VEGETABLE GARDENING

BY GILL GILLESPIE

NORFOLK MASTER GARDENER

CLASS OF 1991

Gill

At

Two

Years

Old

Vegetable Gardening

My five steps from the ground up, approach to

gardening are as follows:

Planning

Preparation

Selection

Planting

Eating

Planning

1. Site

a. 6 to 8 hours of sun

b. Near a source of water

c. Near the house

2. Size

a. Family

b. Area Available

3. Type

a. Row planting

b. Double row, patch planting

c. Hill planting

d. Raised bed

4. Design

a. On graph paper

4. Design

a. On graph paper

5. Recap Planning

Site

Size

Type

Design

Preparation

What is pH?

“Potential of Hydrogen” is a reading

of acidity or alkalinity of the soil on

the logarithmic scale of 0 – 14 with 7

being neutral, that measures the

hydrogen (acid forming) ion activity

of soil or growing medium.

Compost contains humic and other organic

acids which help to degrade compounds

naturally present in the soil into the simpler

form that plants use. These elements, or

ions, can then be held by the humus

particles, which contain many ion

exchange sites on their surfaces. The

ions are released into soil water, and plant

roots are able to take them up.

LOGARITHMIC SCALE

pH RANGE (UNITS)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

* *

Range of Acidity Range of Alkalinity

Neutral

3.5 to 10.0 Plant Life

6.0 to 7.0 Does not usually require special cultural practices to

Improve plant growth

Soil pH Effect on Plants

The major impact that pH extremes have on

plant growth is the availability of plant

nutrients and concentration of the plant toxic

minerals.

1. High acidic soils tie up calcium,

phosphorus and magnesium.

2. High alkaline soils tie up phosphorus,

iron, copper, zinc, boron, and

manganese.

1. pH adjustment

a. Lime

b. Wood Ashes

c. Sulfur

d. Gypsum

2. Tilling

a. Depth

b. Fall

c. Spring

3. Amendments

a. Organic/Nutrients

b. Organic/Non-Nutrient

C. Fertilizer

1. N-P2-O5-K2O (N-P-K)

2. Complete

3. Incomplete

4. WIN – water insoluble/slow

5. WSN – water soluble/fast

6. Ratio – 1-1-1 etc.

4. Equipment

a. Power tools

b. Other

5. Recap Preparation

. Soil Test

. pH Adjustment

. Tilling

. Amendments

. Fertilizer

. Equipment

Selection

1. Seeds

a. Grow in our area

b. Nutritional value

c. Companion planting

d. Catalogs

2. Plants

a. Garden Centers

3. Recap Selection

Seeds

Plants

Planting

1. To incorporate weather into a

vegetable garden lecture, I’ve tried to

break it down to seasonal influence on

plants.

2. Recommended planting dates are

based on the average last frost date for

spring/summer gardens and average first

frost date for fall/winter gardens. This is

important to maximize the use of your

garden space and determine the number

of frost-free days for crop productions.

3.

1. Seasonal dates • a. last frost: 4/15

• b. first frost: 11/15

2. Plant origins

a. cold areas

b. warm areas

c. origin philosophy (other plants)

4

• 3. Temperature

a. seeds

b. transplants (long season plants)

5. Planting

1. Number required

2. Sowing seeds

a. light – good light

b. water

c. medium – starting soil

6. Plants

a. depth

b. hardening off

7. Types

a. annuals

b. perennial

c. biennials

8. Watering

a. irrigation

b. mulch

c. critical times

d. how much to water (handout)

9.

How much to water?

Organic Gardening

April 1992

Jill Jesiolowski

Multiply inches of water needed by 0.6.

1. We will use 2 inches of water needed.

2 x 0.6=1.2 gallons per square foot needed

2. Our garden size is 200 square feet.

200 x 1.2=240 gallons required

3. Water efficiency ratio for drip irrigation is .85.

Water efficiency ratio for sprinkler is .70.

4. Using a sprinkler we will divide the 240 gallons required by .70 to compensate

for efficiency.

240 divided by .70= 343 gallons is now required

5. To measure hose water flow

a. Put hose in a 1 gallon jug and time how long it take to fill the jug.

30 seconds equals 2 gallons per minute

1 minute equals 1 gallon per minute

6. Now divide the total gallons of water (343) by the gallon rate per minute using 2 gallons

343 divided by 2 gallons = 172 minutes or about 3 hours

10. Recap Planting

. Number Required

. Planting Dates

. Origins

. Sowing Seeds

. Plants

. Types

. Watering

Eating

1. Summer/Fall/ Fresh

2. Winter Keepers

3. Verbal Quiz

Notes:

INTENSIVE GARDENING METHODS

By Gill Gillespie

Norfolk Master Gardener

Class of 1991

The purpose of an intensively grown

garden is to harvest the maximum produce

from a given space. It is not just for

people with limited space; rather, an

intensive garden concentrates work efforts

to create an ideal plant environment,

giving better yields with less labor.

Considerations

1. Thorough planning before planting

a. Interrelationships of plants

b. Nutrient needs

c. Shade tolerance

d. Above and below ground patterns

e. Preferred growing season

Raised Beds

1. Basic unit of an intensive garden

a. Usually 3 to 4 feet wide and as

long as desired

b. Soil Preparation

c. Nutrient/irrigation supplements

Vertical Planting

1. Trellises, Nets, poles etc.

2. Sun/shade consideration

3. Watering

Interplanting

1. Growing two or more types of

vegetables in the same place has

been practiced for thousands of

years.

a. Proper planning is essential

2. Considerations

a. Length of plant’s growth period

b. Growth pattern

c. Companion planting ( handout)

d. Preferred season

e. Light

f. Nutrient

g. Moisture requirements

Wide row planting

1. Individual plants are closely spaced in

a raised bed or interplanted

a. Staggered planting

Succession and relay planting

1. Our area is great for year-round

succession planting.

a. Important to rotate area for

members of same family plants

2. Relay planting is planting a new crop

before the previous one is removed.

3. Interval plantings.

4. Must recondition the soil between

planting.

Notes:

VEGETABLE

DISEASES

By Gill Gillespie

Norfolk Master Gardener

Class of 1991

Vegetable Diseases

There are three major problem areas when

growing edible crops. They are “Pests”,

“Nutrient Deficiencies”, and “Diseases”. These

topics will be discussed during several of your

training classes and they are included in your

handbook. Chapter 4, “Diseases” and Chapter

5 “Diagnosing Plant Problems” with

vegetables.

Today we are going to discuss briefly just some

of the disease problems with your

vegetables.

A. The first thing I think of when it comes to

tackling diseases in the garden is to start

with the basics.

1. Make sure the soil is prepared properly.

Well dug, lots of compost/humus, correct

pH, and crop rotation.

2. Plant in areas with the best sun exposure,

6-8 hours.

3. Select the best disease free seeds or

plants and choose the most disease

resistant varieties.

4. Keep the garden area clean, weed free

and watered properly. Do not put stolon

propagated grass (Bermuda) and

diseased plants in the compost bin.

Collect and dispose of these in your

regular trash disposal.

5. By adhering to these basic steps you will

certainly reduce your garden problems.

B. Identifying the problem is the

hardest thing to do.

1. Blight

2. Fungi

3. Bacteria

4. Virus

5. Nematodes

6. Environment

2. We will start with tomatoes, but potatoes,

egg plants, and peppers being in the same

family are susceptible to most of the same

diseases and cures.

Why Tomatoes?

a. Tomatoes are susceptible to more

blights, fungi, wilts/viruses, and other

diseases than any other vegetable.

They are continuously being bred by

scientist to be less susceptible to

these problems. Currently the plant

tags have from one to ten characters

to show the diseases they could be

resistant to. (Resistant does not mean

immune)

Tag Codes

1. F – Fusarium Wilts Race 1

2. FF – Fusarium Wilt Race 1 & Race 2

3. N – Root –Knot Nematodes

4. T – Tabacco Mosaic Virus

5. A – Alternaria Stem Canker/Crown Wilt

6. As – Early Blight

7. B – Bacterial Speck (Pseudomonas)

8. L – Septoria Leaf Spot

9. St – Stemphylium Gray Leaf Spot

10. V – Verticillum Wilt

b. Once we have identified the problems on

any vegetable, then we can select the best

fungicides or preventive measure by using

the “Home Vegetable” section of Virginia

Tech’s “Pest Management Guide for Home

Grounds and Animals”.,

3. This document, “Pest Management Guide

for Home Grounds and Animals”.

(PMG) Copy is kept at the “Help Line” desk

in the VCE office.

a. First and foremost when using any

chemical “Read the directions”. Lables

will vary widely with different

manufactures. Before purchasing a

particular brand make sure that it is

labeled for the crop and disease you are

trying to control and recommended by

the PMG.

4. I hope this has given you an insight to the

level of knowledge expected of Master

Gardeners and mainly our mission to provide

you with the tools of learning to accomplish

this task: Your handbook, publications,

projects, training classes and the “Help lines”

or other VCE informational outlets.