A Walk Through My Garden, Part 1

I took a few pictures of my garden at the beginning of June, and I thought I'd share them with you. They'll show a few things that you as an organic gardener should try. Remember that I'm a no-till gardener also, so my beds aren't tilled.

I'll start with my green manure. I planted hairy vetch for the first time this year. It's an annual legume. The other legume I tried is fava beans. I can actually eat these beans and then compost the plants. I used an inoculant just like you similar to the one used with peas. The bacteria in the inoculant take nitrogen out of the air and turn it into a nitrogen that the plants can use. When you harvest the plants, you reap the benefit of this nitrogen. If a safe source of manure is not easily available, then green manures are a wonderful substitute. The other use for vetch is as a deterrent for Colorado potato beetles. If you turn your vetch under and use that area for potatoes next year, it's been found that they reduce CPB problems. I'm not going to turn mine under, but use the vetch and leaves to start a new raised bed where I'll grow potatoes next year. I planted these green manures in very poor soil. I picked the weeds and rocks out. I'll leave the roots of the plants in the soil and they'll break down and improve the soil.

I have planted my spinach very close together. The plants shade out the weeds. I also have them mulched to conserve water and smother any weeds that aren't shaded out. The slugs don't seem to attack my spinach as much as some other plants. After the spinach went to seed, I planted pumpkins. As the pumpkins grow, I'll add compost under the mulch. These squash like lots of organic matter. By adding the compost under my mulch, I'll be preserving the microorganisms in the compost. Light, heat and dryness can kill the beneficial organisms found in compost.

My pepper plants aren't mulched in this picture. I was holding off as long as I could because of the slugs this year. I've mulched them since this picture was taken. Sure enough the slugs came out in force after I mulched. It's almost enough to convince me not to mulch this year, but to weed instead. However, I've resorted to using organic slug bait. It's kept them pretty much under control. Last year was hot and dry, and I had almost no slug problems. There are very few things you can control in your garden and weather isn't one of them. Don't lose any sleep over it and adjust to the changing conditions. Because of the cool wet spring, I put my pepper plants in late this year. I didn't want to risk exposing them to a cold snap. My peppers may be late this year, but better late than never.

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