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Sustainable Vegetable Gardening Let’s Grow Great Vegetables! Part 1 Planning and Soil Preparation

Paul Gibson, Jean Meink And Master Gardener Volunteers

VCE Prince William – 703 792-7747 gibsonp2@comcast.net

Chinn Library, Feb 8, 2014

Web page: www.mgpw.org Facebook Master Gardeners of Prince William

Sustainable Vegetable Gardening

• Organic, environmentally sound – Use nature as a guide to manage ecological and

biological processes – Feed the soil, not the plant; no synthetic fertilizer,

herbicides, pesticides • Acceptable nutrition, protection from pests, disease • Reduce external input; get renewable resources

locally • Conserve non-renewable resources (soil, energy,

minerals) Scientific systems approach: understand the parts, how they work,

the connections and dependencies among them, and harmonize them. Depends on feedback mechanisms.

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Understanding Nature

• Old myth – nitrogen from an inorganic source is the same as nitrogen from an organic source; plants don’t care.

• Science – microbiology, bacteriology, study of fungi, study of ants, chemistry, agriculture – came together to focus jointly on understanding the world of soil since 1990

• Truth – Inorganic nitrogen, pesticides, and herbicides (the mainstay of 20th century industrial farming) destroy essential soil organisms.

• “Nobody fertilized the old growth forest”

Foundations • Organic – use nature as the guide: plants are part of a

whole ecosystem; avoid synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides

• Sustainable – environmentally sound, non-polluting, reduced reliance on external input, source resources from garden or locally, conserve non-renewables, acceptable nutrition, protection from pests and disease

• Biointensive – organic agricultural system which achieves high yield from small space while improving soil; soil is deeply dug, heavily amended, thickly planted

• Sustainable practices – deeply digging, making compost and amending soil, cover crops, crop rotation, companion planting, interplanting, seed saving and starting, beneficial insect gardening, etc.

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Planning

• Situating the garden • Preparation of the beds • Crop and variety selection • Arranging crops • When to start it, plant it, harvest it • What goes in next • Using sustainable practices

NOTE

BOOK

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Start a Garden Notebook

• Objectives • Garden Map • Crops • Companion Planting

and Rotation • Seeds • Planting and Harvest

Times • Harvest Records,

Yield

• Weather • Soil Test • Ideas • Questions • Garden Pictures • Insects, good and bad • Extra sheets • Etc • Make it work for you

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Situating the garden

• Objectives? How much land? Resources? • Sun – 6 hours, between 10am and 4pm • Orientation – direction (N-S, E-W)

– Slope – run beds crosswise; south facing is a + • Water – is it nearby, too much, drainage? • Garden size, bed size, pathways

– Width for access; equal size for rotation (50 /100 sq ft) – Keyhole pathways

• Sketch it, name the beds – Plan: proposed – actual – amendments

• Options: Raised & Bordered, Containers

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Example -- Plot size 15 x 20

5 - 3x8

4 large beds are 4’ wide. The center Bed is 3’x8’. Paths are 2’ wide, mulched w/ wood chips 4 outer beds are each 52 sq ft. Total plot 300 sq ft Total bed area 232 sq ft Total path area 68 sq ft

Uses – The center bed for herbs and flowers; or vegetables; or lawn chair, umbrella. The 4 larger beds can be rotated each Year using the Penn State crop rotation plan.

Peas Beans

Corn Squash Cucumber

Tomato Pepper Potato

Greens Cabbage Lettuce

Permanent beds and permanent pathways. Reach into beds is 2 feet.

Others: carrot, onion, beets go anywhere

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3 4

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Crop and Variety Selection

• Grow what you like to eat; . . should, . . want kids to eat • Select some from all the major crop groups (variety, diversity) • Choose organically grown seed/plants; open pollinated ahead

of hybrid, non-genetically modified (non-GMO) • Consult VCE pubs, MD HGIC, local growers (SESE), Master

Gardeners, horticulture help line (703 792-7747) • Start simple and add each year

– A. Pick a couple varieties to learn • Types - Beans: Bush, Pole • Types - Tomatoes: Determinate, Indeterminate • Timing - Garlic: nine month crop, Sept 15 – June 15 • Sustainability –grains - cover, compost, mulch • Annuals and Perennials

– B. Jump in with both feet: The Sustainable Vegetable Garden, Jeavons and Cox; VCE - PW New Gardener Quick Start Guide

Fruit and Vegetable Life Cycles

• Annual – tomato, bean, squash, corn, lettuce • Biennial – carrot, cabbage, parsley • Perennial – no annual replanting

– Vegetables: asparagus, rhubarb, “perennial” onions, cardoon, artichoke (maybe)

– Small fruit: blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, grape, strawberry, current, gooseberry

– Tree fruit (pear, apple, peach, pawpaw, etc) • Most sustainable practices pertain to perennials

(but not crop rotation) 10

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Vegetable Families

• Legumes * • Crucifers *

– broccoli, radish • Cucurbits *

– cuke, squash • Solanaceous *

– tomato, pepper • Umbels

– carrot, parsnip, cilantro, dill

• Alliums – onions, garlic, shallot

• Chenopods – spinach, beet, chard

• Composites * – lettuce, artichoke,

endive, greens • Grasses *

– corn, cover crop grains

* Rotate every year, 4 year cycle

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Legumes

• Peas • Cowpeas • Snap

beans • Dry beans • Soybeans • Clovers • Vetches • Fava beans • Winter

peas

Nutritionedge.net Romano, Italian heirloom

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Crucifers/Brassicas • Broccoli • Brussels sprouts • Cabbage • Cauliflower • Chinese cabbage • Collards • Kale • Mustard • Radish • Rutabaga • Turnip

Nutritionedge.net

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Cucurbits

• Cucumber • Squash • Melon • Gourd • Pumpkin

Texas A&M

Sugar Baby Watermelon

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Solanaceous (Nightshades)

• Tomato • Pepper • Eggplant • Potato • Tomatillo

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Umbels

• Carrots • Parsnips • Parsley • Celery • Celeriac • Cilantro • Dill • Fennel

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Alliums

• Onions • Garlic • Chives • Shallots • Leeks

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Chenopods

• Spinach • Beets • Chard • Quinoa • Lambs

Quarters

Composites

• Lettuce • Endive • Jerusalem artichoke • Sunflower • Artichoke

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Grasses

• Corn • Cover grains

– Wheat – Barley – Oats – Rye

Corn, dent: Bloody Butcher, VA heirloom

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Planting Calendar (partial) P = plant in garden: seeds or seedlings*

Month March April May June

Date 1 11 21 31 10 20 30 10 20 30 9 19 29

Crop

Turnips P H

Potatoes P H

Beets P H

Cabbage* P H

Carrots P H

Lettuce, bibb P H

Lettuce, leaf P H

Broccoli* P H

Brussels sprouts* P H

Cauliflower* P H

Beans, bush P P&H

Beans, pole P

Corn, sweet P P&H

Cucumbers P P&H

Eggplant* P

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Starting Seeds Indoors

• Maximizes garden productivity, sustainability • Start with seed packet recommendations (days

to maturity, time to plant) • Start in flats 4 to 6 weeks before planting out

– Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli • Start in flats 6 to 8 to 10 weeks before and

transplant into deeper flats (6 in) or pots midway – Tomato, Eggplant, Pepper

• Many other plants can be started in flats to save space in the garden: corn, wheat, melon, herbs.

Reference – the New Seed Starters Handbook, Nancy Bubel

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Seed Starting – The Mission Should you choose to accept it . . .

Manage plant environment from seed through planting out: temperature, light, airflow, moisture,

nutrients, growing medium • Germination – warm, dark/indirect light, “greenhouse”

cover, constant moisture wicked up, not poured on • Seedling development – cooler, direct light, fluorescent 4

inches above, 16 hrs on, 8 off, vary moisture, airflow • Hardening off – expose to garden climate over a couple

weeks, an hour or two at first with no direct sun, increasing gradually. Less frequent, deeper watering.

• Planting out- calm overcast day, water the hole, plant, firm up soil, form saucer, protect as needed

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Provide light to seedlings after germination – Visible spectrum

provides the energy – Use natural light in

greenhouse or fluorescent indoors

– 16 hours on, 8 hours off daily. Plants digest and grow at night

– Distance from light: 3 to 4 inches

– Ideal temperatures: day – 70 to 75 F, night – 55 to 65 F

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Soil is Job #1 Soil is not just dirt, not just a place to plant vegetables

1. Inorganic particles of sand, silt and clay 2. Macro and trace minerals 3. Microorganisms: bacteria algae, fungi, and protozoa 4. Insects 5. Plant roots 6. Soil organic matter

Job 1: Feed the soil to feed the plant by increasing soil organic matter, increasing biological activity and providing nutrients.

A community – A complex system of living and non-living things

• Covered with mix of grass and weeds • Heavily compacted naturally, from home-building, or foot

traffic. Heavy clay with shale. • Majority of dirt is inorganic soil solids: clay, sand, silt,

Minerals there but not available. • Soil organic matter is less that 1 percent, only in top

couple inches; Top soil is very thin • No sign of earthworms or organic life • Limited pore space for air / water, Water runs off, not in • 97% soil solids / 2% pore space for air and water

/ 1% organic matter 31

Typical Unimproved Soil

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Ideal Composition of Garden Soil

• 50 % Fluids - Pore Space – 20 to 30 % air – 20 to 30 % water

• 50 % Soil Solids – 45 % inorganic minerals

• Sand, clay, silt; good mix is loam • Macro minerals: N,P,K • Micro minerals: Ca, Mg, S, Fe,

Cu, Mn, Zn, B, Cl, Mo – 5 % soil organic matter: the remains

of plants and animals

Air

Mineral

Organic matter

Water

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Who lives in/near good garden soil? And what do they do?

• Bacteria • Archaea • Fungi • Algae and slime molds • Protozoa • Nematodes • Arthropods • Earthworms • Gastropods • Birds, Reptiles, Mammals

• The earth’s 2nd primary decomposers. Root exodates are a favorite.

• They take in, decompose, lock up and release nutrients, e.g., nitrogen

• Other members of the web get their energy and nutrients by consuming bacteria

• In healthy soil, good bacteria “innoculate” soil and keep pathogenic bacteria in check

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Who lives in/near good garden soil? And what do they do?

• Bacteria • Archaea • Fungi • Algae and slime molds • Protozoa • Nematodes • Arthropods • Earthworms • Gastropods • Birds, Reptiles, Mammals

• Fungi are the #1 decom-posers. They grow into chains like tubes which can transport nutrients

• They digest more complex foods than bacteria and form symbiotic relationships with plants

• Mycorrhizae find and deliver nutrients (P) and water for plants in return for plant exudates

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Who lives in/near good garden soil? And what do they do?

• Bacteria • Archaea • Fungi • Algae and slime molds • Protozoa • Nematodes • Arthropods • Earthworms • Gastropods • Birds, Reptiles, Mammals

• They shred debris for other organisms

• Increase porosity, water holding capacity, fertility and organic matter of soils.

• Break up hard soils, create root paths, bind soil particles, cycle nutrients and microbes to new locations

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NRCS - The Soil Biology Primer By Dr. Elaine R. Ingham

Soil Food Web

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How the Soil-Food Web Works

• Food webs are fueled by the primary producers: the plants, lichens, moss, photosynthetic bacteria, and algae that use the sun’s energy to fix carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

• Most other soil organisms get energy and carbon by consuming the organic compounds found in plants, other organisms, and waste by-products.

• As organisms decompose complex materials, or consume other organisms, nutrients are converted from one form to another, and are made available to plants and to other soil organisms.

• All plants – grass, trees, shrubs, agricultural crops – depend on the food web for their nutrition.

• {We depend on plants}

NRCS - The Soil Biology Primer By Dr. Elaine R. Ingham

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Ways to inhibit the soil-food web

• Soil compaction crushes fungal tubes and fungi die, destroying the benefits to plants. It also reduces capability of soil to hold water and air.

• Pesticides, fungicides, inorganic fertilizer, rototilling, double digging, and air pollution destroy fungal hyphae.

• Rototilling destroys worm burrows and worm populations by “cutting them up into pieces that don’t ever regenerate whole worms.” Chemical fertilizers “salt” worms and chase them out of garden soils.

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Good Soil Quality Indicators

• Nutrients: Accepts, holds, releases and mineralizes nutrients and other chemical constituents

• Water: Accepts, holds, releases water to plants, streams, groundwater

• Promotes good root growth and maintains good habitat for soil organisms

• Resists degradation • Maintains good soil structure: aeration and tilth • Allows rapid water infiltration • Moderate pH (6.0-7.5) • Low salinity; low in toxic elements • Balanced fertility

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Soil Fertility - Goal 1

Improve & maintain physical and biological properties of soil

• Maintain soil organic matter level through compost and cover crops

• Properly time tilling and cultivation • Irrigation – keep soil moisture between 50 and

100% through plant cover, monitoring, mulching, and watering as needed

• Use crop rotation, soil amending, and fertilization techniques to improve soil quality

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Soil Fertility Goal 2

• Improve and maintain chemical properties • Periodically conduct soil testing • Supply nutrients through organic matter and

mineral amendments • Provide balanced nutrient supply • Time nutrient release with crop requirements

(quality, temp, moisture) • Avoid erosion and leaching - don’t leave the

garden bare; use mulch, cover crops • Irrigate carefully as needed to maintain above

50 and less than 100 % capacity

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VCE Soil Testing Feedback loop - test and correct

• Plant code 210: vegetable garden Soil Tests 1. Routine ($10) (the most important)

– pH – degree of acidity/alkalinity (need lime?) – P – phosphorus – K – potassium/potash – Micronutrients: Ca, Mg, Zn, Mn, Cu, Fe, B

2. Organic Matter ($4) - % in soil, info only, no recommendation for corrective action 3. Soluble salts ($2) – are fertilizer salts too high?

What important nutrient is not tested in this process?

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Soil Fertility Goal 3

Minimize Disease and Pest Susceptibility • Maintain soil nutrient level and pH • Build and maintain soil organic matter • Maintain soil moisture; avoid compaction and

erosion • Rotate crops effectively to break pest and cycles • Plant polycultures – promote diversity • Use appropriate preventative and active

biocontrol practices

Soil Maturation Process

First year – typical suburban lawn converted by double dig. Life in soil increases, holds more water, drains better, fertility increases, tilth and aggregation begin. Stage 2 – soil organism populations, worms, roots, organic matter all increase, glues bind soil particles, more pathways for air, water Stage 3 – improved soil structure reduces need for tillage, and improves productivity

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Growing Great Garden Soil 2: Recommended Practices – Fertility

• Periodically test and amend the soil • Build and maintain garden soil organic matter

through compost and cover crops. • Rotate crops; companion plant; right plant, right

place • Irrigate as needed to maintain moisture • Keep the garden covered: succession planting,

mulches, cover crops • Till and aerate properly and avoid compaction

“Give back to nature more than you take and She will provide for you abundantly!” – Alan Chadwick

How to Get Great Garden Soil – Tillage

• Terminology

• Tillage Pros and Cons

• Preparing a Garden Bed

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Terminology Refresh • Cultivation:

– All the tools and techniques used to develop and maintain soil fertility and crop production (tillage, cover crops, crop rotation, companion planting, irrigation, etc.)

• Tillage: - The actual usage of tools in the the soil to prepare

seedbeds and root beds

• Tilth: – When soil structure is changed by tillage and cultivation to

suit plant growth and seed germination – Good tilth has large pore spaces for air and water

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Pros and Cons of Tillage

Pros • Opens up compacted soil to

change 50% of volume to Pore space – room for air and water

• Aeration causes release of Nitrogen

• Helps incorporate Organic Matter

• Breaks up “pans” • Breaks up soil into

aggregates • Removes rocks, rubble

Cons • Earthworm casualties • Bacteria and Fungi

setback • Increased soil erosion • Increased susceptibility to

diseases and pests • Destroys soil aggregates • Reduces ability to hold

nutrients and water • Weeds

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Preparing a Garden Bed

• French Intensive Method or Double Digging

• Convert from Conventional or Field Garden e.g. 30’ x 40’, to Organic

• Sheet Mulching or Lasagna Gardening

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French Intensive Method of Soil Cultivation Alternative 1

• Deep cultivation with hand tools: “double digging”

• Concentration of organic matter and minerals into permanent growing beds

• High application rates of mature compost – 200 lbs/100 sq ft, Development – 50 -100 lbs/100 sq ft, Maintenance – 5 gallon bucket = 20# compost

• Permanent pathways between growing beds

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Garden Tillage Implements Spade Fork U-Bar (optional)

Bow Rake Leaf Rake Manure/ Pulling Fork

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Double Digging Sequence

• Unimproved Soil – Spread compost at 1 lb per sq ft – Fracture soil with fork to 1 ft depth – Remove first 1 ft trench of soil, using spade and

digging board, set aside (wheel barrow or tarp) – Spread 1 lb/sq ft additional compost in trench – Fracture and lift soil to 12 inches deeper (fork) – Move top 12 inches of 2nd trench to first – Repeat until complete – Contents of wheel barrow go in last trench, if needed – Break up clods and shape bed with bow rake

http://growbiointensive.org/Self_Teaching_2.html

1. Remove top 12 inches of soil from first trench (Spade) 2. Then break up the next 12 inches in that trench (fork)

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Move soil from top of 2nd trench to top of first trench. Repeat. After double digging the whole bed, shape it (rake)

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Double Dig Video

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Double Digging Produces a Dark, Naturally Raised Bed

Convert Conventional “Field” Garden, STEP 1: Change the Footprint

Alternative 2 • Convert FROM “field” or open planting

TO defined permanent beds and permanent pathways.

• Stake out new plan view – Bed width 3’ to 5’ based on arm length of

gardeners; need to reach half way into bed from either side

– Make paths wide enough for intended use: 3’-4’ allows more room for wheelbarrows and rogue plants

• Walk only on paths, never in beds

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Example -- Plot size 15 x 20

5 - 3x8

4 large beds are 4’ wide. The center Bed is 3’x8’. Paths are 2’ wide, mulched w/ wood chips 4 outer beds are each 52 sq ft. Total plot 300 sq ft Total bed area 232 sq ft Total path area 68 sq ft

Uses – The center bed for herbs and flowers; or vegetables; or lawn chair, umbrella. The 4 larger beds can be rotated each Year using the Penn State crop rotation plan.

Peas Beans

Corn Squash Cucumber

Tomato Pepper Potato

Greens Cabbage Lettuce

Permanent beds and permanent pathways. Reach into beds is 2 feet.

Others: carrot, onion, beets go anywhere

1 2

3 4

Convert Conventional “Field” Garden, STEP 2: Change the Cultivation

• Tillage – FROM - No more rototiller: destroys soil structure

and worm habitat, forms shallow hard pan – TO - Dig deeply with hand tools: remove rubble,

amend heavily with compost to build biologically rich community of organisms and good tilth

• Cultivation – FROM - No more synthetic fertilizers, herbicides,

pesticides (poisons) for food gardens – TO - Add compost, organic matter, well-

composted manure and grow cover crops to promote natural health, nutrition, and environment

Sheet Mulching / Lasagna Gardening Alternative 3

• Mark new bed/path outlines and cut turf as low as possible.

• Spread 2 inch layer of compost or manure on beds and moisten well.

• Cover with overlapping cardboard, moisten well • Spread 2 inch layer of compost and cover with 18

inches of organic material (leaves, straw, grass clippings, manure, vegetable scraps, coffee grounds)

• Finish with 2-3 inches straw or compost (veg beds) or 4 inches wood chips (ornamental beds). Mulch paths.

• Let develop several months or over winter

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Sustainable Vegetable Gardening

Recommended Practices - Tillage • Use French intensive tillage methods

– Initially – deeply dig with hand tools (24 inches) – Subsequent - Minimal Tillage– Top 4-6 inches to prepare root

and seed beds – Surface cultivation – post planting; loosen, hill, remove weeds

• Post harvesting - Leave roots and plant debris if disease free

• Concentrate large amounts of organic matter, minerals into permanent beds

• Properly time tillage according to moisture (50-75%), texture, climate, season, cropping system, and tilth

• Maintain permanent beds and pathways to avoid compaction

Select Your Site

Mark Your Beds and Dig

Just Keep Digging

and digging….

Digging Interrupted for Bluebirds

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Questions? Horticulture Help Line 703-792-7747

Credits • Virginia Cooperative Extension Research References, pubs.ext.vt.edu • Teaching Organic Farming and Gardening, Center for Agroecology &

Sustainable Food Systems, UC Santa Cruz • Teaming with Microbes, The Organic Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food

Web, Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Hughes, Timber Press, 2010 • The Sustainable Vegetable Garden, John Jeavons and Carol Cox, Ten

Speed Press, Also How to Grow More Vegetables, Jeavons • Cover Crops and Compost Crops in Your Garden (DVD), Cindy Conner,

www.HomeplaceEarth.com • National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service,

https://attra.ncat.org/soils.html • Vegetable Gardening (.ppt) Jeff Schneider • Soil Biology for Your Landscape (.ppt) Duane Mohr

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Organic Gardening

• Gardening without synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides

• A method, using nature as a guide, to grow plants without synthetics. Plants are part of a whole system within nature that starts with the soil and includes water, air, wildlife, insects, people. Working in harmony with nature, conserving resources, improving health.

• Stewardship, close connection to nature • Chemistry vs. Certified vs. Backyard