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Table of Contents Determine which garden method will work best for you.

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MAINTAIN 46 Guide to Organic

Pest Control

These 11 products are guaranteed to fend off the 26 most common garden pests, including Japanese beetles, squash bugs, and hornworms.

50 Disease Prevention Basics

6 Beginning Gardening

For those pondering the first time creation of their own Eden on earth, we offer some beginning gardening advice.

10 Garden Methods

There are many ways to plant a successful food garden.

Here’s a guide to help you figure out which method will work best for you.

15 DIY Garden Journal

Save your garden records in style when you personalize a notebook that’s organized to include the facts, hacks, and figures from your own planting experience.

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18 Top Gardening

Challenges and How to Overcome Them

From rogue rabbits and 4-inchlong grasshoppers to clay soil and summer drought, veteran organic growers detail how they cope with vexing gardening problems.

24 How to Start a

Vegetable Garden

Use these labor-saving methods to transform any space into productive garden beds.

28 Best Vegetables to

Grow in the Shade

Even in shady conditions, you can bask in great garden harvests if you choose the right crops and make a few easy adjustments.

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32 Container Gardening with

Vegetables and Herbs

Lacking a good garden spot?

Create a bountiful, diverse garden in containers.

53 Pinching, Pruning,

and Deadheading

Get more out of your garden by understanding and applying this trio of techniques.

35 Easy Plant Propagation

Anyone can be a plant propagator with these easy, traditional and low-tech plant propagation techniques.

56 Build Permanent

Beds and Paths

Permanent beds make gardening easier and soil healthier.

38 Best Tips for Starting

Seeds Indoors

Save money and grow superior varieties by starting your own seeds.

42 Avoid Common

Gardening Mistakes

Sidestep these six classic food-growing faux pas.

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60 Easy DIY Garden

Shed Plans

COVER: RICK WETHERBEE

PLAN & PLANT

These techniques can prevent many of the diseases that plague your vegetables.

Anyone can build a small, simple and sensational shed!

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66 64 Rainwater Harvesting:

A Better System

Think beyond the rain barrel: This simpler, cheaper approach will help you harvest much more free water for your garden!

66 Tips and Techniques for

Water-Wise Gardening

Tap these efficient gardenwatering systems to save on your water bill while still growing food despite drought and heat.

71 DIY Composters

for Your Garden

Fall into the magic of composting with these three easy DIY composters.

76 Vermicomposting:

From Kitchen Scraps to Garden Gold

Use the power of worms to transform food waste into highquality, nutrient-rich compost.

80 Winter Tool Maintenance

Don’t give your garden tools the cold shoulder this winter. Use this time to provide some well-deserved maintenance for your hardest working tools so they’re ready to swing into action come spring.

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HARVEST & PRESERVE 86 Pick for Peak Flavor

Knowing when to harvest will guarantee the freshest, most flavorful and nutritious produce from your garden.

90 Easy Ways to

Preserve Fresh Food

Pack your pantry with the help of a crop-by-crop guide to food storage.

96 How to Save Seeds

from Biennial Plants

Take your seed-saving knowhow to the next level by learning how to keep seeds from openpollinated biennials, including beets and Swiss chard.

100 10 Fascinating Facts

About Edible Plants

Dig into the intriguing world of plant science to harvest knowledge that you can apply to cultivate a bountiful, successful garden.

104 Please Don’t Eat the Daisies Folks are starting to realize that many flowers, so long considered fine to look at but off-limits in the kitchen, are not only delicious but actually good for you.

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How to Start a

VEGETABLE GARDEN Use these labor-saving methods to transform any space into productive garden beds.

By Barbara Pleasant Illustrations by Elara Tanguy

After you’ve done some poking around, choose spots with the best topsoil, avoiding any buried boulders, and begin imagining your garden’s size, shape and design. If you’re losing hope because you’ve found that your promising puddle of sun has scant topsoil or sits atop huge rocks, opt for raised beds. In-ground beds tend to work best where topsoil is deep because plant roots stay cooler the deeper they reach into the soil, but raised beds make gardening possible even in soilless sites. (See http://goo.gl/aR2smQ for more on

Sheet composting removes sod by smothering it. To try this easy method, just lay cardboard on your lawn where you want your new garden beds, and then cover the cardboard with a thick layer of straw.

you want to start your vegetable garden. Topsoil is usually darker in color than subsoil, which tends to be much harder, too. If the soil is so hard or rocky that digging is impossible, drive a rebar stake into the ground in various places to see what you hit. I’ve started two new gardens on mountainous land and have learned that I can remove rocks that are small enough to lift, but boulders are forever.

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ou’ve had your eye on a certain space in your yard for a while now, thinking about revamping it into a garden, and the weekend weather forecast couldn’t be better. You’ve been brainstorming what you want to grow, envisioning the harvests ahead.

The time has come to dig in and start the vegetable garden of your dreams — but perhaps you’re not sure exactly how to get started. Right on time, Mother is here to help!

Set Your Sites First, ask yourself a few questions about the potential site. Have you watched to see what happens after a heavy rain? If water doesn’t absorb into the ground or run off after a couple of hours, the site could have a drainage issue. Evaluating the sun pattern is important, too, because most veggies and herbs need at least eight hours of full sun each day.

After you settle on a site with good drainage and plenty of sun, you’ll want to gauge the depth of your topsoil, which can vary from a couple of inches to several feet. Use a sharp spade to dig a few holes about 1 foot deep in the site where Choose a garden site that drains well, gets ample sunlight, and offers a rich layer of topsoil free of immovable rocks.

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Best Tips for

STARTING SEEDS INDOORS

Save money and grow superior varieties by starting your own seeds.

By Barbara Pleasant Illustrations by Elayne Sears

I

began growing my own vegetable seedlings more than 30 years ago, and I still remember my sad first attempts. Many seedlings keeled over and died, and some seeds never germinated at all. Experience has taught me how to prevent these problems, and every year I deepen my garden’s diversity, save money and share favorite varieties with friends by starting seeds indoors.

Thousands of superior crop varieties are rarely available as seedlings in garden centers, and the same goes for wonderful culinary crops, such as red celery and seed-sown shallots. If your gardening goal is to fill your table and pantry with an array of homegrown organic food, then starting plants from seed can help you achieve that goal.

Starting seeds indoors under controlled conditions, with no aggravation from weeds or weather, allows you to get a prompt start on the season, whether you are sowing onions in late winter, squash in summer, or lettuce in early fall. And where growing seasons are short, some crops require an indoor head start to later reach maturity.

fully formed embryos. The carrot family is at a disadvantage, however, because most Umbelliferae seeds (think parsley, fennel, and dill) need time for their underdeveloped ovaries to grow before they can sprout. Other slow sprouters — spinach, for example — have compounds that inhibit germination in their seed coats. These compounds have to break down in the soil before the root and sprout can burst forth into the world.

Oxygen is vital to the germination process. Until seedlings

have leaves to enable them to use solar energy, they rely on the food reserves in the seed combined with oxygen found in the soil to grow new cells. This is why you should always use a light-textured potting medium to start seeds, and why overwatering can cause seeds to rot instead of grow.

Appreciating the hard work that seeds must do during the germination process will likely enhance your seed-starting experience. You can watch time-lapse videos online of fastgrowing bean seeds germinating, but watching them in person is even more amazing. The seeds that impress me most are squash. By the time the seedling leaves shed the seed coat, the little plant is already supported by a small mountain of roots.

so crucial. Quality seed-starting mixes are formulated to discourage common soilborne pathogens that cause seedlings to rot, and to retain both water and air with ease.

You can make your own seed-starting mix by using either peat moss or coir as a base, and then blending it with compost that has been heated to 150 degrees Fahrenheit to kill any pathogens and weed seeds. Small amounts of vermicompost can be a beneficial addition when added to a seed-starting mix, but use no more than 10 percent by volume.

As a 2005 study from North Carolina State University revealed, it’s not the precise mixture but what’s on top of the soil that counts most. Differences almost disappeared between

Seed-Starting Mixtures From the day they germinate, vegetable seedlings face challenges from fungi and bacteria in water, soil, and air. The fewer troublemakers they face, the better they can grow, which is why using fresh seed-starting mix each winter is

With a proper setup and some determination, you can start your own vegetable seedlings indoors.

The Germination Process All seeds contain specialized cells that mobilize and grow when the germination process is triggered by moisture, temperature, and sometimes light. Moisture and stored nutrients energize the embryo, which contains the latent structures for a plant’s root, stem, and leaves. Most vegetable seeds that germinate quickly (such as cabbage and tomatoes) enter their dormant state with mature, 38 BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO GARDENING

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By Barbara Pleasant

ust as there’s no such thing as a perfect garden, there’s no perfect gardener either. We all make mistakes, but, in doing so, we learn which ones never to repeat, and along the way we discover savvy strategies to add to our gardening routines. So, what are vegetable gardeners’ biggest blunders? I’ve made each of the following six gardening mistakes, and after talking with thousands of organic gardeners, I know I’m not alone. Get a head start by learning from our errors instead of laboring through your own.

1 Tackling Too Much Spring fever inspires big dreams among gardeners, and it’s easy to forget that every planting requires a commitment to future maintenance. Before you know it, your springtime aspirations will have turned into an overwhelming summer reality — weed, water, thin, plant, prune, stake and harvest, all at once and for weeks on end!

If you’re a novice gardener, you’ll greatly enhance your chances of success by starting small with only a few rows or beds, allowing yourself to focus on each individual crop you’re growing and better understand its needs. Instead of trying out 10 unique tomato varieties and every hot chili pepper under the sun, pick one or two of each and build your plant-care confidence.

Another smart idea is to limit the number of different types of veggies you tend in each part of your growing season (spring, summer and fall, in most climates). Vegetable plants need the most attention during their first month in the garden, so by having only three to four juvenile crops going at a time, you’ll be able

ISTOCK/YINYANG

With these pointers, gardeners just getting their trowels dirty can sidestep six classic food-growing faux pas.

ISTOCK/SANDDEBEAUTHEIL; ABOVE: KEITH WARD

AVOID COMMON GARDENING MISTAKES

to keep up without a hitch. For Memphis but struggle in example, you might grow potaMinneapolis. Choosing to grow toes, salad greens and snap peas in crops that are adapted to your reearly spring; peppers, squash and gion is an excellent first step, but tomatoes in late spring through you will still need to take addisummer; and cabbage, carrots and tional measures to protect plants spinach from late summer to fall. from wild weather.

To avoid taking on too much, Springtime can be especially some gardeners start by growing hazardous because beautiful, only in pots or containers, assumsunny days alternate with othing this will be easier — but this ers that are cold or windy, or often isn’t true. A container limits both. Placing milk jug cloches the spread of roots (see illustraor row cover tunnels over spring tion, Page 44) and the plants can seedlings will keep your plants’ easily become water-stressed and stress levels low, and, if you live quite warm on hot days, while in an area prone to storms, could the same plants grown in enshield your seedlings from getriched, mulched beds would enting pummelled by hailstorms, joy consistently cool roots. The A nice option for newbies is “bag gardening.” Simply cut out the too. For some crops, row covers top of a bag of soil, make slits in the bottom, and plant seeds. crops that grow best in containers are an important step in pest are heat-tolerant plants, such as prevention as well, so they’ll do eggplant, peppers and tomatoes, which can take warm root temdouble duty for you as you become a more experienced gardener. peratures as long as they’re given a large pot and plenty of water.

With warm-season crops, a common misstep is planting too But even still, you may need to water container-grown crops twice early. You’ll be better off waiting for warm weather to settle in a day during summer’s hottest stretches, which is a major commitand the soil to warm up than pushing for an extra-early start, ment. Comparatively, you’d only have to water plants in garden because warm-natured plants will not grow in cold soil. Plants beds a few times a week. that need warm soil and weather include beans, corn, cucumInstant “bag beds” are a better no-dig option than containers bers, eggplant, melons, peppers and tomatoes. While you wait, (see illustration above), because, with this method, you cut slits you can plant any of these crops that do well in cool soil and can in the bottoms of the bags so roots can move down into the soil take a bit of frost: broccoli, cabbage, collard greens, kale, leeks, below. Plus, the bags can be mulched to help retain soil moisture. peas, radishes and spinach.

2 Underestimating the Weather

3 Misunderstanding Soil

Every climate is kind to some vegetables and cruel to others, which is why heat-loving okra plants are irrepressible in

Especially for beginners, soil may be the most mysterious piece of the gardening puzzle. In addition to serving as comfortable digs for plant roots (airy, friable and able to hold moisture), it needs to provide your crops with nutrients.

The sure path to better soil starts at your compost pile, which is why newbie gardeners would do well to dive into composting the same year — or even the year before — they jump into gardening. If you can dig about a 1-inch layer of mature compost into your soil every time you plant, your soil quality will steadily improve. These frequent infusions of organic matter have a neutralizing effect on soil pH and also support beneficial soil organisms, especially earthworms and mycorrhizal fungi.

Another big key to creating super soil: Don’t skip the mulch. Mulching liberally with grass clippings, straw, shredded leaves or other biodegradable materials Score bigger, better harvests by consistently improving your soil with organic matter.

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Bag garden: KEITH WARD Basket of veggies: ISTOCK/SANDDEBEAUTHEIL

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Lettuce illo: ELAYNE SEARS

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FROM LOWER LEFT: BRIAN ORR; BECKY WHALEY; DAVID CAVAGNARO

Previous pages: Jutta and Peter Graf created this lush and productive garden on Deer Isle, Maine. Above: This lovely combination of edible and ornamental beds is at the Seed Savers Exchange’s Heritage Farm near Decorah, Iowa.

Add Compost Annually In addition to not walking on the soil in the planting beds, the other important rule of creating fertile soil is to add plenty of organic matter each year. For new beds, “plenty” can be as much as 4 or even 6 inches of mature compost, tilled in. But in subsequent years, just one-fourth to 1 ⁄2 inch of compost per year will usually

provide all the nutrients your crops will need. If you don’t have enough compost, a few inches of grass clippings used as a mulch will provide the same benefits.

With permanent beds, you will need less compost and mulch, and you’ll apply it directly to the growing areas each year, while the less-rich and more-compacted soil in the paths makes it more difficult for weeds to thrive.

Building New Beds

underground roots, smothering them using technique No. 2 before you till the soil would be best.) After you’ve tilled, spread several inches of compost or grass clippings and till again. To destroy remaining weed seeds, water the cultivated bed, then hoe or till shallowly as soon as weed seedlings appear.

Repeat this water/sprout/hoe routine several times before planting your vegetable or flower seeds, if possible.

No. 2: Newspapers and mulch. If you don’t have time to till and spread compost, cover the area with cardboard or several layers of wet newspapers, followed by several inches of grass clippings, shredded leaves, or weed-free hay or straw. The first year, use the bed for transplants such as tomatoes or peppers rather than direct-seeded crops, and add an organic vegetable fertilizer. (A fish/seaweed blend is a good choice.)

No. 3: Instant beds using bagged

Put Your Soil to the Test

If you’re new to gardening or you’re starting a garden in a new location, have your soil tested. The cost is typically about $10. Check with your county extension office to find out whether it offers a soil-testing service.

You can add compost or other organic matter without testing first, but never add lime, sulfur, or other amendments unless you have had a soil test that indicated they were needed. You can permanently damage soil by adding the wrong amendments or too much of an amendment.

topsoil. For instant beds, punch drainage holes on one side of enough bags of topsoil to cover the bed area. (Topsoil quality varies; we recommend buying your soil at a garden center rather than opting for cheap, 99-cent bags at a discount store.) Lay out the bags to cover the bed, cut away the tops, and plant your seeds or transplants. Mulch with grass clippings or leaves to hide the plastic. The plastic bags will smother the grass or weeds, and at the end of the season you can pull away the plas-

tic and use a garden fork or tiller to mix the topsoil in and prepare the bed for your next crop.

Whichever method you use, if you avoid walking on the bed areas and add fresh compost each year, you will soon have rich, loose garden soil that will warm quickly in the spring and produce healthy, abundant crops.

Spring preparation will be a snap with a garden fork or broadfork, such as the one shown in the illustration on Page 58.

Flowers and vegetables blend beautifully in this elegant parterre with grass paths in Victoria, Australia.

So you have a patch of grass or weeds that you want to turn into a bed? Here are three bed-building techniques, ranked from the ideal choice, option No. 1, to the quickest and easiest, option No. 3.

No. 1: Till, compost, and till again. Kill the grass or weeds by tilling or plowing the area. (If the area has weeds that spread by runners or

Left: For low-cost edging, use logs from your local tree trimmers. Leave the ends of the beds open if you plan to use a rototiller. Below: You can make instant beds anywhere by planting in bags of topsoil and then covering them with mulch.

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Ramp up watering efficiency by using drip tape in your garden beds. Drip irrigation works especially well for evenly spaced crops planted in long rows.

rows will simplify watering, especially if you water by hand. With crops that occupy more time and space in the garden, such as beans, peppers, sweet corn, and tomatoes, better options include using soaker hoses, drip irrigation or carefully managed ditches.

Even with regular rainfall, crops that require a relatively large amount of water to thrive, such as beans and sweet corn, will almost always need supplemental irrigation.

Tips and Techniques for

Make Foes of Weeds and Friends With Mulch

By Barbara Pleasant

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his gardening season, with climate change causing higher temperatures and desperate droughts in multiple regions, many of us will experience weeks or even 66 BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO GARDENING

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months in which sparse rainfall won’t keep pace with the sun’s hot rays. To keep your crops’ thirst quenched, try some options outlined in this roundup of water-wise gardening strategies, from familiar irrigation methods — such as soaker and drip hoses — to

a lesser-known system called “partial root-zone drying.”

The best watering methods will depend at least partly on planting arrangement and crop type. Planting leafy greens, onions and other shallowrooted plants in blocks rather than

JERRY PAVIA

Tap these efficient garden-watering systems to save on your water bill while still growing food despite drought and heat.

OPPOSITE: LEFT: JANET HORTON; RIGHT: DAVID CAVAGNARO

WATER-WISE GARDENING

A water-wise garden is no place for weeds. According to research from Michigan State University, a combo of good weed control and adequate mulch can conserve up to 1 inch of water per week during toasty summer months. Left uncontrolled, however, some weeds, such as crab grass and lamb’squarters, will slurp up more than 80 gallons of water to produce just 1 pound of plant tissue.

Fundamental organic gardening practices that improve soil and limit weeds will set the stage for efficient garden-watering systems.

If you add compost or rotted manure to the soil each time you plant, as well as use biodegradable mulches that break down into organic matter, your soil will retain moisture better. In general, the more grass

clippings, leaves, coffee grounds, and other organic materials you add to your soil, the less likely your crops will be to suffer from moisture stress.

Another reason to be mad for mulch: Even before it breaks down into organic matter, a thick layer of mulch applied around plants will help by cooling and shading the soil, thus

Even with regular rainfall, crops that require a relatively large amount of water to thrive, such as beans and sweet corn, will almost always need supplemental irrigation. keeping your garden from drying out quickly after a watering or rain shower.

Soaker Hoses and Drip Systems I have long been an advocate of the 25-foot soaker hose, which weeps water evenly along its length, as if it were sweating. Soaker hoses work especially well for closely spaced crops and intensively planted beds. You can make your own soaker hoses by collecting

old or leaky garden hoses from your friends and drilling small holes into them every few inches. Just cap or clamp off the male end of the hose.

Drip irrigation systems distribute water at regular intervals through a network of hoses or tapes with slits, pores, emitters, or drippers. They work well for rows of crops spaced at varying intervals (you can set the emitters at wider spacing if you’re watering a crop planted far ther apar t), and per form best on relatively level ground, because pressure changes caused by sloping ground would result in uneven watering. If you have a large garden, look for systems that use inexpensive drip tape (brands include Aqua-Traxx, Chapin, and T-Tape). The tiny holes in some emitters and drippers can become clogged with soil particles rather easily, so at least one filter needs to be screwed into the water line between the faucet (or reservoir) and the distribution lines of most drip irrigation systems.

Typical soaker hoses require at least the level of pressure from a faucet, but some drip emitter systems can use gravity alone to gradually distribute water from high cisterns or raised rain barrels to thirsty plants. For example, growers at New Mexico State University had great success raising 50-gallon water barrels head-high on WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM

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