Vegetable Garden Tips

Expand your Gardens Skills; Follow these Gardening Tips:

1.0 Safety in the Garden:  Gardening is a relatively safe activity but there are a few things to keep in mind when you or your loved ones garden: avoid overexertion & dehydration; operate equipment safely, avoid toxic exposure, practise sun safety, to name a few.  Keep you and your family safe while gardening by following the tips recommended by Health Canada.

 2.0  Seed Saving: Saving your own seeds is quite easy and helps save money too!  The best seeds to save are the ones from heirloom plants; seeds that have adapted to this environment which have been handed down from one generation to the next.  Unfortunately, hybrid seeds may not reproduce well and may not produce the same variety of plant bought.  See these seed saving tips from planetgreen  http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/seed-saving-heirloom-garden.html;

• Save seeds from the best fruit/vegetable ripened from the healthiest plant
• Keep your varieties separate – label them clearly
• Clean the seeds by rinsing off any vegetable or fruit matter and dry them completely
• Do  not pick eggplants, cucumbers, squash for seeds until they are over ripened
• Beans and peas can dry in their pods – you should be able to hear them rattle when shaken
• For dill, lettuce or spinach, allow the plants to go to seed and cut off the seed head
• Once fully dried, store the seeds in well marked containers and store in a cool dry place
• Save extra seeds to swap with your gardening friends or at the community garden spring seed exchange 

3.0 Controlling weeds: In most community gardens, weeds are a problem.  Gardeners need to weed their plots and pathways to prevent weeds from taking over.  Your plants and fellow gardeners will be happy as well.  In some cases, gardeners cannot tell the difference between a weed and plant.  They are afraid to pull up the wrong plant.  But if gardeners do not weed, the weeds will take over - space, sun, water and nutrients from your plants. 

• Identify your weeds:  Check out this site to identify weeds found in Ontario: www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/ontweeds/weedgal.htm.
• Get rid of grass and weeds before you plant – do not roto-till them under.  Use newspaper, cardboard or a black tarp to kill these plants first.  Another method is to turn the soil with a digging fork – break-up the dirt and remove any roots found. 
• Mow away from the garden to keep from blowing seeds into the garden.
• Remove weeds as soon as you see them.  Watering the garden a few hours before you pull weeds will make it easier.
• Add cedar or straw mulch between the rows of plants or use green mulch by growing clover between your rows.
• Cut off all seeds from the weeds and do not add them to the compost.
• Mulching:  Mulching helps cut down the weeds in your garden and helps reduce the amount of watering required.  You can use a variety of Mulching materials. Or consider using edible ground covers to cover open dirt space or to keep down weeds.

4.0 Extending the Garden Season by Food Preservation:

• Onions with a longer shelf life can be store in a dry cool place – like a cold cellar. 
• Potatoes can also last in the cold cellar over the winter.  Once you dig them out- spread them out and let them dry.  Rub off any excess dirt. Look over your potatoes and remove any with dark or soft spots and remove any with slugs.  Cut off the affected area and use these potatoes first.  Place the rest in a clean box and mix with a bag of rice or layer with straw to remove any moisture.  Store in a dark, cool (but not freezing) area.   Remove any potatoes that start to go soft immediately.
• Other root veggies can be stored in like manner but most experts advise to leave about 2.5 cm of the tops on the vegetable – it should also be done with beets and carrots.
• Canning – avoid botulism, a lethal disease, by following the canning instructions carefully.  Low acid foods like most vegetables and meats must be canned with a pressure canner to reach the higher temperatures required to kill the bacteria.  See http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthfiles/hfile22.stm
• Preserving - higher acid foods can be preserved in a water bath.  Acidic foods have a Ph of 4.6 or less and usually consist of fruits, pickles, tomatoes, salsa’s which can be acidic naturally or have acid added to them (vinegar or lemon juice) or become acidic through fermentation like sour kraut.  Click on this link for the water bath method: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/waterbath-canning-highacid-foods.html Recipes http://www.family-security-through-frugal-living.com/high-acid-foods.html
• Preserving without using sugar or salt: See an overview http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09302.html ; http://www.splenda.ca/splenda-recipe-detail.aspx?r=R269&s=S8 , http://www.sweetnlow.com/ - click on condiments

 5.0  Putting your Garden to Bed:  Taking a few hours to do this now in the fall will give you better soil next spring and help keep undesirable bugs and weeds from popping up in next year’s garden.   

Steps to putting your garden to bed and reap mega benefits in the spring:

• Pick any remaining vegetables or fruits like cucumbers, squash.  Leave early winter crops like carrots, garlic and turnips in the garden and mark them well.
• Divide and plant your perennials - if they are growing out of control.  Make sure to water them. Otherwise, let them go to seed to produce more plants next summer.
• Plant your spring bulbs for a showy garden in the spring.
• Remove all annual plants and place the plants in the compost if they are disease free.  Unless you want a ton of weeds, remove all seeds from your weeds before placing them in the compost.
• Gather a bag full of leaves to place close to your compost.  Layer your compost with brown matter (leaves) and green matter (plants or kitchen greens).
• Take care of your soil.  Add manure and turn your soil to aerate and control insect infestation. Plant a cover crop like oats, buckwheat or rye and turn it into the ground in the spring.  See this video http://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/blogs/preparing-your-garden-bed-for-winter . 
• Put away all containers and empty any water out of them.
• Build winter structures like a cold frame:  http://youtu.be/efQYpzNJOiE  or http://youtu.be/XPYgT0tX5-Q