Page 51 - Bringing out the Potential In Our Children - Gardeners - Food Producers

soil starts to warm and when the plants need regular water. If you mulch too early, the soil stays
too cold and wet for proper root growth. In areas with short growing seasons, you can plant
broccoli, cauliflower, and cool-season plants through black plastic. Clear plastic warms up the
soil quickly, but it also helps weed seeds to germinate, so don't use it. Cover the plastic with
organic matter when the weather warms to keep the soil cool for those cool season plants.
Black plastic is good for weed control and warming soils. It can be used on many vegetables
including cucumbers and squash. Landscape fabric is another inorganic mulch. It doesn't warm
the soil as much as black plastic, but it's permeable, enabling you to water through it. It also
does a good job of keeping down weeds. Mulch keeps the weeds down and the moisture in,
and make for less work in the long run.
DISEASE AND PEST CONTROL- Start with prevention! Insects and diseases are attracted to
stressed, damaged or otherwise unhealthy plants, so the key to preventive control is taking
good care of your plants. That means paying close attention to them and providing the
conditions they need for healthy, vigorous growth. Choose disease-resistant varieties. Don't
overcrowd your plants. Watch moisture levels. Practice crop rotation. Be sanitary. Clean your
tools. Inspect your plants regularly and often. Check for bugs, disease, moister levels and
catching things early before any real damage is done. As gardeners, we can learn to tolerate
some damage to our plants, but use this damage as a signal that the plants might need more
attention. It’s much easier to pull off a few affected leaves, than to have your whole crop
infected.
HARVESTING AND PRESERVING- Once the plants start producing, it’s important to keep
them picked, that for a lot of plants keeps them producing. Close to the end of the season, you
may want to let some of the plants start to produce seeds for your future crops. Also, picking
them at the opportune moment when fully ripe gives you the best produce for your labor. There
is nothing like a fully vine ripened tomato or a melon ripened on the vine. Once you start
harvesting then it’s time to start putting up your harvest, for it all can’t be eaten right away.
Herbs can be hanged to dry or dried in bags. Some herbs like dill and parsley are best bagged
and frozen to maintain their flavor. A lot of vegetables can be blanched and frozen; berries can
be frozen as is. Same as tomatoes or they can be canned. Lots of veggies are great pickled.
Try more than just cucumbers as dill pickles. Dilled beans, carrots, asparagus, they are all great
tasting. Dehydrating is another way of preserving your garden harvest. It’s a great method for
maintaining the nutrients value. Also it uses very little space to keep your produce. Root
veggies can be dug and stored in a cold room, or an old fridge. Many root crops can be stored
in the ground on into winter if you cover them with a thick organic mulch like straw. Applied
before the ground freezes, the mulch keeps the soil loose and unfrozen so you can dig the
vegetables later into winter. Some root crops are better if they undergo a light frost which
sweetens them, and parsnips can be left in the ground for the whole winter and harvested in the
spring.
EXTENDING THE HARVEST- Extending your growing season to get the most out of your
garden may be done by successive planting. For those crops which reach maturity quickly plant
multiple crops every 2 weeks throughout the growing season extending the harvest. Also using
row covers to protect from temperatures below freezing or having covers handy to cover plants
when there is a risk of frost extends the season. Growing in a greenhouse will definitely extend