Cucumber Beetle Infestation

Hi everyone. There are emails circling around about how we should deal with the cucumber beetle infestation. Jen Cook offered some great tips which reminded me of the garden guide. Here are some organic solutions for dealing with pests:

• Soap spray: Soapy water can be used to spray on plants to kill some pests. It can also keep eggs from hatching. Just mix a little dishwashing soap with water. Make sure to spray both the tops and bottoms of the leaves.
• Garlic Spray: Puree 15 cloves of garlic with 2 cups of water in a blender. Or, mash the garlic or cut it up finely. Let it sit for one day. Then strain the liquid, so there are no garlic pieces left. The garlic repels some bad bugs, and can kill young ones.
• Hot Pepper Spray: Add 1/2 cup of finely chopped hot peppers to 2 cups of water. Or, put in a blender. Strain the mixture. Wear gloves. If the spray gets on your skin or in your eyes it will burn or sting. Large pests like ground hogs, raccoons and mice, don’t like hot peppers. If this is sprayed around the garden, it will help to keep them away.
• Hair: Scattering human hair clippings or dog hair around a garden area may help keep ground hogs away.
• Twigs and Branches: Scatter twigs and branches over your planted rows to keep cats away. Make sure not to scatter too many twigs and branches before your plants germinate as the seeds that you have planted need sunlight to grow.
• Rebecca's organic farmer friend Allaine suggests going around with a bucket of water and tapping them into it. Apparently they scoot to the underside of the leaf when you approach, so if you tap on the leaf they fall in fairly easily
• Aamina offers some advice as well: I've had those in my garden for years and found that squishing them between my gloved fingers till they pop every morning, early in the morning by the dozens seems to keep them somewhat under control. And I spray the leaves with this mixture: in the blender throw in a few cloves of garlic, a hot pepper,and top it off with a couple of cups of boiling water. Very carefully, with the lid on, blend it up, steep it about an hour and finely strain it into a spray bottle, top up with about a tsp. of dishsoap and gently swirl it to mix it up but don't shake so it gets all bubbly.
  

You can download a full copy of the garden guide from Just Food. If all else fails, apparently a chicken will do the trick (thanks Mike!) :) If there are any other tips, please leave a comment and I'll put them up!

Crystal

Water Conservation

Here are some great tips from Elizabeth on how we can conserve water in the garden:

1. Plants need strong roots: once your seeds are sprouted and look like
little plants, you will want to let them put down roots so that they will be
strong.

2. Water 2 or 3 times per week in very dry weather. (It is not necessary to
water daily)

3. Soak, don't sprinkle : give a good soaking so that the water goes into
the soil. The plants can put roots down to find the water and will become
strong.

4. Water in the late afternoon and evening. Never put water on your plants
in hot sunny weather.

5. Mulch your plants to keep the moisture in the soil, and to cut down on
weeds.

6. Keep your garden weed free. Weeds like water too.

7. For the shrubs -- roses, the spirea and the berry bushes in the community
garden -- pour water from the watering can on the base of the shrubs. [Do
not sprinkle water on the leaves.]

Feel free to add more in the comments and I can edit the post to keep the list going!

Crystal

Plot Designation

Hello everyone! Annette has added me (Crystal) as an author so I can help out with the blog. She trusts I won't mess anything up! (Phew!)

Elizabeth sent out an email a few days ago with the plot plan for the garden. I have uploaded it here as a PDF so it will be available on the web as well. The plots have been labeled at the site too.

We are reminded to bring our own tools for now as there is no place to store them yet.

Thanks for reading my first post. :)

Caring for our Pollinators

For thousands of years, humans have known the value of bees in agriculture. As the most effective pollinators in the world, bees are an invaluable resource to ag productivity. Anybody who’s driven past an orchard has seen the dozens of white wooden boxes containing the farmer’s most valuable tool. Though we’ve known the power of bees in our agriculture for centuries, we are just beginning to realize their power in our humble residential gardens. Just as they are used to dramatically increase fruit and vegetable production, these seemingly insignificant little creatures can be used to dramatically bolster the health and productivity of your home garden. You need only do a few simple things to enlist the help of bees in your pursuit of a more beautiful and healthy garden - for more click here

Seed Starting Workshop

fun was had by all...

Square Foot Gardening

Square Foot Gardening is a type of intensive gardening popularized by Mel Bartholemew. It is based on the idea that the wide rows in conventional home gardening are a waste of time, work, water and space, and that more quality vegetables can be grown in less space with less effort, no chemical additives, and on any type of ground, since the underlying soil is not used in the garden.

for a Canadian Gardening article on basic square foot garden planning click here

Companion Planting

Companion planting in gardening and agriculture is planting of different crops in close physical proximity, on the theory that they will help each other. It is a form of polyculture. Companion planting is used by farmers and gardeners in both industrialized and developing countries. Many of the modern principles of companion planting were present many centuries ago in the cottage garden . Although there is a wealth of information on its historic use, there remains limited available scientific research on the effectiveness for each of these interventions.

For farmers, these techniques are used in Integrated Pest Management , and systems can be set up to allow the farmer to have more yield and/or reduce pesticides. In the developing world, tropical crops are used instead of temperate ones and provide NGOs and other organizations a tool for alleviating poverty.

For gardeners, the combinations of plants also make for a more varied, attractive vegetable garden. It can also be used to mitigate the decline of biodiversity.

for a good list of plant companions - and those that don't get along - click here

an excellent book on companion planting is:

Carrots love tomatoes: secrets of companion planting for successful gardening by Louise Riotte

available at the Ottawa Public Library or your favourite independent bookstore

chance to stock up on seeds

Seedy Saturday - March 1, 2008, 10am - 3pm

at Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre in Britannia Park.

Admission is FREE!

Seed exchange and sale, opportunities for learning about seeds and organic growing, marketplace (houseplants, organic foods, herbal products and more), and local organic and environmental organizations. Hosted by Seeds of Diversity Canada.

Information: Greta Kryger, www.seeds-organic.com