Friday, April 24, 2009
Some sage advice for garden: wait out the rain
Chuck Vassar attended the workshop. — Cathy Benson, The Botetourt View
Priscilla Richardson is columnist The Botetourt View. You can contact her at 981-3430 or via e-mail.
Priscilla Richardson
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If you're thinking of growing a garden this summer, you're in good company. Many Botetourt folks want to save money by growing as much of their own produce as they can. Others want to enjoy the freshness that can come only from a tomato picked moments before eating. And some just want the exercise, while communing with nature, dirt and bugs.
A wide variety of neighbors attended the home garden session put on by the Virginia Cooperative Extension recently at the Fincastle Community Center. Roanoke's Sherri Dorn, of the extension service, spoke. I was there, too, to see how I could improve the results I got from my vegetable garden last summer: zero squash, a few small tomatoes, and okra that didn't even bother to germinate once planted.
Troutville's Chuck Vassar, who puts a 3,000-square-foot garden on his property each year, wanted to hone his expertise. He's had a problem with tomato blight and was looking for ways to prevent it. The answer may lie in planting a more blight resistant variety.
Others, such as Troutville's Kris Kehr, there with her daughter Laurie, plan to grow vegetables for the first time. Arcadia's Ellen O'Neill gardens on a "very small scale," she said. Her plot measures about 10-by-4 feet. "We have a lot of clay and rocks." Her solution is to use a raised bed, which holds good soil in place.
Dorn started with the bad news: there may be fewer plants for transplanting available this year due to the poor economy affecting growers. She suggested we get ours as soon as we see them for sale.
But what you put those seedlings into is even more important. Dorn emphasized the need for a soil test. Now for some good news: the way you take the sample is important. You dig about ten plugs out from ten different places around your plot, then mix them all in a clean container. Then you take your sample from that mixture. And you have to remember to tell the testers what you want to grow. Soil that produces great azaleas may not work for eggplant or kale.
First-time gardeners need to invest in good equipment, such as a good shovel, gloves, hat, hoe and water hose. "You want to locate your garden near a water source," Dorn advised. Water is heavy, and carrying a lot of it by hand can induce sore muscles quickly. She also recommended your vegetable garden get at least six hours of full sun, preferably eight or more.
Impatient gardeners have to learn not to do anything plant or plow while the soil is wet. Take a handful of the soil and squeeze it. If water drips out, it's too wet. Wait.
Carefully slipping baby plants out of their containers into the ground without separating the roots from the dirt gets you a good start. Then watering gently but thoroughly continues that good start. A cloudy day makes a good time to set plants out so they don't get burned their first time in the full sun.
Good soil, good location and good seedlings give you the best possible start on those veggies. But what if your property is home to hungry deer or groundhogs? Fincastle's Nancy Scarlett suggested using Irish Spring soap. "I've seen deer walk up, sniff and walk away from this soap," she said. "You can hang it up in the leg of panty hose or just lay it on the ground."
Happy gardening to all!
For detailed information from the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, go to www.ext.vt.edu.
