Organic Vegetable Garden

[MyDogRex]

My wife and I just planted our first vegetable garden. Are goal is to to have a healthy organic garden. We are definately newbies to gardening and were hoping for tips on pest control, cultivating and maintaining a healthy crop. We live in the Pacific NW. Does anybody have any tips or book recommendations for veggie gardens?

Here is what we planted this year:
Pole Beans
Lettuce
Cherry Tomatos
Roma Tomatos
Lemon Cucumber
Yellow and Orange Bell Peppers
Jalapeno Pepper
Acorn Squash
Summer Squash
Strawberries

Any recommendations for next years crop? Thanks.

[sniffmeister]

I'm originally from the Seattle area and my dad always planted gardens. We never made an effort to "go organic" but looking back, we did pretty well without thinking about it.

From what I remember, the PNW doesn't have that many bugs that eat up the plants which is great because you can be passive about pest control.

I do remember that slugs and snails hate beer, so my dad always had it near the garden to keep them away. If you have aphids (sp?), ladybugs will take care of them! Any local gardening store will sell you a package of ladybugs.

There is a place in Seattle (we call it the "Hippy Home Depot") that is a pretty great source of green info. http://www.environmentalhomecenter.com/home.shtml Check on their recommended section to see if there are any green gardening centers near you. I'd go there and pick their brains, and get them to recommend books.

Good luck-I just planted our garden in our tiny little apartment backyard in LA. We can't do a compost pile, but we're trying our best to be organic!

Sarah

[CarolinaJim]

[quote="MyDogRex"]Does anybody have any tips or book recommendations for veggie gardens?[quote]

Nice job. I provide some tips on my website http://www.redbayfarm.com/Voting.html

Here is the link to the best site I know of for gardening. Very active forums where lots of knowledgeable folks can help. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/

I hope your garden is a great success!

[ckraus111]

http://www.organicgardening.com/

http://www.organic-gardening.net/

http://www.gardenersnet.com/organic.htm

http://journeytoforever.org/garden.html

http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

http://www.companionplanting.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants

Books, etc.

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting - best book ever !!!!!

Mother Earths News - lots of tips. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic- ... atoes.aspx

For area specific organic gardening I have found the local universities and colleges have great resources on the web. This is true for all the places I have lived so far: PA, TX, NY, IL, CA, OR and now NM.

[ckraus111]

Oops also do a web search on biodynamic gardening or permaculture, or French Intensive gardening or heirloom gardening. Some nice information on these sites as well .

And don't pass up this site - http://www.organicheirloomgardening.com/

[redambrosia99]

I do remember that slugs and snails hate beer, so my dad always had it near the garden to keep them away. If you have aphids (sp?), ladybugs will take care of them! Any local gardening store will sell you a package of ladybugs.

No, no. It's not that they hate beer. They actually love it. Which is the point. They get into it to drink it and drown. At least they die happy, right?

And I'd be cautious about ladybugs anymore. For a lot of areas they're an invasive species and can harm other native species, so check your local area before you buy and release all those ladybugs.

[tigerlily78]

I do remember that slugs and snails hate beer, so my dad always had it near the garden to keep them away. If you have aphids (sp?), ladybugs will take care of them! Any local gardening store will sell you a package of ladybugs.

No, no. It's not that they hate beer. They actually love it. Which is the point. They get into it to drink it and drown. At least they die happy, right?

And I'd be cautious about ladybugs anymore. For a lot of areas they're an invasive species and can harm other native species, so check your local area before you buy and release all those ladybugs.

Really? I thought only the japanese/Asian ladybugs were problematic in that they are displacing native ladybugs in some areas. They both just eat aphids. The main difference is the Japanese ones like to get into your house to hibernate.

http://www.ipm.msu.edu/beetleFAQ.htm

I would think buying native ladybugs for your garden is perfectly fine, but I guess I could be wrong.

[ckraus111]

I like the heirloom and native regional veggie seeds myself. Switched to them in the 90's. They may not have the surper yields (yields are great just not surper) but since planting them I have had fewer bad insects and other issues. For some reason I also now have an abundance of praying mantis, ladybugs and birds too. All help to clean up the little nasties. I have been using companion & intensive planting since the early 80's and that alone has produced less bad insects and required less fertilizing as well.

Learning how to let some go to seed so I have them for the next season instead of buying more. Anyone have any tips on that?

[SgtMaj]

Really? I thought only the japanese/Asian ladybugs were problematic in that they are displacing native ladybugs in some areas. They both just eat aphids. The main difference is the Japanese ones like to get into your house to hibernate.

http://www.ipm.msu.edu/beetleFAQ.htm

I would think buying native ladybugs for your garden is perfectly fine, but I guess I could be wrong.

You're not wrong.

[Nispero]

Hello everybody
Concerning the slugs, be careful using it as a trap, because it could attrackt slugs from outside your garden. Slugfences are not bad. They have to be put at least 10 cm into and stick 10 cm out of the ground (errr I guess 10 cm are 4 inches) They have a weird angle at the top edge that makes it impossible for slugs and snails to cross. That way youre veggies will be safe and you won't kill harmless snails.
Good luck

[CarolinaJim]

How is the garden?

Corn. Silver queen is a hybrid which does well. You can plant it in 4 ft X 4ft square foot gardens. I have had good results with a couple of ears per plant. You can integrate squash and pole beans into your corn patch on a variatioin of the three sisters garden.

Radishes. Just because they are great companion plants which help deter some pests.

Marigolds, Petunias and nasturtiums because they add some color and also help deter pests.

Mint in pots moved around the garden...deters some pests and is a pretty handy herb.

Garlic...very easy to grow. Plant in the fall for the largest bulbs.