Food-Gardening Lessons From A Wartime Victory Garden

Visit the Gro Shop! merch hat Shop Merch

Articles

Author: JESSIE KEITH

Plants are the lens Jessie views the world through because they’re all-sustaining. (“They feed, clothe, house and heal us. They produce the air we breathe and even make us smell pretty.”) She’s a garden writer and photographer with degrees in both horticulture and plant biology from Purdue and Michigan State Universities. Her degrees were bolstered by internships at Longwood Gardens and the American Horticultural Society. She has since worked for many horticultural institutions and companies and now manages communications for Sun Gro Horticulture, the parent company of Black Gold. Her joy is sharing all things green and lovely with her two daughters.

What Preventative Strategies Stop Garden Pests Before They Attack?

“What is best to use to be on the offensive and keep pests from coming into your garden?” Question from Marilyn of Roseburg, Oregon

Answer: You cannot keep pests from visiting, especially if you are growing their favorite foods. But, cleanliness, monitoring, and planting robust pest-resistant varieties are three excellent tools for keeping pests at bay. Planning ahead for potential pests is another tactic. Let me flesh out these tips a bit more.

Give Good Plants a Good Head Start

Stressed plants emit hormones that attract potential pests, so keeping plants happy and healthy is important. When choosing vegetable starts at your local nursery, select disease and pest-resistant varieties, pick large plants with no leaf damage, and avoid highly root-bound plants. (Bound roots have a dense, interwoven network of roots with little potting mix. Gently lift plants from their pots to see the roots.) Bound root systems must be cut and separated at planting time, which puts undue stress on transplants.

Choose (or raise) the healthiest plants you can. Large, robust seedlings have a greater chance of resisting pests and diseases and producing high yields. If growing plants from seed, be sure to give your seedlings plenty of light and room to develop stout, dense growth, and ample root systems. Planting one seedling per pot will help avoid competition. Fertilize starts lightly, so they are as strong at planting time. (Click here for seed starting tips.)

Keep Plants and Beds Clean

A clean, weed-free garden with open spaces between plants yields better fruit by increasing light exposure and airflow. Under clean, open conditions, pests and diseases are slower to take hold and easier to manage. Walkways covered with straw, leaf mulch, or compost also make is nicer and easier to walk through the garden and care for plants in all weather.

Keep plants clean! Bushy veggies, such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, are especially important to clean and prune to minimize the spread of disease and pests. (Click here to learn how to prune tomatoes.) Remove dying, diseased, or infested leaves and stems or any unwieldy branches that inhibit airflow and light where it needs to reach. When pruning, clean your pruners from one plant to the next by dipping them in a 10% bleach solution to reduce the chances of any cross-contamination of potential diseases. At the end of the season, remove all garden litter and plant material from the garden soil that may harbor overwintering pests and diseases.

Plan For Pests You’ve Experienced Before

If your cabbages have had cabbage loopers or your petunias have had budworms in the past, expect them to return. Apply pre-emptive applications of OMRI Listed BT to stop them in their tracks. By learning the life cycles of different pests that have plagued your garden in the past, you can plan precise strikes with the correct pesticides. (Reach out to the Oregon State Extension Service for more information and to take advantage of their many online resources for Oregon vegetable gardeners.)

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

 

How Do I Build My Soil in Fall to Increase Vegetable Yields?

“Hello, I just moved to a place this year that had semi-raised beds for gardening. I planted several “crops” and the yields were not great. I don’t know if it was the seeds I used or if it is the soil itself. I waited until the ground was warm enough, and I watered regularly and planted as directed, but my yields were about 50% for everything but radishes! I am thinking of adding some more soil this fall and let it sit over the winter..any ideas?” Thank you. Question from Lucinda of Pittston, Maine

Answer: There are lots of ways to build up your soil for vegetable growing success. Here are four recommendations that will increase your success next season.

1. Feed Your Soil

Good soil is the key to gardening success. Feed it liberally feed it with organic matter, such as Black Gold Earthworm Castings, Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, and Garden Compost Blend, especially if your soil is rich in clay or sandy. The addition of high-quality, screened topsoil is also recommended. Add at least 3 inches of amendments to the soil surface, and till it to a depth of at least 8 inches. Tilling in amendments will increase water-holding capacity and aeration for better root growth. Use the amendment application formula below to determine the amount you will need.

Amendment Application Formula

([area to cover] ft2 x [depth in inches desired] x 0.0031 = ___ yd3).

Example: If you wanted to cover a 20 square foot area with 2 inches of compost, the result would be: 20 ft2 x 2 inches of compost x 0.0031 = 2.48 yd3.

(For another take, click here for a full overview of how to prep a new no-till vegetable garden from start to finish.)

2. Choose the Right Organic Fertilizer

Vegetables perform better with regular fertilization, especially heavy feeders like tomatoes. Most veggies will deplete the soil of nutrients over time, so replenishment is necessary. There are many organic vegetable fertilizers on the market. Alfalfa, blood, bone, feather, fish, kelp, and shrimp meals are all common natural components of non-chemical fertilizers. Earthworm castings are also a good source of nitrogen and beneficial microbes. Adding mycorrhizae to the soil is also useful because it helps plants take up water and nutrients better. Black Gold Natural & Organic Ultra Coir is another of our organic-rich amendments that also contains our proprietary blend of endomycorrhizae. We recommend that you research top-rated organic fertilizers to find the best for your needs.

3. Rotate Your Crops with Legumes

Vegetables, especially tomatoes, should be rotated on a three-year cycle. For example, tomatoes one year and other vegetables in the next two years. Legumes, like beans and peas, are excellent rotation crops because they naturally fortify soils with nitrogen. For more rotation tips, I encourage you to read Spring to Fall Vegetable Rotation: Planting for Non-stop Garden Produce. It will provide all of the information you need to effectively rotate your crops, whether container- or garden-grown.

4. Clean Up and Cover

Weed your beds with quality weeding tools (I am never without my weeding knife (Hori Hori), strong hoe (Prohoes are the best), and Korean hand plow (Ho-Mi)), and then plant them with a green manure crop. Johnny’s Seeds’ Fall Green Manure Mix or annual rye are good cover crops that can be tilled under in spring. They stop winter weeds and add natural organic matter and nutrients to beds for better vegetable production.

I hope that all of this information helps!

Happy soil building,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

What Are Good Container Flowers for Northern California?

Bolivian Begonia is an excellent container garden flower that can be overwintered indoors. (Image by Jessie Keith)

“I rent my house but I have always wanted to grow a flower garden. What’s the best way to grow flowers in containers that are movable and what kind of flowers grow best in containers?” Question from Jenna of Magalia, California

Answer: Container gardening is certainly the best option for renters. If you really want to create a movable garden, start with quality pots that will be easy to transport in a move. Choose large containers for vegetables or multiple flowers. The larger the pot, the more plants you can grow in it. Thick, glazed ceramic containers resist weathering and retain water well.

I determined that you have warm, dry, mostly clear summers and cold, wet, partly cloudy winters with temperatures that range from 33°F to 88°F–rarely dipping below 25°F or above 96°F. Considering your drier summers and cool, wet winters, here are five drought-tolerant container perennials that should grow well for you in pots.

Annie’s Annuals, which is based in Richmond, California is one of the coolest mailorder flower nurseries around, and they sell loads of flowers suited to your climate. I recommend visiting to get ideas.

Planting Flower Containers

Choose plants that you like and pair them according to color, size, height, and texture. A good potting mix for drier climates is Black Gold Waterhold Cocoblend, which has excellent porosity, water-holding ability, and is OMRI Listed for organic gardening. Keep in mind, containers need regular water, even if you plant drought-tolerant plants, so plan to water your containers daily or once every couple of days. Feed them with plant food for flowers, such as Proven Winners® Premium Water Soluble Plant Food for Flowering Plants. Once hard cold hits, trim back any dead or dying stems to keep your pots tidy through winter.

I hope that this helps.

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

How Do I Get Rid of Dallisgrass?

“How do I get rid of Dallisgrass?” Question from Mil of Knoxville, Tennesee

Answer: Dallisgrass (Paspalum dilatatum, USDA Hardiness Zones 6-9) is a weedy perennial grass that originates from South America. It forms coarse, stiff clumps that spread and grow quickly–faster than most turfgrasses. There are several ways to rid it from your lawn or garden. Sadly, none are an easy fix. Here are the top four methods:

Top 5 Methods for Removing Dallisgrass

  1. Manually remove plants early in the season to catch them early and stop them from setting seed–This may sound obvious, but quick removal is always one of the best ways of stopping weeds. A long-handled Ho-Mi is a great tool for the job. long-handled tools reduce back stress and sharply pointed Ho Mis make root removal easy.
  2. Mow your lawn on the low end. This keeps dallisgrass from setting seed and spreading. In the meantime, you can slowly remove annoying clumps bit-by-bit, and seed over the open areas with the lawn grass of your preference. Black Gold Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss is a great amendment to apply for better grass seed establishment.
  3. Apply corn gluten or other preemergent herbicides in spring to stop new Dallisgrass seed from germinating.
  4. Selectively spray clumps with any quality herbicide for grass, and then remove the dead clumps.

(For more tips, click here to read my response about removing Bermuda grass.)

I hope that these tips help.

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Soil

Bountiful Fall Berries for Gardens

Bountiful Fall Berries for Gardens

As a child, we had golden raspberries in our woods in southern Indiana. Each fall, as I passed them in the morning to meet the school bus, I would see how many were ready to pick and pop the ripened fruits in my mouth. The lingering memory of their warm, sweet, raspberry taste makes them my ultimate autumnal berry, but there are many others to be grown and enjoyed in the garden. After doing a little research, I discovered that our woodland raspberry was likely an escaped golden-fruited Rubus ideaus, or cultivated raspberry, which makes finding it at nurseries easier.

Late-season berries come in all forms—from grapes to cranberries to raspberries. In this piece, I am also bending the definition of “berries” a bit to include figs, another fall favorite. (Botany lesson: fig fruits are technically aggregate or collective fruits called “syconia” (singular syconium) made up of multiple tiny fruits from multiple tiny flowers folded inward to form a single fig. The resulting fruit has a berry-like appearance.) Fall and figs go hand-in-hand. And, my figs are going gangbusters on this early September day, so I want to include them. They should keep producing into mid- to late-fall.

Garden Berries for Fall

Cranberries grow best in boggy soils that are peaty and sandy.

American Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon, USDA Hardiness Zones 2-7): Ripening by late September to October, no berry says fall quite like the tart snap of an American cranberry. Cranberries are fully evergreen and grow in bogs with moist, sandy, acid soils. If you lack a bog (most of us do), it’s smart to create special beds for the best yields. Rows of low-set, broad nursery pots partially sunk in the ground and filled with sand and Black Gold Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss work well. Keep the pots moist and supply fertilizer for acid-loving plants. Lots of pink, bell-shaped flowers will appear in springtime (bees pollinate the blooms) followed by ripe red cranberries in fall. Full to partial sunlight is needed–that’s at least 6 hours per day. The variety ‘Pilgrim‘ is especially attractive and spreads to form a tidy groundcover with plenty of flavorful berries.

Cape gooseberries are easy summer fruits you can grow from seed.

Cape gooseberry or Peruvian groundcherry (Physalis peruviana, Zones 10-12): Imagine growing golden fall fruits that taste of tart pineapple, which can be grown like tomatoes or tomatillos. These are Cape gooseberries, close tomato relatives from subtropical regions in Peru. The husked berries are golden when ripe and mature from August until mid-fall when nights grow cool. Tender Cape gooseberries produce fruit the first year from seed, which is why they are grown as annuals. Eat them fresh or use them to make jam for canning or pie.

Concord grapes need time and training, but the fresh fall fruits make them worth the work.

Concord or Fox Grapes (Vitis labrusca hybrids, Zones 4-8): Sweet, aromatic Concord grapes are a late-season treat that taste of grape jelly and purple grape juice. The twining, woody vines need a strong fence or trellis for best production and begin to produce fruit by late September. Seasonal pruning in spring will keep vines productive and in control. (Click here for some grape-pruning tips.) Try the popular Seedless Concord. It has all of the great flavor and vigor of the traditional type but it lacks the seeds–making them easier to process into jelly, juice, and pies.

Many figs ripen in late summer or fall for fresh eating or drying.

Figs (Ficus carica, hardiness varies) grow very large (6 to 15 feet by 8 to 20 feet), even compact varieties, so plant them in an area with space. My Zone 7 garden requires that I choose hardier varieties. I have found that some hardy varieties taste better than others. My top choice is the small-fruited, super sweet sugar fig ‘Celeste’ (USDA Hardiness Zone 6-10) with its copious small, squat, purplish-brown fruits that produce most on second-year wood. This year mine is producing beautifully. Another that I want to try is the Louisiana State introduction ‘LSU Gold’ (Zones 7-9), which produces very flavorful, sweet green figs with pinkish flesh. Expect this more southern fig to be more cold-sensitive. When plants die back to the ground, they do not always set fruits on new wood. One means of protecting plants through winter is mounding mulch around the crown in late fall and then removing it in spring after the threat of frost has passed.  (Click here for a full overview of figs.)

Golden raspberries ready for the picking.

Golden Raspberries (Rubus ideaus hybrids, USDA Hardiness Zones ): Some late raspberries are red and others are black, but I like the gold ones for their delicate, sunny flavor and unique beauty. There are several from which to choose. The large berries of  ‘Anne Yellow‘ are deep gold with almost a hint of orange. Berries appear July and again in fall on tall, upright plants with thorned stems. Double Gold Yellow is a patented berry with thimble-shaped gold fruits blushed with pink. Thorned fruiting canes produce berries both in summer and again in fall. Pull and prune back new suckers to keep rows tidy.

Sink a few of these sweet berried plants in your garden next spring, and you will be rewarded with a wealth of fall berries. In the meantime, look for them at your local farmers market or roadside fruit stand.

What Are Good Shrubs for a Home’s North Side?

Gold-and-flame-leaved Forest Flame reaches 6 to 10 feet and has chains of ivory spring flowers.

“I am having trouble with roses in the constant north side shade area of my home. Looking for a possible flowering shrub or a better suggestion for this area at the front of our house.” Question from Larry of O’Fallon, Missouri

Answer: Roses by default are sun-loving. Just a handful of species roses and cultivated roses will tolerate partial shade. (Click here to read another AGE about shade-tolerant roses.) But, there are loads of flowering shade-tolerant shrubs that will grow beautifully on the north side of a home. Here are some of my favorites. All of them should be hardy where you live in Missouri.

Shade-Loving Shrubs

Reblooming Azaleas (Rhododendron spp.): Encore® and Bloom-A-Thon® Azaleas will rebloom and some are even evergreen. I recommend them if you have slightly acid to acid soils with good drainage.

Smooth Hydrangea varieties (Hydrangea arborescens): Tolerant of sun and shade, smooth hydrangeas are very hardy and native to your region. Some of the new varieties bloom for a long time in summer, and then their flowers remain on the plants and continue to look pretty into fall and winter. I love the many varieties sold by Proven Winners, such as the pink-flowered Invincibelle, among others. (Click here to view them all.)

Yak Rhododendrons (Rhododendron hybrids): There are so many outstanding evergreen Rhododendrons that grow beautifully in shade, and yak forms are extra tidy and compact. ‘Grumpy‘ is an outstanding yellow-and-pink-flowered form that reaches 5 feet at maturity and has dark, evergreen leaves.

Lily of the Valley Shrub (Pieris japonica) is another evergreen that likes growing conditions similar to that of azaleas and rhododendrons. Interstella has pink chains of blooms in spring and only reaches 4 feet at maturity. Larger varieties include the outstanding gold-and-flame-leaved Forest Flame, which reaches 6 to 10 feet and has chains of ivory spring flowers. It’s a real showstopper.

Hartlage Wine sweetshrub (Calycanthus x raulstonii ‘Hartlage Wine’) grows well in partial sun to light shade and has very fragrant maroon-red flowers in late spring. At maturity, it reaches 6 to 8 feet, so give this one some space. In autumn, its leaves turn yellow and orange before falling.

We have an excellent article, by horticulturist Russell Stafford, that details how to properly plant new shrubs in the landscape. Please click here to view it. I hope that some of these shrubs interest you!

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

Can Potatoes Survive in the Ground Through Winter?

“Can potatoes survive in the ground if they are not harvested when the above-ground foliage is removed? If yes, how long will they last?” Question from Ed or Coats, North Carolina

Answer: It’s an interesting question. The answer is yes and no. Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are perennial plants and some cultivated potatoes can be quite hardy. The ability of cultivated forms to survive winter cold depends on the variety (there are over 4,000 known types), but most will not withstand hard freezes. And, you would not want to eat the tubers from plants touched by frost. They quickly become sickeningly sweet and inedible.

Another point is that potatoes are notoriously susceptible to soil-borne diseases, and need to be rotated yearly for the best production. Proper cultivation from seed potatoes to harvest takes work. Potato rows must be hilled and amended with organic matter (Black Gold Garden Compost Blend is a great choice of amendment) to keep the soil light and fertile for superior potato development. Fresh seed potatoes planted in newly plowed hills will grow best and yield tubers by early, mid, or late summer, depending on the variety. At harvest time, all the tubers should be removed from the soil to eliminate any potentially diseased potatoes.  Legumes or a green manure crop should follow the rotation cycle.

With that said, those living further South, like you, can potentially grow potatoes as perennial crops for a limited period of time. Because it’s not done or recommended in practice, I cannot say how long they would survive and yield for you. Yukon Gold is a common, hardier variety (USDA Hardiness Zones 3-9) that may be worth experimenting with if you want to give it a try. Let us know how it works out for you.

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

How Do I Stop Squirrels from Eating My Flower Bulbs?

“I have a problem with squirrels digging up my flower bulbs. What can I do?” Question from Susan of Lexington, Kentucky

Answer: Squirrels, voles, mice, and other related creatures dig up tulip certain crocus bulbs but dislike most others. Tulip bulbs are especially tasty treats that hungry critters will dig up in fall and winter when food is scarce or the bulbs look best on the garden menu. Here are several potential solutions that will stop them in their tracks.

Protect Your Tulip Bulbs

Gardeners use various methods to protect their tulips.

  1. Apply vole or squirrel repellents after planting bulbs. These will detur digging and consumption.  Shake-Away Coyote Urine is one option.
  2. Another method is to plant tulips 1 to 2 inches deeper–8 inches rather than 6. This can only be done with large-bulbed tulips, like Triumphs and Giant Darwins. Most animals are less likely to dig as deep or detect the bulbs below.
  3. Place chicken wire over tulip bulb plantings, which can be easily lifted after the blooms fade in spring. The wire will protect the bulbs before blooming. It is always nice to cover wire sheeting with mulch so it cannot be seen.
  4. Plant tulips that naturalize, like chrysantha tulips, which spread and resist predation in numbers.

Plant Other Bulbs

Daffodils, chionodoxa, fritillaria, scilla, muscari, and other bulbs are not as palatable to rodents, so plant lots of these instead. Many of these bulbs naturally spread to make your spring garden more and more beautiful each year. Amending bulb plantings with Black Gold Garden Compost Blend and a fertilizer formulated for bulbs will help them perform their best.

I hope that these tips help.

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Why Is My Newly Transplanted Tree Wilting?

Why Is My Newly Transplanted Tree Wilting?

“Hi! How do you revive a newly transplanted flowering tree whose leaves and flowers are wilting? It was planted in loose, rich black organic soil (no chemicals have ever been added). It was dug up from my brother’s flower garden, and it was in rocky sandy soil at the time. I brought with me some of the soil it was used to, to add to the hole it was put into. It is being watered every day. It looks worse and worse every day. 🙁 Could you please tell me if it doesn’t perk up yet this year if it will renew itself over the winter and come back next year as it is too beautiful to lose. Thanks for your time and attention in answering my dilemma!” Question from Sylvia of Belle Plaine, Minnesota

Answer: Stop watering! Sometimes too much love–or in this case too much water–can be detrimental to a new planting. If you moved your tree from a location with rocky, sandy soil, and it was growing well there, then it likely requires fast-draining soil and tolerates less water. By moving it to a new location and watering it daily, several things happened. It had too few roots and too much soil moisture while experiencing the shock of transplant.

Tree Transplanting Tips

Wild- or garden-dug trees have sparse root systems with fewer feeder roots, unlike pot-grown trees. When moving them, it is important to retain as much of the rootball as possible to keep the roots intact and undamaged. But, even if you do the best job moving the tree, lots of feeder roots (the fine roots that take up the most nutrients and water) will be lost. Trees are happier when planted in soil with comparable drainage and characteristics to their original native soil–in this case, the soil in your brother’s garden. The addition of light soil amendments, such as Black Gold Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, can be helpful, but too much can cause the bathtub effect, so use sparingly. (Click here for good tree and shrub planting/transplanting guidelines.)

After planting, keep the soil around the tree just moist, but never wet. Light moisture will allow new feeder roots to develop, while too much water will overwhelm the delicate, shocked root system of a new transplant and can cause root rot. In your case, I would water the tree weekly in the absence of rain. If temperatures are very high, a little extra water can be added if wilting occurs.

I hope that these tips help and your tree bounces back.

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Soils

How Do I Rid My Garden Soil of Disease?

“Curious to know if anyone has figured out a way to get rid of viruses and diseases out of your soil. Mosaic, for example. Flea beetles spread it. Is my garden gone forever? I’m willing to do ANYTHING!” Question from Pam of Conroe, Texas

Answer: Different fungal, bacterial, and viral diseases of plants exist in the soil for various amounts of time. Some are not soil-borne at all, while others will remain in the soil without a host plant for several years. For example, tomato mosaic virus and tobacco mosaic virus will survive in dry soil and dead plant debris for up to two years. If the soil is moist, the diseases will only remain in the ground for a matter of months. Here are some methods of general soil health and disease removal.

How to Restore Garden Soil with Soil-Borne Diseases

  1. Keep it Clean – Remove all diseased plant material, from the plant to fallen leaves to the roots. Do not compost infected plants. Instead, dispose of it in the trash or burn pile.
  2. Rotate Crops – Click here to read an article about vegetable garden rotation. Click here to read an article about tomato rotation.
  3. Feed Your Soil – Click here to learn how to successfully feed your soil in three different ways.
  4. Weed and Mulch – Weeds can be carriers of common garden diseases. Their removal will help keep disease out of your garden.
  5. Stop Insect Carriers – Many insect pests, like cucumber beetles, flea beetles, leafhoppers, whiteflies, and aphids, can carry and spread different diseases. Keeping their populations low in the garden can reduce diseases that can become soil-borne. Click here to learn how to naturally tackle the top 5 vegetable garden pests.
  6. Plant Disease-Resistant Varieties – Plants that resist common diseases bring less disease to the soil.

I hope that these tips help.

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist