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60 Turnpike Road
Ipswich, MA 01938
978-356-6342 Phone
978-356-4476 Fax
104 Eastern Avenue
Gloucester, MA 01930
978-281-4480 Phone
978-282-0619 Fax
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To get off to an excellent start next season, we recommend taking the following steps to put the vegetable garden to bed properly.
• Prior to putting the garden to bed, take a walk around the area. Make a map of where everything was planted, make notes as to what grew well, what didn’t do well, what insects were a problem, where diseased plants failed, etc. These notes will be very valuable in the planning of next year’s vegetable garden.
• An excellent defense against disease and insect problems is to practice crop rotation. Crop Rotation involves changing the type of plant grown on a particular piece of land from year to year or season to season. Crop Rotation has many benefits for the soil, the crops and the population as a whole.
• Clean up the garden beds by pulling and disposing of all annual vegetable crops properly. For example, healthy heavily producing bean or squash plants can be added to the compost pile to produce healthy compost for next year’s vegetable garden. However, any plants which suffered from heavy infestations of insects or disease should be removed and disposed of in the trash. If the plant material is left in the garden or added to the compost pile, the inoculums of diseases and insects which will begin to reproduce next spring and add to your pest problems.
• Turn the beds, double dig or till, to freshen up soil. Now is an excellent time to add compost. Compost will add nutrients to the soil for next year’s crops. Also, fall is a great time to add lime to the garden. The winter months will give it time to break down and neutralize the vegetable garden soil, improving the overall production of plants next year.
• Two options now await – either plant winter rye as a cover crop which can be turned into the soil next spring as a green manure crop, or cover with a deep layer of salt marsh hay.
• Winter rye adds nitrogen back to the soil for the heavy feeding crops such as members of the Cucurbit family; it also has the added benefit of aiding with weed and insect control in the year following planting.
• Salt Marsh Hay contains no weed seeds, and if beds are covered with a deep layer of hay it will help to prevent perennial weeds from taking root in the garden bed. As an added benefit, salt marsh hay is excellent mulch come spring time when the planting begins.
For next year some tips to prevent recurrence of disease and insect presence in your garden:
• On plants such as tomatoes and cucumbers – start a preventative spray treatment program of Serenade organic fungicide. Spray all plant surfaces until runoff with Serenade to stop diseases from taking over the garden. With fungicides, preventative methods are the best mode of attack; as they will not cure the infected leaves, but prevent it from spreading to healthy plant material.
• Feed plants next year with Neptune’s Harvest fish and seaweed fertilizer. This eco friendly, organic fertilizer has all the macro and micronutrients which plants need. The nutrients are readily available for the plants to take up once applied. The seaweed has also been found to increase plant hardiness and resistance to adverse environmental conditions such as early frost, extreme heat and lack of moisture. Better still – it’s made locally in Gloucester from recycled by products of the fishing industry.
• Slugs a problem this past year? Pick up some Sluggo to prevent the slugs and snails from taking over the garden. Sluggo is an all natural product made of iron phosphate, harmful only to slugs and snails. Works for up to two weeks once applied. Additionally, did you notice plants cut off at the soil level? We carry Sluggo Plus which contains Spinosad, an all natural insecticide toxic to cutworms which were the most likely culprit.
• Next May, look for our yearly shipment of Ladybugs and Praying Mantids; which is the natural way to deal with the most problematic of vegetable garden insects. Ladybugs and their larvae feed on Aphids, Mealybugs, Scale, and the smaller problematic insects. Praying Mantids are voracious eaters, and will take care of any caterpillars, beetles, and other insects.
Any time a problem springs up in the garden, bring in a leaf, insect or cutting of the plant to a local Wolf Hill Home and Garden, and we will help you to identify the correct steps to take to remedy the situation. After all, we are here to help!
By Siobhan O’Donoghue
Family Name
- Allium
- Cucurbit
- Crucifer
- Legume
- Solanaceous
- Umbelliferae
Common Crops
- Chives, garlic, leeks, onions, shallots
- Cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins, watermelons
- Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, radished, turnips
- Beans, clovers, peas, peanuts
- Eggplant, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes
- Carrots, parsley, dill, fennel, coriander, parsnip
Rotation Relations
- Rotate with legumes, but avoid planting in soil that contains undecomposed organic matter.
- For improved weed and insect control, precede with winter rye. Follow with legumes.
- Heavy feeders. Precede with legumes; follow with compost.
- Beneficial to soil and have few pest problems. Rotate alternatley with all other garden crops whenever possible.
- Heavy feeders with many fungal enemies. Precede with grass; follow with legumes.
- Moderate feeders. Precede with any other plant family, but condition soil with compost before planting. Follow with legumes or heavy mulch.
Vegetable Gardening Tips
