GARDENING 101 Soil and Water Conservation District offers tips on growing produce

WRITERS: WHITNEY MCGREW AND HOLLY MCCUTCHAN Warrick County Soil and Water Conservation District

Summer is here in southern Indiana and what better way to kick off the season than with a home garden? The idea of gardening can be overwhelming for most peo- ple, especially first timers. We wanted to share some of our tried and true tips and tricks for ensuring you have a successful garden packed full of delicious produce.

First things first, you will need to select the perfect spot to setup your garden. This can look drastically different depending on your housing situation and available space, some may want a more traditional large garden if they have ample room. Others may live in an apartment or neighborhood and opt for a container or patio garden. No matter the size of your yard, patio or balcony there is always room to squeeze in some fresh veggies! If you are doing a garden without the use of raised beds or containers make sure you select a spot away from an areas that may introduce containments to your vegetables. Examples include septic systems, wells, and even walnut trees. If you live in a neighborhood it’s a good idea to check into your local ordinances to make sure you stay in compliance as well.

There are a few basic elements required no matter what your gardening space looks like. The most important is sunlight. You are going to need to place your garden or pots in an area that gets at least 6-8 hours of sunlight each day in order for your plants to thrive. Secondly, you will need fertile soil. If you are using pots or containers to grow your produce, you can easily purchase a quality potting soil at your local home and garden center. If you are doing a traditional garden it is a good idea to get your soil tested and check out the nutrient levels. This is an important step to make sure you select the right fertilizer and that your soil has all the nutrients required to ensure healthy plants. Lastly is water! If doing a larger garden you can setup sprinklers and if using containers there are lots of irrigation options. Regardless of your method of choice, your vegetables are going to need lots of water to handle the southern Indiana heat.

After you have selected the perfect site, you can begin mapping out your garden.

The best advice anyone ever gave me was to START SMALL!

In this unprecedented time of COVID-19 and food indus- try supply chain disruptions local food access has been shoved to the front of many consumers’ minds. Many homeowners are looking at growing their own food for then first time in several years. Yet where do you turn to for help and guidance? Look to your local Purdue Extension office. Each Pur- due Extension office offers research based, unbiased information to help you on a variety of topics. By offices are backed by industry spe- cialists, university research, and a peer network across the United States.

By visiting Purdue Extension online at extension.purdue. edu, you can find free pub- lications on gardening and horticulture including guides on preparing a garden, growing vegetables, pest management, harvesting, preparation, storage and even recipes.

In addition, download Pur- due’s Plant Doctor apps for Apple iOS and Android. The apps seek to help people improve health and appear- ance of their plants by offering critical information where and when it is needed. For information and a list of available apps, visit www. purdueplantdoctor.com.

For more information contact Purdue Extension-Warrick County

Amanda Mosiman Extension Educator Agriculture and Natural Resources

107 W Locust Street Suite 111 Boonville, IN 47601

bailey1@purdue.edu

It is easy to get excited and plant much more than you can realistically care for or even eat. In order for your first year of gardening to be a success it works best to start small, select a few vegetables you know you will enjoy eating (5 is a good number) and will be able to take care of as you learn the ropes. Another tip is to plant things that are expensive at the grocery store. For example potatoes are relatively cheap, however things like tomatoes and blueberries cost a little more so it makes more sense to grow things that will cost more to purchase. Once you have chosen the crops you would like to grow this season, you can start seeds indoors (late winter early spring) or wait until the weather warms up and purchase starts or seeds from your local garden store and plant directly into your garden. We recommend planting at least one cold hardy crop like carrots or spinach, this will extend your growing season beyond just the summer, and at least one perennial like strawberries or blueberries that will keep producing year after year. The rest you can mix and match but just make sure it will grow well in your grow zone!

Once your garden is established, there is a bit of maintenance involved, the amount of work required depends on the plants you chose and the size of your garden. The bulk of the work is weeding, especially in a large traditional garden, you can however skip most of the weeding by doing container or patio gardens. Otherwise you can use things like newspaper, straw, black plastic and cover crops to help with weed suppression. You will also have to keep an eye out for pests. Purdue Extension is a fantastic resource on identifying garden pest and treatment options. There are lots of natural options for combatting pests like marigolds around your tomatoes for instance, however if you choose to use a pesticide make to use one that is targeted for your specific pest. If you come in guns blazing and wipe out all the insects trying to kill one species you will do more harm than good. There are lots of beneficial insects that will help pollinate your crops and if you wipe them out in the process you are only hurting the success of your garden.

If you are interested in starting a garden but are just not sure where to begin, contact our office and we can do a site visit and help formulate a plan to get started! We also have grant funds through Clean Water Indiana and the ALCOA foundation to provide free soil samples and much more. For more information, email whitney. mcgrew@in.nacdnet.net or call 812-897-2840 ext.3.

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carrots kale lettuce peas

beets broccoli spinach

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