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Archive for the vegetable gardens tag

Autumn is a time for harvesting, planting and preparing your vegetable garden

September 5, 2023 • Leave a Comment

by Mary Gerstenberger

Autumn in the vegetable patch is a busy time. Cold-sensitive veggies such as tomatoes and peppers need to be harvested before first frost, or to extend their season, cover them with a sheet or tarp on nights when a frost is predicted. Cold tolerant plants such as radishes and lettuce can still be planted. Late in September is the time to plant garlic cloves for next year’s harvest. More importantly, autumn is the time when garden cleanup as well as garden preparation begins.

Good garden cleanup is fundamental to having a healthy garden next year. Many types of fungal spores as well as insects can overwinter in the leaf litter and soil. Plants that showed signs of disease should be removed from the garden along with any plant debris around them. Healthy plant remains can be composted or turned back into the soil to return their nutrients to the garden.

The cleanup we do in the fall is the first step in preparing the spring garden. Not only can the remains of our vegetable plants be dug into the garden, but autumn leaves and grass clippings as well. These help provide organic matter, which is important to good soil structure and healthy plants. Another way to provide organic matter and nutrients is to plant a cover crop such as oats or annual rye that can be turned into the soil in the spring. A layer of compost can be spread over or tilled into the garden as another option to enrich and improve the soil.

After cleanup, the second step in preparing the garden is to plan ahead. Take note of where you planted your different vegetables this year so you can plan to rotate them to a new spot next year. Planting closely related crops in the same part of the garden each year can lead to recurring problems with plant diseases as well as insect issues.

Autumn can be a hectic time in the garden as we harvest our vegetables and work at extending the growing season. However, with a little extra effort now, we can look forward to a quicker, better start to our garden in the spring.

Mary Gerstenberger was the Consumer Horticulture Coordinator at the Michigan State University Extension in Macomb County, MI. For vegetable and gardening information from MSU, visit www.migarden.msu.edu.

Call the toll-free Michigan State University Lawn and Garden Hotline at 888-678-3464 for answers to your gardening questions.

ELSEWHERE: Why test soil in the fall?

Can vegetable gardens be planted near or over septic fields?

July 27, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Our vegetable garden is over part of our septic field. This is the only part of our yard that gets enough sun. Can there be a problem with possible contamination?

There can be a problem with contamination. Unless your septic tank is completely self-contained and does not permeate into the soil, there are health concerns. Most governmental units have mandated households to convert to self-contained systems to protect Michigan’s groundwater from contamination.

Septic effluent contains chemicals and pathogens potentially harmful to people, animals or plants. Soil types affect how a septic system behaves. Clay soils release cleared effluent in a few inches. However clay does not percolate or drain well and is not a good choice for a septic site in general. Sandy soils permit greater travel of effluent and pathogens, because they drain so quickly. In that case, contaminants can travel greater distances.

Root crops such as carrots or potatoes, which grow in the soil, are likely to pick up pathogens from effluent in the soil over, next to, or downhill from drain field trenches. Leafy crops like lettuce or broccoli that develop above ground may be contaminated by pathogens that splash up from the soil surface during watering or a rainfall. Above ground crops like those that vine (cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers), are less likely to be affected by splash up since they grow vertically out of the way. Homes where water is “hard” and which use a salt-based water softener system are more apt to be passing high levels of brine into the septic drain field. These salts can damage plants that grow nearby.

As septic effluent drains out into the lines, it is filtered slowly through the soil. Beneficial soil microbes digest harmful bacteria and viruses. While septic systems are designed to prevent disease-causing soil contamination, there is no easy way to know if your system is functioning properly. In addition to bacteria, consider all the household chemicals that go down your drains every day. Plants are by nature absorbing and processing “factories,” cleaning up the environment. All of this can end up in those vegetables you planted in the only sunny part of your yard.

The splendor and science behind Thomas Jefferson’s vegetable garden at Monticello

May 10, 2012 • Leave a Comment

The Salt at NPR:

After Jefferson retired from public life to his beloved Virginia hilltop plantation, the garden “served as a sort of this experimental testing lab where he’d try new vegetables he sought out from around the globe,” says Peter Hatch, the estate’s head gardener. Hatch recently wrote a book about Jefferson’s garden and its history called A Rich Spot of Earth.

Somehow, the author of the Declaration of Independence and the nation’s third president found spare time to meticulously document his many trials and errors, growing over 300 varieties of more than 90 different plants. These included exotics like sesame, chickpeas, sea kale and salsify. They’re more commonly available now, but were rare for the region at the time. So were tomatoes and eggplant.

Read the full story here…

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Archive for the vegetable gardens tag