Jody Smith Williams GLEE Community Garden Outline What’s Unique about Us? Starting a Garden: The Basics Siting Your Garden Benefits of Raised Beds Soil Building Planting Common Problems & Solutions Jody’s Top 10 Summer Garden Care Growing Outside the Box Resources What’s Unique About Us? Space Native “soil”, high Ph Climate Gardening calendar Rainfall Pests 3 Siting Your Garden: Location, location, location Vegetables need 6-8 hours of sunlight Consider: Fall/Winter shadows Wind Salt spray Tree roots Aesthetics, privacy 4 Benefits of Raised Beds: Soil quality No till, compaction Drainage Moisture retention Weed control Mobility (tall beds) 5 Materials: Frame made of wood (Untreated), recycled plastic lumber, concrete block, etc. Size – no more than 4’ wide - any length 6-8” deep, more for some root veggies 6 SOIL BUILDING: Most important part of organic gardening The Soil Food Web is comprised of microorganisms that provide nutrients and health to the plants as well as the soil. 7 SOIL BUILDING Line bottom of raised bed with newspaper or cardboard Mix ~ equal parts topsoil, compost, vermiculite or sand S FL needs more organic matter Organic amendments: Fish meal/emulsion , Seaweed Extract/kelp meal, Worm Castings, Plantone ® or other organic products 8 SOIL BUILDING cont’d For tall beds, consider “lasagna gardening” 9 Considerations: Grow things your family likes to eat Cost/availability of store bought Size of plants, time to maturity Appropriateness for climate Experiment! 10 Direct seed or seedlings? Starting seedlings: Sterile , fluffy starting medium Container w/ drainage Seed selection Light water daily Fertilize after 2 weeks Transplant in shade Moon cycles Mulch Buying seedlings: beware Big Box Stores Grow Fest Oct. 19-20 11 Most common mistake: Plants too close Tough love, must thin Provide supports when plants are small (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, pole beans) Consider Square Foot Gardening 12 13 Not too much, not too little, just right! Drip or soaker irrigation on timer w/ rain detector ideal Water soil, not plants Finger test Deeper watering, less often 1-2” per week ½-1 gal per square foot. 4 x 10 plot needs 20-40 gallons 14 Common insects: aphids, white fly, thrips, cabbage worms, nematodes, snails/slugs, horn worms The best offense is a good defense: healthy plants resist pests & disease Disease resistant seeds Foliar spray: compost tea, seaweed, fish emulsion IPM: Attract/buy natural predators: ladybugs, lacewings, parasitic wasps, ben. nematodes 15 Organic methods of treatment: always consider impact on beneficials. Start with most benign. Observation! Wait for good guys Sticky traps (yellow for white fly; blue for thrips) Beer traps for snails/slugs Water spray Garlic/hot pepper /soap spray “Two block method” Food grade diatomaceous earth (DE) Stronger treatments: Bt, Pyrethrum, Spinosad, Neem – may kill beneficials 16 Disease Prevention/Treatment: Avoid Big Box stores, especially Nightshades Cucurbits prone to powdery mildew – spray with diluted skim milk. Trellis vines for better air flow Destroy diseased plants – DO NOT COMPOST 17 Chard Vitamin Kale Greens Mustard Mizuna Collards Arugula Tatsoi Lettuce 18 Nitrogen fixers Bush (faster production) Pole (longer harvest, need trellis) Innoculant for better yield 19 Needs 1 square foot 3-4 months to harvest 20 Cilantro Dill Rosemary Parsley Mint Oregano Thyme Tarragon Chives Basil Marjoram Sage 21 Slow grower, small space (not too close) Grow radishes (quick) before carrots mature 22 Slow grower, small space Good for intercropping Buy onion “sets”, leeks from seed 23 Bell peppers winter/spring Hot peppers summer 24 Perennial in S. FL 25 Nitrogen fixer Eat peas, pods and shoots 26 Prolific, low maintenance, can be kept small 27 Success unpredictable in S. FL Prone to disease (fusarium wilt, tobacco mosaic virus, yellow curly leaf virus, blight) Cherry varieties do best Plant seedlings very deep and/or plant sideways Trim suckers and stake plants Don’t over water, esp before harvest Plenty of calcium (eggshells, Epsom salts) Consider determinate or indeterminate 28 Nasturtium: Edible, Pest Deterrent Tagetes Marigold: Nematode Control 29 Wild arugula: edible, pollinator Calendula: edible, medicinal Borage: edible, pollinator, 30 medicinal 31 32 33 34 35 Options: Plant cover crop(s): Legumes, buckwheat, sunn hemp Solarize soil At the very least: cover with cardboard or mulch 36 Spiral Garden 37 Key hole Garden 38 Vertical Wall Garden Photo: JustOneBackyard.com 39 Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide1 University of FL IFAS Extension Service http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/EP124 Miami-Dade IFAS Extension Service http://miami-dade.ifas.ufl.edu/lawn_and_garden/communitygarden.shtml Gardeners Supply http://www.gardeners.com/ Organic Gardening Magazine http://www.organicgardening.com GLEE Community Garden http://www.cgkw.pbworks.com/ http://www.communitygardenkeywest.com 40 41 Happy Gardening! 42 .