We are taking photos to document the progress of gardens featured in our Kitchen Garden Planner. Watch the slideshow to see how they’re looking. If you’re growing a vegetable garden that you designed using our Kitchen Garden Planner, please add some photos of your garden to our online album.
Our Kitchen Garden Planner features eight pre-planned garden designs for 3x6 ft. raised beds. This summer we are growing out the four most popular designs in our Burlington display gardens. We are taking photos to document their progress and have assembled a slideshow to show you how they’re looking. If you’re growing a vegetable garden that you designed using our Kitchen Garden Planner, please add some photos of your garden to our online album.
This year, more than 100,000 people used our Kitchen Garden Planner to help design a vegetable garden. Most folks started from scratch and created a custom planting plan, and many others used one of our eight pre-planned gardens.
This is the second year we've grown out some of the pre-planned gardens in our own Burlington, Vt. display gardens. The 3x6 ft. cedar Copper Cap Raised Beds were planted the second week of May with a combination of transplants and direct-sown seeds. Check out the slideshow to see how they're progressing. We'll be back in September with an update.
And, if you've planted one of our pre-planned garden designs, or used the Kitchen Garden Planner to create a custom design that you've planted, please take a photo and add it to the album. Thank you!
Here in our Intervale display gardens the Insect Pop Up Nets have been a big success. The cucumber beetles have been shut out.
Two cucumber trellises in a raised bed, covered with a tall Insect Pop Up Net. Between the two rows of cucumber plants is a row of fernleaf dill (the kind of dill that's grown for its foliage rather than its seedheads). The net will come off as soon as the plants begin to flower. By then, I hope, most of the beetles will have come and gone, and the plants will be relatively safe from damage.
The striped cucumber beetle and typical damage to a cucumber plant's foliage.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about growing cucumbers under an Insect Pop Up Net to protect against cucumber beetles. The jury is still out for the planting at home (the netting kept out the cucumber beetles but not the slugs). Here in our Intervale display gardens the Insect Pop Up Nets have been a big success.
Without protection, the cucumber plants in the rest of the garden have been under attack for weeks; about half of them died and the others are stunted and struggling.
Compare that with the lush plants that are thriving under the tall Insect Pop Up Net.
Have you tried these Pop Up Nets?
No room for an herb garden? Th Multi-Pocket Grow Bag might change your mind! With 16 planting holes on the sides and a "rooftop" garden on top, we were able to fill this planter with a wide range of culinary herbs, including rosemary, basil, thyme, sage, parsley, oregano, chervil, fennel, tarragon and chives.
No room for an herb garden? This tower of herbal power might change your mind!
With 16 planting holes on the sides and a "rooftop" garden on top, we were able to fill this Multi-Pocket Grow Bag with a wide range of culinary herbs, including rosemary, basil, thyme, sage, parsley, oregano, chervil, fennel, tarragon and chives.
Here in Vermont, the past couple summers have been unusually wet, so overwatering has been a bigger challenge than drought. If we have a drier summer, it might have been better to locate the moisture-loving plants in the lower half of the planter and the plants that prefer drier conditions (rosemary, thyme) on the upper half.
The planter holds a whopping 160 quarts of soil (we filled it with our Container Mix), so there should be plenty of room for healthy root growth. As you can imagine, once the bag is filled, it's not easy to move around. If you'll be locating it on a deck, we recommend putting a big saucer underneath it (before filling it up with soil).
Little potted herbs are usually available well into the summer, so this is a garden you could put together at almost any time.
If you do plant up one of these Multi-Pocket Grow Bags, please let us know how it works for you — we'd love to see a photo, too. This one is growing in our Burlington display gardens; we'll share more photos later in the season.
Gardener’s Supply has created a free interactive tool that makes it easier for gardeners to identify pest and disease problems, and determine effective, earth-friendly solutions.
The 2009 growing season presented home gardeners with some of the worst pest and disease problems in recent memory. For the most part, these troubles could be attributed to weather extremes that stressed plants and created favorable conditions for disease organisms.
Last year’s surge of new gardeners found the situation particularly challenging. Being unable to recognize the pests or identify the disease damage made it difficult to take effective action. That’s especially true for organic gardeners who prefer to avoid using broad-spectrum, chemical controls.
Though this growing season is bound to be better than the last, Gardener’s Supply has created a free interactive tool that makes it much easier for gardeners to identify pest and disease problems, and determine effective, earth-friendly solutions.
Features of the Pest and Disease Detective
- Dozens of earth-friendly solutions
- An A to Z directory of pests and diseases
- Photos that help you diagnose plant problems, including a way to submit your own photos.
- Articles on recognizing plant stress, diagnosing plant diseases and keeping animal pests out of your garden.
What's more, if you have a pest or disease problem in your garden that isn't answered in the Pest and Disease Detective, you can ask an expert. Call 1-888-293-0322 (M-F 8am-8pm and Sat and Sun 9am-5pm)
Flower support is an art form. An enthusiastic gardener can easily go from providing gentle, subtle support to erecting an ugly scaffold. All with the best of intentions.
Delphiniums present a staking challenge. They're especially tall and the rain-soaked blossoms can snap from their own weight.
To my delight, I've been blessed with a vigorous delphinium this year, which is free of disease and loaded with buds. The potential for a major show is at hand. This, despite years of disappointing plants that never seem to persist for more than a year or two.
Up until now, I'd been disdainful of people who wanted to grow delphiniums. "Too fussy," I'd say. "It only leads to heartache."
But then, I got a plant from Kathy, who grew it from some special seeds from New Zealand. The thing is amazing. And as it became clear that a delphinium miracle was going to occur in my back yard, I got to work.
My thought was, "I've got to get this thing staked. One windstorm or heavy rain and it'll be ruined. Ruined!" Unfortunately, I went from proactive gardener to overprotective parent. When I got done with all the stakes and string, it was as if I'd made my delphinium wear a helmet.
 Spiral supports cradle the bloom gently.
My plan is to re-do the support. I'll use more of the spiral supports and get rid of the bamboo-and-string corral. The Rainbow Spiral Supports can be used to cradle each stem and blossom. Maybe a little string will be necessary, but I'll use the green jute, which will be subtle.
It all reminds me that flower support is an art form. Done well, it goes unnoticed. All the attention goes to the flower.
As it should be.
— David Grist
Online Content Coordinator, Gardener's Supply
There are lots of good reasons to mulch your vegetable garden. Covering the soil with mulch conserves moisture, suppresses weed growth and helps control soil borne diseases. Here are some tips for choosing the best mulch for the job.
There are lots of good reasons to mulch your vegetable garden. Covering the soil with mulch conserves moisture, suppresses weed growth and helps control soil borne diseases. Here are some tips to help you choose the best mulch for the job. And for more information, read Choosing the Right Mulch for Vegetable Gardens.
- Before covering the soil with an organic mulch such as shredded leaves or straw, apply a nitrogen-rich fertilizer. As these mulches begin to gradually decompose, nitrogen will be absorbed from the soil and if you don't add some extra to compensate, your plants may be deprived of this essential nutrient.
- Keep mulch at least an inch away from plant stems to avoid rot and fungus problems.
- If you use grass clippings, let them dry in the sun for a day or so. Leave at least half your grass clippings on the lawn because they are an important source of nutrients. Do not use clippings from lawns treated with herbicides or toxic pest controls.
- If you mulch with leaves, use only those that have been aged at least nine months. This allows the growth-inhibiting phenols to be leached out.
- Secure plastic or paper mulch with Earth Staples. Cover the entire row before planting, and then cut planting holes as needed. You can also cut the mulch in half lengthwise, and snuggle it up near the plants from each side.
Mulch Options
Organic Mulches
- Chopped or shredded leaves
- Straw
- Newspaper
- Grass clippings (no herbicides!)
- Compost
- Salt hay
- Cardboard
- Rotted hay
Inorganic Mulches
- Clear, black, or colored plastic
- Polyester garden fabrics
- Gravel or stone
- Carpet remnants
Mulch in a Flower Garden?
Yes. Weed-blocking mulch is perfect for cutting gardens. Read Weeding With a Broom.
The latest technique for fending off cucumber beetles: Insect Pop-Up nets. After years of little success with cucumbers, I'm hoping these will do the trick.
About 10 years ago, cucumber beetles took up residence in my vegetable garden and since that time I haven't been able to grow more than a couple decent cucumbers each year.
I've tried planting earlier, planting later, planting transplants and direct-sowing the seeds. I've tried growing in the greenhouse and in the garden. Using mulch and not using mulch. Growing on a trellis and not on a trellis. I've dusted the plants with various organic powders, from rotenone to sabadilla dust. Last year I even constructed a little fabric shroud for them (you can read about it here). Unfortunately, that didn't work, either.
This year I've decided to use an Insect Pop-Up Net to create a barrier between plants and beetles. At home my cucumber plants will be growing right on the ground, so I've planted them under the Low (20″) version; Here in our display gardens, we're growing cukes on a Wire Cucumber Trellis so are using the Tall (48″) version.
So far, I am very impressed with these pop-up nets. Taking them out of their package is FUN! They spring open fully assembled. Just position them over the area and secure them with the metal stakes. It takes less than a minute.
Once the plants start flowering, the nets will have to be removed to allow for pollination. But if I can get the plants to a healthy, mature size, I figure they'll stand a much better chance of fending off the beetles.
Cucumber beetle To learn more about the striped cucumber beetle (and how to control it), check out our Pest & Disease DETECTIVE.
Want to grow lettuce from early spring on into the fall? It's all a matter of choosing the right varieties. For a long season of salad greens, plan on buying at least eight or 10 different kinds of seeds. 
With so many interesting kinds of lettuces to choose from, it’s easy to get caught up in appearances. But if your goal is to grow lettuce from spring into fall, you need to be more selective. Check out our reccommendations, below, but look to your gardening neighbors as well.
For a long season of salad greens, plan on buying at least eight or 10 different kinds of seeds. Start the year with varieties that thrive in cool soil and relatively low-light conditions. These include the lettuces Arctic King, Winter Marvel, Winter Density and Black-Seeded Simpson; the arugula Astro and many beautiful cutting mixes blended for spring growing conditions.
As warm weather comes on, reach for heat-tolerant lettuce varieties, such as Red Butterworth, Torenia, Larissa, Craquerelle Du Midi and Rosalita; try the spinach Emu or Tyee and look for cutting mixes blended specifically for warm weather.
|
Posts
