Watch My Organic Kitchen Garden Grow | Rural Money

August 17, 2016 $ by Tonza Borden $ 3 Comments

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Watch My Organic Kitchen Garden Grow | Rural Money

I Grow What I Like To Eat

Because I have a small 16 x 11 organic kitchen garden, I didn’t go overboard with my seed purchase, so I buy choice seeds for my organic kitchen garden.

I have harvested several vegetable, fruit and flower seed supplements.

Why Am I Gardening?

Nothing taste better than home-grown produce; and in a crisis, our number one need is food, for survival.

What Am I Planting?

My organic kitchen garden seeds include:

Botanical Interests Seeds – USDA Organic

(2) Heirloom Swiss Chard/Ruby Red Rhubarb $1.89
(1) Sweet Corn $2.39
(1) Cucumber/Homemade Pickles $2.39
(1) Watermelon/Sugar Baby $1.99
(1) Summer Squash/Early Prolific Straightneck $2.39
(1) Winter Squash/Table King Acorn $1.79
(1) Dill/Bouquet $1.79
(1) Basil/Custom Blend $1.99
(1) Fennel/Florence Perfection $1.89

Self-Harvested Seeds

Seedless Watermelon
Pink Slut Flower
Sunflower/Neighbor Giveaway
Orange
Meyer Lemon

I enjoy viewing colorful garden catalogs with beautiful pictures of veggies etc.

But, I prefer to buy seeds on Amazon and locally at Ace Hardware.

And, there is always a gardener in my neighborhood trying to give away seeds such as squash, tomato…

I grow what I like to eat.

If you are a first time gardener, stay away from “exotic” veggies like kohlrabi or hard to grow veggies like cauliflower or head lettuce.

Grow heirloom, certified organic vegetables.

They are usually stronger and healthier than other vegetables.

They often have higher yields.

Many have a built-in disease resistance and they are more likely to recover from bad weather.

Heirloom and organics may cost a little bit more than other types of vegetables, but the cost is worth it.

Choose disease resistant varieties of vegetables.

However, just because a vegetable has built-in resistance to a specific disease doesn’t mean that that vegetable will not get the disease.

However, it will fare better than a vegetable that has no resistance to the disease.

I am not a “technical” gardener, but here are several of my tried and true organic kitchen garden tips.

How To Plant An Organic Kitchen Garden?

After digging your soil to a depth of 6-10 inches, break up any large clods with a rake.

Use the rake to prepare a smooth seedbed.

Spread 1 1/2 pounds of a vegetable garden fertilizer over every 100 square feet of your vegetable garden.

A one pound coffee can hold 1 1/2 pounds of fertilizer.

Rake the fertilizer into the top 2-4 inches of soil.

If you plan to use an organic fertilizer, then add a two to four inch layer of organic matter (peat and compost) over the vegetable garden and dig it into the soil.

Organic matter will improve your soil structure besides adding nutrients to the soil.

If the soil is clay, add 2-4 bags of play sand for drainage.

Seeding My Organic Kitchen Garden

Before seeding, be sure you have created a smooth seedbed.

To avoid compacting the soil, try to avoid walking over areas you will be seeding and planting.

Be sure to follow the directions on the seed packet for planting depth of seeds.

As a general rule, seeds should be planted to a depth 2 to 4 times their diameter or largest width.

Cover the seed with soil and tamp it down with the back of your hoe.

Water lightly and keep moist until germination occurs.

Transplants

Vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, broccoli, eggplants and collards are planted as transplants.

When you purchase transplants, choose transplants with the following characteristics:

Choose plants with healthy green leaves.
Avoid plants with yellowing or browning leaves.
These plants may be diseased.
Avoid plants in pots with roots growing out of the drainage hole.
This usually indicates the plant may be root bound.
Tap the plant out of the pot and check the roots.
Healthy roots will be white.
Roots that have browned are died.
Avoid purchasing these plants.
Check the plants for insects.
Shake the plant.

If you see tiny white flying insects, they may be white flies.

Check the undersides of the leaves for aphids.

Aphids are tiny, oval shaped insects that cluster on the undersides of leaves.

Both of these insects are sucking insects that will cause browning and curling of leaves.

Do not buy insect infested plants.

Before planting your transplants, harden off your plants.

Hardening off is a process of slowly introducing transplants to cooler temperatures and brighter light conditions outdoors.

Gradually increase the time your transplants spend outdoors over a week to ten days before planting.

Try to plant on a cloudy day or in the late afternoon to avoid planting in high temperatures.

Planting in high temperatures will put your plants under a lot of stress.

Dig a hole big enough for the plant’s root ball.

Try not to damage the root system as you remove the plant from its pot.

Space the transplants at recommended distances.

Water your transplants in with a cup of a starter fertilizer.

Mix one to two tablespoons of a soluble starter fertilizer with a gallon of water.

A starter fertilizer is high in phosphorus.

Phosphorus helps to promote root development.

Promoting root development will get your plant off to a good start.

Be sure to label all the plants in your garden or plant in sections.

It is very difficult to identify plants, especially just after germination.

Planting Tips

Save frozen orange juice and tuna fish cans to use as barriers around newly transplanted plants to protect them from cutworms.

Cutworms will chew through the stems at soil level.

Cut both ends from the cans and push cans about an inch into the soil around the plants.

After two to three weeks, the cans can be removed because the stems will have thickened enough to withstand any cutworm damage.

Water vegetable transplants with an organic starter fertilizer.

Protect cucurbit crops (cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins) from cucumber beetles and the cucumber wilt that they spread as they feed with floating row covers after planting.

Make sure to remove the row cover after the plants have begun flowering, so that they can be pollinated.

Tomatoes are subject to a few diseases.

Verticillium and fusarium wilts are soil borne diseases that cause yellowing of the leaves, wilting and premature death of plants.

Contact a County Extension office or another qualified expert.

Carrots can be planted as early as the end of March/first of April.

To get long straight carrots the soil should be loose, worked deeply, well drained and have no clods or rocks in the soil.

Plant onion sets in April.

Buy sets early before they start sprouting in garden centers.

Divide the sets up into those that are larger than a dime in diameter and those smaller.

The bigger sets are best grown for green onions.

The smaller sets make the best large onions for storage.

Torpedo-shaped onions will produce round onions while the round sets will produce flat onions.

For green onions, plant the bigger sets one inch deep and touching each other.

For large, dry onions plant the small sets one inch deep and two to four inches apart.

Buy healthy vegetable transplants.

Leaves and stems should be green and healthy without any signs of yellowing or browning.

Yellowing or browning leaves may indicate an insect or disease problem.

Gently remove transplants from their tray and check the root system.

Again, roots should be white with visible soil.

Transplants with brown dead roots should not be purchased.

Check for insects such as white flies or aphids.

Be sure to gradually introduce your transplants to the outdoor environment over a period of days, especially plants grown and purchased in a greenhouse.

When you do plant, water your transplants in with a starter fertilizer that is high in phosphorus which helps to promote root development.

Plant flowers in your vegetable garden.

Many flowers will attract the beneficial insects, parasites and predators that help control pests.

Good choices are sweet alyssum, dill, fennel, tansy, cosmos, yarrow, coneflower and sunflower.

Choose disease resistant varieties.

Provide good air circulation to help control disease.

Stake or cage plants and allow proper spacing.

Time plantings to avoid insect problems.

For instance, to avoid the worst time for squash vine borer and corn ear worm, plant squash and corn so it can be harvested by July.

Sow radish, lettuce, spinach, beet and turnip seed late in August.

These vegetables will mature in the cooler fall weather.

Happy organic kitchen gardening!