I'm in the initial process of designing a home organic garden on a portion of our half acre property. I don't think I'll have much difficulty with fruit trees etc, but vegetables are something I've very rarely grown and not for quite some time. Any do's and don'ts from the experienced home grown gardeners are welcome. I can dedicate about an hour a day on average tending to the garden. District watering restrictions in the peak of summer are limited to 2 hours a week. Cheers, LPN.
Since your starting a home organic garden for food, choose to grow things that you like to eat. Start small and manageable then expand the garden as you grow in confidence and enthusiasm. Get a hold of the WestCoast Seeds mailorder catalogue, they are based in Delta BC and their catalogue has great advice. Are deer and rabbits are problem? You may want to look into fencing your garden. Good Luck!
Thanks ... good advise. I remember West Coast Seeds and wondered if they where still around. I've already resigned myself to the fact, fencing is a must. Slugs and snails are another matter which I'll have to deal with. Cheers, LPN.
Barrie, for slugs and snails we put out crushed egg shells. They don't seem to like this. Even though it doesn't eliminate them, it does restrict their travels and they can be easily "picked" from their usual haunts. We feed them to the chickens, they lay eggs and the cycle continues ; ) Some of the bigger snails and slugs that are too much for the chickens are fed to other birds that hang around in our yard Ed
Barrie and all--we started down that same road back in 1990 when we moved to our acre here in south Surrey. One of the most helpful things was to get a copy of Steve Solomon's book, Growing Organic Vegetables west of the Cascades... Steve started Territorial which split into West Coast up here in Canada, but he is/was a super student of soil and organic stuff, especially applied to our local conditions. His book contains so much more than we can chat about here. For slugs/snails, I consider Sluggo acceptable in my garden...I believe it would pass organic standards as well. Definitely don't like the idea of metaldehyde anywhere near my edibles. Have to do another round pretty soon as the cooler weather has hatched out an army of baby molluscs around here...sorry to those who like the beer traps and barriers of various sorts, I'm just too lazy. Glen
hi .. one thing i would suggest to you is pay a lot of attention to your soil .. add lots of manure and/or compost and dig it in .. plant a winter crop of fall rye (anytime now) and let it grow through the winter .. dig it in at least 2 weeks, maybe 3 before you plant in the spring .. the healthier your soil the healthier and happier your plants .. slugs, well, slugs are just a part of gardening .. a habit of slug patrol can't hurt ..
LPN, you're rural, aren't you? The best form of organic slug and bug control in the veggie patch that I have ever found is a young turkey. The bonus is that is drops fertilizer as it goes (which are easy to trowel in), and is unlikely to eat your lettuces. Plus, you can eat it at Christmas once it's gotten nice and fat on all those slugs. Or not. We've just let ours go. The other nice thing about this method of pest control is that it deters other birds that would normally make a meal of your sprouts. My turkey has a particular fascination for potato beetles and rose weevils, which is more than I can say for any chemical.
Another great deterrant for slugs is copper. You can buy rolls of copper foil or copper wire and ring pots or raised beds with it. When the slugs and snails touch it, it produces a tiny electric current (they're moist) that repels them.
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