Jody Smith Williams GLEE Community Garden

Outline

What’s Unique about Us? Starting a Garden: The Basics Siting Your Garden Benefits of Raised Beds Soil Building Planting Common Problems & Solutions Jody’s Top 10 Summer Garden Care

Growing Outside the Box Resources

What’s Unique About Us? Space

Native “soil”, high Ph

Climate

Gardening calendar

Rainfall

Pests

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Siting Your Garden: Location, location, location

Vegetables need 6-8 hours of sunlight

Consider: Fall/Winter shadows

Wind

Salt spray

Tree roots

Aesthetics, privacy

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Benefits of Raised Beds: Soil quality

No till, compaction

Drainage

Moisture retention

Weed control

Mobility (tall beds)

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Materials: Frame made of wood (Untreated), recycled plastic

lumber, concrete block, etc.

Size – no more than 4’ wide

- any length

6-8” deep, more for some root veggies

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SOIL BUILDING:

Most important part of organic gardening

The Soil Food Web is comprised of microorganisms that provide

nutrients and health to the plants as well as the soil.

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SOIL BUILDING Line bottom of raised bed with

newspaper or cardboard

Mix ~ equal parts topsoil, compost, vermiculite or sand

S FL needs more organic matter

Organic amendments:

Fish meal/emulsion , Seaweed Extract/kelp meal, Worm Castings, Plantone ® or other organic products

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SOIL BUILDING cont’d

For tall beds, consider “lasagna gardening”

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Considerations: Grow things your family

likes to eat

Cost/availability of store bought

Size of plants, time to maturity

Appropriateness for climate

Experiment!

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Direct seed or seedlings?

Starting seedlings: Sterile , fluffy starting

medium Container w/ drainage Seed selection Light water daily Fertilize after 2 weeks Transplant in shade Moon cycles Mulch

Buying seedlings: beware Big Box Stores Grow Fest Oct. 19-20

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Most common mistake: Plants too close Tough love, must thin

Provide supports when plants are small (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, pole beans)

Consider Square Foot Gardening

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Not too much, not too little, just right!

Drip or soaker irrigation on timer w/ rain detector ideal

Water soil, not plants

Finger test

Deeper watering, less often 1-2” per week

½-1 gal per square foot.

4 x 10 plot needs 20-40 gallons

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Common insects: aphids, white fly, thrips, cabbage worms, nematodes, snails/slugs, horn worms

The best offense is a good defense: healthy plants resist pests & disease

Disease resistant seeds

Foliar spray: compost tea, seaweed, fish emulsion

IPM: Attract/buy natural predators: ladybugs, lacewings, parasitic wasps, ben. nematodes

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Organic methods of treatment: always consider impact on beneficials. Start with most benign.

Observation!

Wait for good guys

Sticky traps (yellow for white fly; blue for thrips)

Beer traps for snails/slugs

Water spray

Garlic/hot pepper /soap spray

“Two block method”

Food grade diatomaceous earth (DE)

Stronger treatments: Bt, Pyrethrum, Spinosad, Neem – may kill beneficials

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Disease Prevention/Treatment:

Avoid Big Box stores, especially Nightshades

Cucurbits prone to powdery mildew – spray with diluted skim milk. Trellis vines for better air flow

Destroy diseased plants – DO NOT COMPOST

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Chard Kale Mustard Collards Tatsoi

Vitamin Greens

Mizuna Arugula Lettuce

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Nitrogen fixers Bush (faster production) Pole (longer harvest, need trellis) Innoculant for better

yield

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Needs 1 square foot

3-4 months to harvest

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Cilantro Dill Rosemary Parsley Mint Oregano Thyme Tarragon Chives Basil Marjoram Sage

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Slow grower, small space (not too close)

Grow radishes (quick) before carrots mature

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Slow grower, small space Good for intercropping Buy onion “sets”, leeks from

seed

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Bell peppers winter/spring

Hot peppers summer

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Perennial in S. FL

Nitrogen fixer

Eat peas, pods and shoots

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Prolific, low maintenance, can be kept small

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Success unpredictable in S. FL Prone to disease (fusarium wilt,

tobacco mosaic virus, yellow curly leaf virus, blight)

Cherry varieties do best Plant seedlings very deep

and/or plant sideways Trim suckers and stake plants Don’t over water, esp before

harvest Plenty of calcium (eggshells,

Epsom salts) Consider determinate or

indeterminate

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Nasturtium: Edible, Pest Deterrent Tagetes Marigold: Nematode Control

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Wild arugula: edible, pollinator Calendula: edible, medicinal Borage: edible, pollinator, medicinal

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Options: Plant cover crop(s): Legumes, buckwheat, sunn hemp

Solarize soil

At the very least: cover

with cardboard or mulch

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Spiral Garden

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Key hole Garden

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Vertical Wall Garden Photo: JustOneBackyard.com

Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide1

University of FL IFAS Extension Service

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/EP124

Miami-Dade IFAS Extension Service

http://miami-dade.ifas.ufl.edu/lawn_and_garden/communitygarden.shtml

Gardeners Supply

http://www.gardeners.com/

Organic Gardening Magazine

http://www.organicgardening.com

GLEE Community Garden http://www.cgkw.pbworks.com/

http://www.communitygardenkeywest.com

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Happy Gardening!