Table of Contents
Amending Annual Vegetable Gardens
Ten Vegetables you can Grow without Full Sun
Vegetable Crop Rotation
How to Grow Horseradish
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Amending Annual Vegetable Gardens Teri Hanna Six key nutrients There are 60 nutrients that have been found in plants. Many of the amendments we use contain trace minerals as well as major nutrients, the most important of which are Azomite or Quarry Screenings (also called slag), which can greatly boost the overall fertility of your garden and are a huge fa...ctor in plant nutrition and disease resistance. Since 1920, mineral and vitamin content in vegetables and fruits has decreased by a factor of ten, so by amending soil, we are able to optimize our own nutrition and keep longer lasting minerals in the garden.
Here we will talk about the six nutrients that have the most visible effects and we believe are the most integral to overall plant health. Below are the six major ones:
(N) Nitrogen – major part of plant proteins and chlorophyll. Vital for all green (vegetative) growth. (P) Phosphorous – Gives plants energy and is necessary for growth of flowers, fruits and seeds (K) Potassium – Important for stems and roots and formation of proteins and carbohydrates. (Note: N, P and K are the three most common elements seen in fertilizers, and often on the bag it will say a sequence of three numbers e.g. 3-2-5. This refers to the percentages of N, P, and K respectively) (Ca) Calcium – Building block of plant cell walls, facilitates efficient use of water. (Mg) Magnesium – Component in chlorophyll (the green pigment) and aids in formation of plant fats, oils and starch. (S) Sulfur – A part of proteins, oils and chlorophyll, acidifies soil. Because most Ultisoils are naturally acidic, we very rarely need to use Sulfur to adjust pH.
Recommended Amendments Below are the amendments we use on a regular basis and breakdowns of their nutrition. We pay particular attention to providing three nutrients that Piedmont soils tend to lack:
Phosphorous (P), Calcium (Ca), and Magnesium (Mg). To be sure of your soil needs, have a soil test done by your local Agriculture Extension Office or another Soil Lab (A&L Analytic Laboratories in Tennessee is a solid company with affordable rates for testing).
Dry Amendments Lime – Calcium Carbonate. A very important amendment for the Piedmont, lime loosens clay, increases soil pH (Piedmont soils usually too acidic for most veggies with pH 5-6), and helps make insoluble forms of phosphorous and potassium plant available. Usually used in installation of garden, but not in subsequent soil amendment. NOT FOR ACID LOVING SHRUBS (blueberries, camellias, hollies, azaleas, etc.) Nutrients added: Ca, Mg Bone Meal – Calcium Phosphate. Excellent phosphorous source that is readily available to plants. Phosphorous is key for flowering, fruiting, root stabilization and jumpstarting plants for their new life in the ground NOT FOR ACID LOVING SHRUBS Nutrients added: P, Ca Rock Phosphate –Breaks down slowly over several years. The lower the pH of the soil, the faster the break down. Nutrients added: P, Ca, trace minerals Azomite/Screenings/'Slag' – Soil remineralizer mined from volcanic ash deposits/quarry screenings. Contains Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Chlorine, Sodium and several other trace minerals. Nutrients added: K, Ca, Mg, trace minerals Jersey Greensand –Mined from natural deposits in New Jersey. Loosens clay, increases potassium and potash levels. Greensand increases moisture retention, contains 30 trace minerals, and boosts beneficial microbial activity in your soil food web. Nutrients added: K, trace minerals Plant Tone – All-purpose organic fertilizer made from a combination of feather meal, manure, bone meal, greensand and several others. 5-3-3 Nutrients added: N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S + 20 other micronutrients! Holly Tone – All-purpose organic fertilizer for acid loving plants like blueberries. Nutrients added: N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S + other micronutrients! Mycorrhizae – Inoculant’s of beneficial fungi that attach to plant roots and form a mutually beneficial nutrition uptake relationship. Homeopathic amounts aid initial root growth and increase surrounding soil biodiversity.
Liquid Amendments (used for soaking transplants) Kelp/Seaweed Liquid Fertilizer – Adds trace minerals and growth hormones to help ameliorate transplant shock Microblast – A liquid fertilizer with tons of water-soluble trace minerals that give transplants an initial boost
How to Amend Amending Newly Dug Vegetable Gardens Use in conjunction with your favorite digging process (pickaxe, D-handled spade, round shovel)
Amending Existing Vegetable Gardens Annual vegetables feed more heavily than perennials and therefore annual beds should be re-amended every year. Amend on bare soil just before planting veggies or while tilling in a cover crop. 1. Mix Azomite/Rock Dust, Rock Phosphate, Greensand, Bone Meal, Lime together at 3:3:2:1:1 ratio 2. Spread one handful of this mixture per 3ft square over the top of the bed. 3. Spread one-third handful Plan Tone per 2 ft square over the top of the bed. 4. Use a digging fork to incorporate amendments into first 5 inches of soil, trying to sift rather than turn the soil over.
Ten Vegetables You Can Grow Without Full Sun
By Colleen Vanderlinden, About.com Guide
When most people picture a vegetable garden, they imagine a spot that bakes in the sun all day. For some vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers, and squash, this is the ideal site. What if we want to grow vegetables, but don't have a site like this "ideal" one avai...lable? There are plenty of vegetables that will grow well without full sun. Those of us who have shade can grow vegetables, too. Basically, a good rule to remember is that if you grow a plant for the fruit or the root, it needs full sun. If you grow it for the leaves, stems, or buds, a little shade will be just fine. Keep in mind that no vegetable will grow in full, dense shade. The following crops will produce with three to six hours of sun, or fairly constant dappled shade, per day.
In some ways, growing in a site with part shade is easier than growing in full sun. You won't have to water as often, and crops that are quick to bolt in hot weather, such as lettuces and spinach, will grow quite a bit longer given some shade. The best thing about knowing that these crops will successfully grow with some shade is that you'll be able to get more produce from your garden. Even if you're lucky enough to have an area with full sun that you can reserve for a vegetable garden, knowing which plants will take some shade will help you get the most out of your space. You can use that sunny space to grow the sun-lovers: peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, corn, and squashes. The other crops, those that do well in the shade, can be tucked in anywhere. Grow some beets or swiss chard in your part-sun perennial border. Grow some lettuce or radishes in a container or window box. Make use of the space you have, in both sun and shade, and you can easily double the amount of vegetables you would usually get. Having a shady garden doesn't mean you're destined to live a life devoid of fresh garden vegetables. By making the most of what you have, you can harvest lettuces, peas, and other tasty veggies from spring through fall.
Vegetable Crop Rotationhttp://www.harvestwizard.com/2010/04/vegetable_crop_rotation.html
Crop rotation will benefit vegetable crops in two ways: first, it will prevent the build-up of soil-borne pests and diseases; second, it will allow for the replenishment and efficient use of soil nutrients.
Crop rotation is the practice of growing different crops, rather than the same vegetable or members of the same family of vegetables, in the same place each year.
To minimize pest and disease problems and to help renew soil nutrients, members of the same plant family should not be planted in the same part of the garden more than once every three or four years.
Vegetable insect pests tend to feed on similar plants and members of the same plant family. For example, an insect pest that attacks and eats cabbage will lay its eggs before it dies. If cabbage or a member of the cabbage family is planted in the same spot the next year, the eggs of the insect will hatch and the pests will find exactly the food they need to continue the pest life cycle. Soilborne diseases--fungi, bacteria, and viruses--also can be hosted by specific plants as well. Removing host plants or alternating unrelated plants into the garden can break the cycle of pests and disease.
Crop rotation also helps prevent soil nutrients from being depleted. Vegetables draw upon a wide range of soil nutrients for growth: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are the key or major soil nutrients. Members of the same vegetable family usually draw the same nutrients from the soil.
Crop rotation will prevent the soil from wearing out: heavy nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium feeding crops such as tomatoes are rotated with soil-building crops such as beans which add nitrogen to the soil and then with light-feeding crops such as onions.
Here are the major vegetable plant families and some notes on crop rotation:
• Onion Family (Amaryllis Family, Amaryllidaceae): Garlic, onions, leeks, shallots. These are light feeders. Plant these after heavy feeders. Follow these crops with legumes. • Cabbage Family (Brassica, Cruciferae): Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, cress, kale, kohlrabi, radishes, turnips. These are heavy feeders. These crops should follow legumes. After these crops allow the garden to go fallow for a season or plant a cover crop or add plenty of compost and organic matter to the garden. • Lettuce Family (Composite, Daisy Family, Asteraceae): Artichokes, chicory, endive, lettuce. These are heavy feeders. Follow these crops with legumes. • Beet Family (Goosefoot Family, Chenopodiaceae): Beets, spinach, Swiss chard. These are heavy feeders. Follow these crops with legumes. • Grass Family (Graminae): Grains--corn, oats, rye, wheat. Follow these crops with members of the tomato or Solanaceae family. • Bean Family (Legume, Leguminosae): Beans and peas, clover, vetch. These crops enrich the soil, soil builders. Plant these crops before or after any other crop family. • Tomato Family (Nightshade Family, Solanaceae): Eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes. These crops are heavy feeders. Plant these crops after members of the grass family. Follow these crops with legumes. • Squash Family (Cucurbitaceae): Cucumbers, melons, summer and winter squash, pumpkins, watermelon. These crops are heavy feeders. Plant these crops after members of the grass family. Follow these crops with legumes. • Carrot Family (Umbellifer Family, Umbelliferae): Carrots, celery, anise, coriander, dill, fennel, parsley. These are light to medium feeders. These crops can follow any other group. Follow these crops with legumes, onions, or let the garden sit fallow for a season.
You can use the notes above to accomplish crop rotation or you can simplify the rotation as follows:
Simple Four-Year Crop Rotation To follow a simple four-year crop rotation, divide your garden into four areas or plots: Plot One, Plot Two, Plot Three, and Plot Four. In each of the next four years, grow a different crop or different members of the four crop families in a different plot following this rotation:
• Plot One: Tomato family (year 1); Onion family (year 2); Bean family (year 3); Cabbage family (year 4). • Plot Two: Cabbage family (year 1); Tomato family (year 2); Onion family (year 3); Bean family (year 4). • Plot Three: Bean family (year 1); Cabbage family (year 2); Tomato family (year 3); Onion family (year 4). • Plot Four: Onion family (year 1); Bean family (year 2); Cabbage family (year 3); Tomato family (year 4).
This four-year crop rotation intersperses members of the other vegetable families among members of the Tomato, Onion, Bean, and Cabbage families. Here is how they are grouped:
1. Tomato Family and others (Solanaceae family) Tomatoes Peppers Eggplant Potatoes Beets Carrots Celeriac and celery Parsnips Salsify Scorzonera
2. Bean Family (Leguminosae family) Peas Broad (fava) beans French (green) beans Runner beans
3. Cabbage Family and others (Brassica family) Broccoli Brussels sprouts Cabbages Calabrese (Italian sprouting broccoli) Cauliflowers Radishes Rutabagas (Swedes) Turnips
4. Onion Family and others (Allium family) Garlic Leeks Lettuces Onions Shallots Sweet corn Squashes, zucchini, and pumpkins (marrow and courgettes)
Perennial Vegetables Not included in crop rotation are perennial vegetable crops which grow in the same spot for several years in a row. Perennial crops include: Asparagus Globe artichokes Jerusalem artichokes Perennial herbs Rhubarb Seakale
Small garden crop rotation No garden is too small for crop rotation. A simple garden map showing where each crop is planted will help you plan and plant a different crop in that spot next year. To plan crop rotation in a small garden, map out strips or blocks--rows or square feet--and avoid planting vegetables from the same crop family in that spot more than once every three years.
How to Grow Horseradishhttp://www.gardeningblog.net/how-to-grow/horseradish/ Days to germination: Started from root cuttings Introduction Horseradish is grown for its pungent roots, and its a very easy-to-grow perennial. Even though you dig up the plant to harvest the roots each year, new plants can (and will) return in the spring from any small pieces of root still in the ground. It is so prolific, it can get out of control if you are not careful. As explained below, many people grow it in pots just to keep it restrained. As long as some root is left in the ground each fall, it will grow as a perennial between zones 2 and 9. Though horseradish is used sparingly due to its strong hot flavor, it does add some nutritional benefits to your food. Lots of vitamin C, potassium, calcium and magnesium to name a few. The roots are chopped, grated or minced, and usually mixed with vinegar. It’s a condiment served with many kinds of meat or fish. Transplanting Horseradish isn’t grown from seed, but from root cuttings. The usual way to start horseradish is to plant roots right into the garden rather than start them inside first. You can purchase root cuttings for this, or even just try to grow it from pieces of fresh horseradish root from the grocery store. If you are going to grow your horseradish in the garden rather than a pot, choose a sunny location and allow for at least 18 to 20 inches between plants. They will get to around 3 feet in height as well. With very large leaves, it can shade out most other plants grown nearby. Thankfully, they also shade out most of the weeds. Planting should be done as soon as your ground is thawed enough to dig. You’ll want to dig down at least twice as deep as your piece of horseradish root is long to provide loose soil for the long taproot. Purchased roots for starting horseradish usually have buds on one end, so you can tell which way is up. Bury the root standing “upright” with the bud ends at the top, just above the soil level. If you are using root from the store, there may not be any clear top to it. In that case, you’re better off planting the root horizontally just a few inches under the soil and let the plant figure it out. Keep the soil moist until you start to see sprouts coming up. Continue regular watering to keep the soil moist until the plant has developed several sets of leaves. Then it should be fine with just rainfall on its own. Growing Instructions Though horseradish will thrive even when neglected, you can help your plants out with a mid-summer application of a low-nitrogen fertilizer. A standard formula will promote too much leaf growth at the expense of the roots. While the plants are growing, you can actually pick a few of the young leaves and add them to salads. They can be kind of spicy, so only try a few. The older leaves will be too tough to eat. Later in the season, your plants may go to flower. Horseradish blooms are small, white and not particularly showy. They won’t harm your future root harvest so don’t feel you have to cut them off like with many other herbs. Containers Because horseradish can spread mercilessly through your garden, many people prefer to grow it in containers. Horseradish is a fast-growing plant that will produce deep roots even though you will be digging up the plant each year. You will need a very large pot to allow your plant to really thrive. A 20 gallon pot, or even a half-barrel is the best. Make sure there is good drainage and plenty of holes in the bottom. Pests and Diseases Horseradish is in the same family as broccoli and cabbage, so be prepared for the same host of insect pests as you find with these other vegetables. In particular, keep an eye out for cabbage worms. They are the larvae of a white butterfly that will lay its eggs on the leaves. They prefer cabbage but will be happy to feast on your horseradish if it’s nearby. Look for slim green caterpillars, and pick them off immediately. Give your plants a frequent spray of insecticide. Since you are not harvesting the leaves of your plants, you don’t have to worry about when you spray. Harvest and Storage You can either harvest your horseradish in the fall after the first hard frost has killed back the top portions of the plant, or in the early spring just before new sprouts form. The root flavor intensifies quite a bit after a frost but if you prefer milder horseradish, than harvest a bit earlier. While some gardeners have a preference, there is little difference in either approach. Either way, gently dig up your plants and cut away all the thick roots. To start new plants for the next year, leave one or two pieces in the soil. This will work fine to start new plants even if you are harvesting in the fall. Quite often, you will have new plants spring up even if you don’t intend it. If you really don’t want any more horseradish plants, you will have to thoroughly dig the soil to remove all the pieces of roots. Once you grate horseradish root, it will soon start to turn dark unless you mix with vinegar. Once vinegar is added (usually referred to as prepared horseradish at this point), you can store it in the fridge for 6 weeks. When you grate your horseradish, do it somewhere well-ventilated. The fumes are very potent can will burn your eyes and nose. Best to keep a window open if you can. For later use, you can store the whole roots for about 3 months in a container with damp sand. It’s not really the most practical method but horseradish needs to be kept moist. Or you can freeze it once grated. The whole root doesn’t freeze well. The longer you store your horseradish roots, the less flavorful they will be. That goes for prepared horseradish as well. |
