Here in the Northeast gardening is in full swing in early spring. Some spring tasks are important to do early in the season, whether you are a beginner or a well-seasoned gardener. Soil Fertility: Here are the steps Want to increase your soil’s microbe population …
Voles, resembling small hamsters, can quickly infest gardens, posing a threat to plants and vegetables. With a diverse diet including leaves, seeds, and bulbs, they can cause significant damage. These rodents live underground, creating extensive tunnel systems and storing food. To control their population, attracting natural predators like snakes, owls, and hawks can be effective. Additionally, implementing measures such as clearing garden debris, using mesh barriers, and turning compost regularly can help manage vole infestations.
Traditional research is mostly focused on chemicals, growth hormones, GMO’s, and an array of company-funded projects but not on companion planting. Few researchers are venturing out and doing innovative work that benefits the small individual gardener or small organic farm. But times are changing, and there are organizations that are looking at alternative methods of growing on both a smaller scales and larger scales.
What I write here is up for debate and open to disagreement or fresh perspective. I have tried some things that have worked for me. Others have tried and reported it did not do well for them. Therefore, I recommend you make notes of those that work for you and continue that particular practice.
Companion planting is gardening based on how certain plants behave with other plants either for the better or worse. These are usually a mix of flowers and vegetables. There are various factors at play and I describe each so that you may choose to do some to help ward off those pests.
Some plants help with insect and disease control through chemicals they emit via their root systems or through their leaves. Marigold is the most popular and is known to repel nematodes. Black walnut is a popular tree that emits allelochemicals, where the tree does not allow any type of plant to grow within a certain perimeter of its trunk. Then there are the pine needles with terpenes that prevent seed germination, though they are great as mulch in established beds like asparagus.
Trap crops are plantings that attract insects that aren’t beneficial to the plants and become their hosts, in turn, it keeps the insects away from the vegetable plants.
Beneficial attractions occurs when the plants attract beneficial insects that, in turn, will attack the bad insects and keep populations down or in check.
There are other types of benefits, such as the maximizing of space. In the case of a root crop next to an above ground plant. A tall plant that helps shade another plant that thrives when partially shaded during the heat of the day. This type of complementary use of space allows a greater production and diversity of use. Even if one crop gets attacked and production fails, there are others left behind, leaving you with plenty of food from that given space in your garden.
These occur when complementary plantings actually increase productivity. Most commonly is the use of legumes, such as peas or clover, that fix nitrogen in their roots by way of a symbiotic relationship with special bacteria (see blog on soybeans for more information Growing soybeans) and, in turn, this nitrogen is then utilized by the neighboring plants, as in the case of beans and corn.
How to Implement Companion Planting
When planting, if two plants are not complementary, that doesn’t mean you have to choose between them. Not at all! Rather, you would not plant them next to each other in the same bed. Therefore, the plant list below is a guide that should be used. I recommend taking notes when you use it. I know that my tomatoes have done very well when I planted next to the basil and not too far away from the parsley. Which one was responsible for my high production? Hard to say, as I had no real test for comparative analysis.
For a complete list and to further your reading get my paperback copy: ‘Garden the Organic Way’ and become an expert gardener. Garden the Organic Way is a comprehensive guide to organic gardening, designed for all skill levels. The book provides methods for growing delicious, pesticide-free vegetables using sustainable practices. https://gardentheorganicway.etsy.com
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Plant Name |
companion(s) NAme |
Effects |
incompatible |
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Asparagus |
Basil, parsley, tomatoes |
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Basil |
Beans, cabbage, pepper, tomatoes |
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Rue |
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Beans |
Beets, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower |
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|
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Bush beans |
Celery, corn (also pole beans), potatoes, summer savory, sunflower, strawberry, tomatoes |
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Chives, onion, garlic, fennel, leek |
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Beets |
Basil, bush beans, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, onion, tomatoes, sage |
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Pole beans, mustard |
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Corn |
Amaranth, beans, cucumber, melons, peas, potatoes, pumpkin, squash, sunflower |
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Celery, tomatoes |
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Marigold |
All plants, plant sporadically |
Keeps nematodes in control; discourages insects |
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Peas |
Almost all vegetable, squash |
Adds nitrogen to the soil, squash follows the peas up the trellis |
Garlic, leek, onion, potatoes, shallots, gladiolus |
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Tomato |
Asparagus, basil, bee balm, carrot, celery, chives, cucumbers, garlic, lemon balm, lima beans, marigold, mint, nasturtium, onions, parsley |
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Cabbage family, fennel, potatoes |
Timing and Temperature Requirements Growing carrots is easy once they germinate. Carrots are a cool season crop of the same family as parsley but will tolerate some heat depending on the variety. The ideal temperature for root development is when the soil is between 60°F …
How to grow broccoli rabe: Here in the US they use the name broccoli rabe (or raab) for a vegetable commonly grown in the Mediterranean and Asia. It’s also known as rapini, broccoletti or broccoletti. It belongs to the cabbage family of broccoli, collards, kale …
Growing kohlrabi, a hardy biennial member of the cabbage family. Kohlrabi is considered one of the healthiest foods, suitable for raw or cooked consumption. Similar to kale leaves, its leaves can be added to your smoothie.
Kohlrabi is a cool-season plant that is easy to grow. You can start from seedlings in February in the Northeast, or six to eight weeks before the last spring frost. Alternatively, you can directly seed it as early as two weeks before the last spring frost. It requires good drainage or a raised bed and should be planted as soon as the ground can be worked, similar to peas in a south-facing area.
If you plant it later in the season, it will survive the hot summer if mulched and the soil is kept moist. Kohlrabi can be planted later in the summer for a fall crop. You can do several succession plantings starting in late summer until a month before the last frost. Kohlrabi does survive a light frost.
It requires full sun but does tolerate some light shade. Add lots of organic matter, as it is considered a heavy feeder. The pH should be around 7.0 though it will tolerate a wider range from pH 6.0 to pH 7.5. As a heavy feeder, it should be watered once a week with compost tea (see blog on Compost tea) for proper fertilization. See video Apply compost/garden tea
Plants should be set around six inches apart and the rows about fourteen inches apart in regular beds. If you are using a raised bed about ten to twelve inches apart.
For crop rotation purposes, you can plant it in the same bed or area with other cabbage family members like broccoli, mustard greens, and kale. To learn more about this family see blog on Growing cabbages This way, you can move the whole family to a different section of the garden to facilitate a three year rotation.
Get my paperback copy: ‘Garden the Organic Way’ and become an expert gardener. Garden the Organic Way is a comprehensive guide to organic gardening, designed for all skill levels. The book provides methods for growing delicious, pesticide-free vegetables using sustainable practices. https://gardentheorganicway.etsy.com
The plants can be purple or green but the interior of the bulb is white. The plant has small cabbage plant leaves with a pregnant stem. The stem develops a bulb at the base of the plant the size of a turnip. Once the bulb reaches about three inches thick, you can harvest it. The bulb starts to get woody and can crack when left past four inches in thickness. Peel the outer skin and eat the bulb raw.
All the pest and diseases that attack the rest of the family will attack kohlrabi. These include cabbage worms, cabbage loopers, cutworms, cabbage root maggots, aphids, flea beetles, slugs and snails, and nematodes. There are several diseases that attack this family, like downy mildew, bacterial mildew and soft rot, among others.
Parsley, a member of the carrot and celery family, is a cold-weather plant that can thrive from spring to late fall, enduring some frost. It’s a biennial, but it’s best grown as an annual due to its quick transition to seed production in the second year. There are two common types: flat-leaf Italian parsley, preferred for cooking, and curly-leaf parsley, which is more vigorous. Hamburg and Japanese parsley are also available. When planting, start seedlings indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost, and set them out a few weeks before the last frost. Parsley prefers full sun but can tolerate partial shade, and it requires fertilization as the season progresses. The plant is ready to harvest in about 70 to 90 days after planting. It’s important to be patient when direct seeding, as parsley seeds can take up to a month to germinate. The plant should be watered early in the morning to prevent wilting. Pests and diseases that affect the cabbage family will also attack parsley. The provided information offers a comprehensive guide to growing and using parsley, including details on its types, planting, light requirements, fertilization, watering, and pest control.
Lady beetles, with about 450 species in the US, are commonly known for their beneficial role in controlling aphids, scales, mites, and other pests. They vary in color and size, ranging from orange, yellow, pink, tan, and white, with black spots, to entirely black, brown, or grey. In contrast, the Mexican bean beetle, resembling ladybugs, is a pale-yellow to copper-brown pest with 16 black spots on its wing covers. It exclusively feeds on bean leaves and pods. The Colorado potato beetle, another look-alike, has ten alternating stripped bands of black and light yellow to tan on its wing covers and is a vegetarian that feeds on potatoes, peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. The larvae of these insects also have distinct characteristics, with ladybug larvae being black with red, orange, or black stripes or markings, while Mexican bean beetle larvae are bright yellow with short spikes protruding throughout their body, and Colorado potato beetle larvae are salmon-pink with black spots along the side. The eggs of these insects are similar in shape and color, ranging from yellow to orange. Lady beetles lay eggs wherever there is food for the young larva to feed on, while Mexican bean beetles lay their eggs on the plant they are feeding on, and Colorado potato beetles lay their eggs in mass or small clusters on the underside of the leaves. Lady beetles are valuable allies in organic gardening and can be encouraged to stay by providing them with flowers that offer nectar and pollen. Conversely, Mexican bean beetles and Colorado potato beetles are pests that can be controlled through various methods such as handpicking and crop rotation.
The easiest vegetables to grow in spring are many. There are many vegetables that are truly easy to grow and, if you take the time to learn about each vegetable and a little patience, they are all easy. Having said that, there are some vegetables that you basically throw in the seeds, thin out and you’re done. All this is provided you have taken the time to amend your soil with some organic matter. Soil is really the key to success.
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Since this is about the easiest vegetables to grow in spring I will stick with that and provide you with a brief list.
Falls under the greens that are quite easy to grow in spring and fall. The only drawback with spinach is it has to be harvested before it bolts when it gets warm (above 75 degrees F) and the bugs become invasive. I like to continually harvest the outer leaves as the plant grows, and once it starts to warms up, I harvest the whole plant. You can plant it in early spring, as it’s cold tolerant.
Are by far the easiest as long as you thin them out early. Within thirty days, they are ready to enjoy. It gets better: start another couple of rows a week or two after your first planting and do this every couple of weeks for two months -you will end up with a continual harvest until June. See my blog on radishes Actions for success with radishes
How to grow them https://gardeningtheorganicway.com/vegetables/how-to-grow-radishes/
Hands down lettuce is the easiest vegetable to grow in spring and fall. Grows nonstop, as long as you don’t bury the seeds but rather broadcast them, pat them down, to make contact with the soil and water. I prefer to mix the different varieties of leafy lettuce and other greens.
Even if you forget to thin them out really early, you will end up with the beet greens. How can you lose? If you thin them out really early, they will grow on their own and you harvest when you are ready. With looser soil along with a high organic content, you will get a large abundance of beets.
What a great vegetable and so nutritious. It is amazing. Just like spinach and lettuce, you harvest the outer leaves. Then, after a few weeks, stop the harvesting of the leaves and allow the roots to form. If you don’t want the roots, then just keep harvesting the outer leaves.
Get your paperback copy: ‘Garden the Organic Way’ and become an expert gardener. Garden the Organic Way is a comprehensive guide to organic gardening, designed for all skill levels. The book provides methods for growing delicious, pesticide-free vegetables using sustainable practices. Garden the Organic Way presents an engaging, practical guide with lots of tips on how to garden successfully.
Lastly, for any member of the legume family that includes beans or peas
Planting Asparagus Growing asparagus is fun and relatively easy. Asparagus crowns can be put in the moment the soil can be worked. Asparagus can be planted from four to six weeks before the last frost. If you have raised beds, it will be the first …
Starting your own seedlings requires some calculations to determine how many plants are needed based on the room available. Usually, a seed packet has approximately twenty-five to two hundred and fifty seeds or more. How expensive the seed is, depends on the variety and whether …
Best time for planning the vegetable garden and get ready, for spring is during the winter. This is the time to evaluate last year’s harvest, and to see what variety of vegetables did well and what didn’t. Planning the vegetable garden is one of the key things that should be done to achieve success.
The solution to some of these questions is to sit and create a four-season plan: one for early spring, then for mid-spring, another for early summer and, lastly, for late summer fall.
After taking stock of your prior year, decide what you like to eat which vegetables you have enjoyed eating or would like to try. It’s a good idea to try at least one new vegetable each year. Based on available space decide how many varieties of a given vegetable you will grow. If you grow peppers are they going to be Habaneros, sweet peppers or bell peppers or a few plants of each type? Or just one plant?
This is really important for several reasons. A garden can become a place to relax and escape into your own world. It’s important for it to look pleasing to the eyes, and the greater amount of color, the better. Leave a section or small area for flowers or planting various types of peppers that have different colors or herbs that give a fragrance when handled. All these different inputs can help make your garden experience joyful and relaxing. In addition, it will provide you with fantastic fresh produce.
Get my paperback copy: ‘Garden the Organic Way’ and become an expert gardener. Garden the Organic Way is a comprehensive guide to organic gardening, designed for all skill levels. The book provides methods for growing delicious, pesticide-free vegetables using sustainable practices. https://gardentheorganicway.etsy.com
If they are the kind that are indeterminate (keep growing indefinitely) place them in the north, they can get to be five feet tall or taller by late summer. They will shade anything that is behind them. You can also take advantage of the shade they provide and plant shade-tolerant plants that will thrive with tomatoes. Example: planting tomatoes with parsley or carrots. As long as they get a little sun or dappled sun, they will do well during the summer months. Read more about companion
Once the tomatoes are done, you carefully remove the plant by cutting the base of the tomato plants and allowing the parsley to finish the season into late fall.
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Succession planting would work great if you plan it out and know when the last planting will take place in a given space. You can do this as a family project, with the kids coloring the various plants and deciding what they should grow. If children grow something, they then tend to eat it, as it was their labor. Example: Consider planting radishes – they would be ready in thirty days from seed to harvest. You can follow with a second and third crop?
Here is where planning the vegetable garden comes into play. Make a list of the early spring plants that are cool weather crops. Followed by the warm season crops and, once again, the cool season plants. Once your plan is complete and you have decided where things should go, then order the seeds. This way you don’t order way more than what you need. Seeds only last two years or so in the refrigerator before their germination rate goes down significantly.
It’s a good idea to purchase pots for herbs; this way they will not take over the garden and can easily be moved. Or create a small raised bed for just the herbs. Some will easily survive through any winter. Mints and their family should be kept in pots, no matter what. Otherwise, they will invade your garden and take over.
Purchase growing trays or materials to make your own blocks to start seedlings. Build a cold frame, and purchase your shade-netting units or cloth for insect protection.
Now that you have covered all these items, planning the vegetable garden should be easy.
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Beneficial bugs like the wheel bugs or assassin bug are considered good guys. Beneficial bugs like the wheel bugs or assassin bug are considered good guys. Wheel bugs are true bugs that look prehistoric. The blog describes their appearance at different stages, their flying and eating habits along with the consequence of getting bitten.
It’s important to develop the right environment for the beneficial insects to establish proper habitats. Avoid using chemicals as bees and other beneficial insects are extremely sensitive to any type of chemical including the “natural” ones that are available to control grubs, etc. Black ground beetles and praying mantis are discussed in detail. From their appearance to their eating habits, predators, and their habitats.
The video shows a biocontrol control agent – a wasp attack on a grub . There are many ways we can control insects and grubs but, if the conditions are right, nature has a way to balancing everything out. These wasp are biocontrol agents. They are very tough and need to be left alone when encountered. As a garden ages the balance or predators looking for insects, grubs, or larva increases. Provided no chemicals of any type, are used. Natural predators give us a free service and it should be highly welcomed. Biological agents can be wasp, ants, praying mantis, birds or snakes. Just to name a few. Here is a blog of another beneficial, and unusual insect the wheel bug.
The video link above shows the biocontrol agent – a wasp attack on a grub from the family Scarabaeidae, which has thousands of species of beetles, among them the Japanese beetle. A female blue-winged wasp from the family Scoliidae laying her eggs inside the scarab beetle larvae that lives in the soil. The female wasp is “stinging” the grub and paralyzing it before laying the egg inside. Once the egg hatches, the larva of the wasp will feed on the scarab grub for about two weeks. After this occurs, the wasp larva will spin a cocoon inside the soil and live through the winter.
These blue-wing wasps are quite large and have different colors. Their bodies can be yellow, like the one in the video, but you can see them in white, red or a combination of these with black. The wings are large and cover the whole body. These, in particular, had a metallic blue shade. I was fascinated by their beauty.
The grubs from the scarab family are pale yellow or white and can go deep down into the soil. They are found as deep as 24” but usually around the 10” to 18” level. They are unusually large, ranging in size from 2” to 3” long and 1” thick. Read about other beneficial insects and their habitat.
As I arrived at the scene of the wasp attack, the blue-winged wasp had the grub at the surface of the garden bed and the fight was on. The wasp had retrieved the grub larva of the scarab from its tunnel in the soil. The wasp attack was well on its way, and was in control. I was sure glad it wasn’t any part of my body. Get my paperback copy: ‘Garden the Organic Way’ and become an expert gardener. Garden the Organic Way is a comprehensive guide to organic gardening, designed for all skill levels. The book provides methods for growing delicious, pesticide-free vegetables using sustainable practices. https://gardentheorganicway.etsy.com
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