
• Time of preparation-- early spring after
application of compost (tilled into a depth of 6
inches), or late fall if do manure
Prepare soil for garden plots: Till
or no-till
Raised Bed
• Raised-Bed Gardening:
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/
DisplayPub.aspx?P=G6985
• Container and Raised Bed Gardening
(Ohio):
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO200.pdf
Terracing?
High raised bed for
wheel-chair gardeners
Build up Soil Fertility in a CG
• G6950, Steps in Fertilizing Garden Soil: Vegetables
and Annual Flowers:
– Step 1: Have soil tested
– Step 2: Establish basic fertility level
– Step 3: Apply maintenance fertilizer
– Step 4: Use starter fertilizer
– Step 5: Side-dress with nitrogen
– Step 6: Maintain organic matter
Making Compost
• G6957: How to make a compost bin:
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/
DisplayPub.aspx?P=G6957
• G6956: Making and using compost:
Http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/
DisplayPub.aspx?P=G6956
c
Compost Bin
Plant Selection: what to Grow?
• Annual vs. perennial
• Vegetables, herbs, flowers, vs fruits
• Ethnic or unique or heirloom
vegetables vs common vegetables
Common Vegetables Grown in a CG
• Salad Greens: lettuce,
kale, mustard, collards
• Cole crops: cabbage,
broccoli, cauliflower
• Peas and Beans
• Solanums: tomato,
pepper, eggplant, potato
• Cucurbits: cucumber,
zucchini, squash
• Carrot, Okra, Onion,
Beets
• Sweet Corn
• Herbs
• Ethnic Vegetables
Bitter Melon
Air/Soil Temperature Requirement
When to grow?
• Temperature is the Key: Both air and soil
– Cold hardy vegetables: spinach, pea, chive, Cole
crop, onion, turnip, radish, parsley, leek, horse radish
– Cool season vegetables: beet, carrot, celery,
Chinese cabbage, potato, lettuce, chard, potato
– Warm season vegetables: beans, sweet corn,
cowpea, tomato, collard green
– “Hot” season vegetables: cucurbits, okra, eggplant,
pepper, sweet potato, lima bean
• MU Missouri Agricultural Weather Center:
http://agebb.missouri.edu/weather/index.htm
• G6201 Vegetable Planting Calendar:
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/Displa
yPub.aspx?P=G6201
Vegetable planting regions
Fall Gardening
• The Fall Vegetable Gardens (Purdue):
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-66.pdf
• How to determine the latest planting date (D):
– Get the date of first fall frost (D1)
– Minus 15 days for warm season species, add 15 days for cool
season species.
– Get the days from planting to maturity (D2)on seed package and
add about 10 days to this number (D2).
– Planting date for warm season plants D=D1-15-(D2+10)=D1-D2-25
– Planting date for cool season plants D=D1+15-(D2+10)=D1-D2+5
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Example 1—summer squash: assuming D1=Oct. 15, D2=50;
D=D1-D2-25=Oct. 15-50-25 =Aug. 1.
Example 2—turnip greens: assuming D1=Oct. 15, D2=40;
D=D1-D2+5=Sep. 10
How to Start?
• Direct seeding vs transplanting
– Direct seeding: potato, salad greens, bean, pea, etc.
– Transplanting: tomato, peeper, eggplant, cucumber,
Cole crops, etc.
– Sources for seeds and transplants: CG Management,
nurseries, seed companies (Johnny’s, Morgan County
Seeds etc—small packages).
• Get your hands dirty!
– Usually plant/seed by hands
Transplant Production--Spring
Gardening methods
• Groups of Gardeners--based on how do
they treat the Mother Nature
– Grow it as it would grow naturally: forgo all
fertilizers, pesticides, and even plastic
containers → ? Natural
– Grow it naturally but allow non-synthetic
fertilizers or pesticides → Organic
– Grow it healthily by adding anything to keep it
healthy → Conventional
Organic Gardens, to Certify?
• Organic gardening vs. organic growing
– Organic gardening: there is no regulation on
“Organic Gardening”: Perhaps because there
is normally no selling for CG produce
– Organic growing: commercial growers who
have to follow National Organic Program
Standards (2002, USDA) that define organic
production
Organic Gardening Resources
• Organic Gardening techniques—G6220:
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/
DisplayPub.aspx?P=G6220
• Using Organic Pesticides—BP-69
(Purdue):
http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/B
P-69-W.pdf
• Organic Vegetable Gardening—VH019
(Florida): http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VH019
Organic Transplant Production
• Plugs and Transplant Production for
Organic Systems:
http://attra.ncat.org/attrapub/plugs.html
Gardeners should DO…
• Monoculturing vs
Intercropping
• Trellising (staking)
• Continuously harvesting
Pest Management in in CGs
• IPM is the key to SUSTANIABLE
Community Gardens!
• It is the coordinated use of pest and
environmental information with available
pest control methods to prevent
unacceptable levels of pest damage by the
most economical means and with the least
possible hazard to people, property, and
the environment.
IPM Practices
• Inspecting crops and monitoring crops for
damage;
• Using mechanical trapping devices, natural
predators, insect growth regulators,
pheromones, and if necessary, chemical
pesticides
• Using biological pesticides is an important
component of IPM.
How does IPM Work?
a four-tiered approach!
• Set Action Threshold: a point at which pest
populations or environmental conditions indicate that pest
control action must be taken
• Monitor and Identify Pests: not all insects, weeds,
and other living organisms require control—good vs bad
bugs (variety and numbers)
• Prevention: the first line of control with cultural
methods to prevent pest from becoming a threat.
• Control: once monitoring, identification, and action
thresholds indicate that pest control is required, and
preventive methods are no longer effective or available,
then evaluate the proper control methods.
Insect Pest Control in CGs
• Step one: set up the action threshold:
• Many crops can tolerate a certain amount of
pest damage.
• At a CG, insect damage might be just
aesthetic. The threshold for vegetable growers
often depends on the individual’s tolerance to
the damage.
Step two: monitor and identify pests
• Good bugs: predators
• and bad ones
» and how many in your
“small garden” plot
Green lacewing larvae feeding on an aphid
Bad Insects
Aphids
Cabbage worm
Cucumber beetles
Flea beetle
Colorado potato beetle
Diamondback moth
Squash vine borers
Tomato/corn fruit worm
Thrip (1/20 inch)
Squash bug
Eye on your plants: Visit your
garden at least 3-4 times a week
Scouting your
garden: watch
closely for egg
masses or small
larvae before
damage is evident
in your plot.
Step three: prevention methods
• Cultural methods
– Resistant or special varieties:
Parthenocarpic zucchini and cucumber
– Crop rotation
– Trap crops
– Sanitary: clean weeds at edges; remove
overripe produce (for scavenger insects)
– Handpicking and hosing
Step four: control
• Low or no risk
– Mechanical: row cover; traps (sticky color traps,
pheromone traps); manual removal of insects.
– Biological control: Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis );
beneficial insects; etc.
• Medium risk
– Insecticidal soup;
– Botanical pesticides (Neem oil);
• High risk
– synthetic pesticides (Sevin, malathion, diazinon): the
last resort, read LABEL, understand PHI.
Using Row Covers for
frost avoidance and insect screen
Insect Management Resources
• Managing Insects in Home vegetable
gardens (Purdue):
http://extension.entm.purdue.edu/publicati
ons/E-21.pdf
• MU Extension also this type of
publications, but you have to pay!
• Using Organic Pesticides—BP-69
(Purdue):
http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/B
P-69-W.pdf
Disease
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Viruses
Bacteria
Fungi
Physiological
Disorders
Blossom end rot: Calcium
deficiency
Key Points
• Keep your plants healthy and vigorous
• Keep disease away from healthy plants:
Remove diseased plants or plant parts
from your garden to prevent spreading
Disease Control Strategy
• Before planting
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Sunny and well drained soil
Remove/plow old crop debris
Disease resistant varieties
Disease free seeds and transplants
Crop rotation
Maintain good air circulation
• At planting
– Seed or transplant in warm weather/soil
– Space for air circulation
– Use raised beds
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During growing season
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Inspection for diseases
Remove/destroy badly diseased plants
Control weeds
Control insects (vectors)
Apply fungicides when necessary
(preventive!)
Vegetables suffer similar diseases
and insects
Resources
• Disease Fact Sheets Listed by
Crops (Cornell):
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.
cornell.edu/cropindex.htm
• G6202: Disease Prevention in
Home Vegetable Gardens:
http://extension.missouri.edu/pub
lications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G62
02
• Plant diagnostic Clinic:
http://soilplantlab.missouri.edu/plant/index.
htm
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Plant Diagnostic Clinic, 23 Mumford Hall, Columbia, Mo. 65211. 573-882-3019, Fax
573-884-4288
E-mail questions and comments
plantclinic@missouri.edu
Submit digital photos
For identification and diagnosis online
• Plant Nematology Lab:
http://soilplantlab.missouri.edu/nematode/
• G6203 Common Diseases in the Home
Garden:
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/
DisplayPub.aspx?P=G6203
Weed Control Strategy
Johnson Grass
Barnyard Grass
Crab Grass
Horse Nettle
Pig Weed
Foxtail
Weed control methods
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Hand weeding: the most effective for small plots
Mulch: be careful with hays (bring more seeds)
Solarization
Organic method: Corn gluten meal, vinegar
(acetic acid 5%)
• Synthetic herbicides: would kill crop as well if
inappropriately used
– Broad-spectrum: Glyphosate
– Thin-leaf weeds: Sethoxydim
– Broad-leaf weeds: 2,4-D
Also, watch for immature composts!
Use herbicides to kill shared areas in a CG
Other Resources
• MU Extension Publication—Horticulture:
http://extension.missouri.edu/main/Display
Category.aspx?C=67
People
• LUCE State Specialist:
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Horticulture: K.B. Paul, Sanjun Gu and a new hire
Native Plants: Nadia Navarrete-Tindall
Compost: Hwei-Yiing Johnson
IPM: new hire
• UMC State Specialist (Horticulture):
http://plantsci.missouri.edu/extension/people.htm
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Dave Trinklein
Chris Starbuck
Mary Kroening
Michele Warmund
Simeon Wright (diagnostic lab)
MU Regional Horticulture Specialists
LU Regional Horticulture Educators
• Karen, Davis
St. Louis 573-999-6293
davisk@lincolnu.edu
• Earnest Bradley
St. Louis 314-867-2420
bradleye@lincolnu.edu
• Tina Wurth
Kansas City 816-923-0042
wurtht@lincolnu.edu
Other Publications
• ATTRA (Horticulture)—National
Sustainable Agriculture Service:
http://attra.ncat.org/horticultural.html
• SARE—Sustainable Agriculture Research
and Education:
http://www.sare.org/publications/
• OMRI—Organic Materials Review
Institute: http://www.omri.org/
Questions?
Lincoln University Extension
900 Chestnut St.
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone: 573-681-5524
E-mail: sanjun.gu@lincolnu.edu