I love hearing from you and one of my favorite things about this blog is all the comments people leave and the sense of community we have.
I spotted a few comments on Facebook recently that I just don’t have the answers for and I was hoping you could help out. After all I am just a backyard gardener and it still amazes me on a daily basis that so much food can come from such a tiny seed. How it all transpires is really a miracle if you ask me.
If you know the answer or have a suggestion to the questions below, please leave a comment so we can all help each other have a rock star garden.
Monica wrote:
Quick question. Do I need To Be Concerned About The Salt Content Of Peanut Shells Boiled In Brine? Should I Put Them In My Compost Pile Or Not? Thanks!
Daye wrote:
I live in northern MI and have lots of space for a garden, but my soil is mostly sand and our season is very short. How can I create a great space to grow for very little money? And what kind of edibles can survive our cold nights?
Colleen wrote:
Any idea of how to rid the pesky little black and yellow inch worms. I hand clear my tomatoes plants daily but have been given charge of my neighbors while they’re out of town. I went over to water and found the plants loaded with their eggs and a few adults happily munching on the fruit. I want to do it naturally and for low cost. Please help if you can.
Desiree wrote:
How do you deal with burrowing/digging critters?
Carri wrote:
I am having issues with beetles on my cucumbers. The marigold extract and orange oil is not working. Do you know of another organic I can use to get rid of them? I’ve been killing as many as I can find each day by just squishing them but every day there are more! I’m ready to use the pesticide powder if I can’t find something quick because they have already killed half of the blooms.
Charley wrote:
Serious question… I have moved, and now instead of giant spiders, I have these wee ones knitting leaves of plants together.. I want to stay organic, but some killing, shoo-ing, de-spidering has to be done. They’ve hit gulmohar, pomegranate, but especially love the basil. They haven’t hit the tomatoes or anything else so far. Ain’t nobody got time for spiders in they Sunday gravy! Help!
Thanks for your help everyone, I appreciate it!
~Mavis
mari says
for Desiree
How do you deal with burrowing/digging critters?
I put chicken wire under all my raised beds.
Jaime says
My advice…Get a dog. I used to have gophers in my backyard, but my dog has dug through all their tunnels. Gophers are gone!
sarah siskin says
Monica-sure, toss them in. in the fall, throw a little lime onto the pile to balance it out
Daye- find the southern exposure spot, where the sun is in the afternoon, preferably against the house. add in a big bag of soil and mix it with the sand. I live at the NJ shore and it’s all sand here. cover it with black plastic bags to warm up the soil and keep it warm. start seedlings indoors. cover plants with sheet of clear plastic as summer fades to extend your season. grow the usual salad stuff.
Colleen-hand pick and then spray with neem oil, and/or dish soap and water. the gardener’s best friend. keep the garden CLEAN, these are laid during the winter if stuff is not cleaned well, such as garden rot. cut Styrofoam cups and put them around the plants bases, like a collar, and shove into the ground. cut out the center.
desiree- I don’t. I just let them be, they actually keep the soil in good shape. and, it’s their home.
carri-row covers and a lot of mulch. use lawn clippings.
Charley-dish soap and water in a spray bottle. Neem oil.
Mr Yan says
Daye: I grew up in Traverse City and now garden in northern IL. Look into raised beds to warm up faster than the ground. When I built my raised beds down here I used straw bales to fill the bulk of them. I think I bought the bales for $2 each at a big box store. To keep the beds topped off look to people that bag and throw out leafs in the fall. I really like the ones where they’ve been run over with a lawn mower and shredded. Worms will naturally move in to the beds but I also tossed in some bait worms.
Edibles like greens are great and most tomatoes will work fine. I also know of a few potato farmers in southern Grand Traverse county.
Dawn says
I start my tomatoes from seed in February or March here in PA and they go out in May or early June when the weather settles, but for a small investment you can also buy PVC and plastic sheeting and turn your raised bed into a low tunnel, which would allow you to put your plants outside much earlier.
I’ll trade you some sand for some clay! Raised beds are a good idea. Start with a layer of cardboard at the bottom – worms LOVE cardboard and it will provide a temporary weed block (at least before it decays). You can fill raised beds with all kinds of things from “lasagna” compost layers to straw or just plain dirt depending on what’s available. I used bags of garden soil for mine.
For plant varieties look in plant catalogs like Johnny’s or Southern Seed Exchange and find varieties that are “early” or “quick”. Your growing season is long enough to do most veggies, especially if you start the most time-consuming or heat-loving ones indoors. Carrots, beets, and onions are good choices, radishes are a proven quick producer in any climate and of course greens like kale and lettuce can be grown pretty well everywhere. You can also seek out local heirloom varieties which are already proven to do well in your area. They are likely to be more tolerant of your local weather and pests, and many are more colorful and flavorful than common store seed varieties.
Angie says
To answer the beetle question… I was having the same issue with… everything in my yard. I had flea beetles, tiny little guys that jump about and munch on everything in site. The only 2 options I’ve been able to succeed with, without using harmful chemicals is Food Grade DE and straw mulch. I know the DE (diotomatius earth) is not always the best option because it may harm other beneficial insects but it’s the least harming option that I know out there currently. I’ve tried homemade pepper sprays and neem oil but the DE works best accompanied with straw. The neem oil, although organic, can harm bees… and we wouldn’t want that!
randy says
Try Pyola for flea beetles. Organic and from gardensalive site. I am getting to be more and more of fan. I originally bought it for the red lily beetle.
CherShots says
To answer Daye’s question – We live in Upper Michigan and also have sandy soil. We built raised beds for most of our garden. We add our grass clippings, yard waste and leaves to our mulch pile along with lime on the garden. If you click on CherShots you will see for yourself that our peas have already reached the top of their trellises and the squash are crawling out of their boxes. Check what growing zone you are in and use that for your planting guide. Happy Gardening.
Steve says
You can find earth-friendly and organic solutions to many, if not all, of these problems at http://www.gardensalive.com. I’ve been using their products for years with much success. They frequently offer coupons that basically make their products half off (spend $50 get $25 off!)
Rochelle says
Carri wrote:
I am having issues with beetles on my cucumbers.
We had troubles with beetles in our garden that nothing seemed to work on. I resulted to getting out the dustbuster and vacuuming the undersides of leaves in the early morning. It gave me such a giggle that it didn’t seem like a chore at all. I then emptied the dustbuster in the chicken coop. Made the job even more fun!
douglad says
Carri, I have had luck with Neem oil or permethrin. Neem qualifies as organic
Mands says
We live in Kwa-Zulu Natal in Southern Africa, so we have a 12 month growing season. 🙂 Our biggest challenges have been too much rain in the summer and bugs… and that the weeds often grow faster than the seedlings. We grow more in Winter…. well we have had a better harvest from our winnter’s 🙂 Our seasons are opposite to the Northern hemisphere, but although I’m no expert… I’ve found a few organic solutions that are working to minimise the destruction of the bugs. I put all our onion peelings into a watering can… and even onions that or just nor right, I chop and put into the watering can, add water and let soak for 24 hours. Than water the veggies. That usually deters the snails and slugs. A few drops of Sunlight dish washing detergent mixed with warm water in a spray bottle…. seems to get rid of the beetles, spiders, ants and aphid type insects when sprayed on both sides of the leaves. An Epsom salts solution with warm water in a spray bottle… also deters the bugs, and helps with the flowering veggie plants. We’ve been companion planting which seems to have made a big difference this year… and started a worm farm. I pour the worm wee into a watering can every day, fill with water, and then water a different veggie bed.
Putting hay/straw between each of the seedlings on the ground seems to have made a big difference as well…. less weeds, less bugs, more time for actual gardening, and the seedlings seem healthier. So far during this winter… our veggies seem to be doing better, so we’ll continue through the summer and hopefully have a better harvest. 🙂 Happy Gardening.
Darlene H says
For the worm problem, a solution of vinegar,water and few drops of liquid dish soap, and cayenne pepper sprayed on should do the trick. For burrowing animals-I am thinking moles and gophers-find their tunnel and dumb cod liver oil in there-not the flavored kind, the good old fashioned gag you kind!
Debby T says
Daye; I concider planting time from May 30 to Oct 1, and be prepared to protect plants from late or early frost. Watch for discarded lumber, fencing, and start a compost pile. I have a starter farm in southern Grand Traverse County(Grawn). I have been working my gardens for 4 years. Each year better than the last. The first year a total disaster. My son works for a proffessional landscaper and I have learned the value of compost and lots of it in that sand. I take advantage of locating my gardens where there is sun and topsoil. It is still quite sandy but so far I have had good luck with tomatoes, potatoes, corn, green beans and pumpkins except for an issue with blight on the tomatoes and potatoes. My research suggests contaminated soil. I have had little luck with leaf and root veggetables such as lettuce, radishes, spinach, turnips, carrots, onions and mustard. So, this year I was able to take advantage of my chicken compost. I just combined it into the soil for the radishes, spinach and lettuce. I did increase the delivered compost for the turnips, onions, and carrots and will see if it makes a difference from last year. I have a green house but it is too hot in the summer. Needs better ventilation. If you can start plants early inside, that will give you a longer growing season. Check out different cold frames. I made my green house from recycled windows. I original planned a cold frame, but had enough for a 10’X16′ green house. Potatoes, onions, can be planted before the last frost. There are several others too. We had a late frost this year and I got a late start because of another project. Deer have already nibbled at the corn. I have a patch of soil where my corn is and there was very little germination. The soil is even a differen color. Will add more compost to that area. I have my tomatoes and peppers in a raised bed and may creat more in the future. When I transplanted the peppers, they did poorly the first 3 weeks. I sprayed them with Epson salt (1 tsp – 4 cups water) and they are now thriving. Last year I planted the peppers in individual pots with store bought top soil and added compost. They did great. This year I just planted them where the others were, but the results were poor until I sprayed the Epson Salt. The chickens have been providing well for the past 2 years. I have 2 vegetable gardens, 1 fenced and 1 open(corn, asperagus, pumpkins and raspberries). I also have 10 perrinial gardens. One needs more compost due to the poor soil. My son brings home a lot of plants when the customer changes designs. I call them my rescue gardens as they are all discarded plants.
AJ says
Dayne- Lots of Organic matter will greatly improve your soil. Add grass clippings (avoid covering anything currently growing), all vegetable and fruit scraps (peels tops overripe etc) can be cut into smaller pieces and added in at any time (even without composting). Composted Steer manure is inexpensive and will do wonders for your garden, plus you can add alot before you risk ‘burning’ your plants. There are lots of crops that tolerate cold weather or have short growing times- charts are easy to find online here is one for MI (most state or county extension offices will have something similar) http://migarden.msu.edu/uploads/files/Table%206.pdf
Joy says
This is for the gal who lives in northern MI. I to live in northern MI and we use raised beds and grow many veggies. With sand you need to add some good black soil and compost. You can grow many herbs in sand with very little soil. Our biggest problem
in this zone is our short growing season. We start our veggies mostly from seed either in the house or garden shed. Gardening
is always by trial and error, good luck.
Wynne says
Daye–consider building a hugelkultur bed. It’s a raised bed with wood underneath. It hugely improves the soil, but also extends your growing season a little because the wood is slowly composting and heating up. Richsoil.com has info. I’ve seen free wood on Freecycle pretty regularly in my neighborhood.
Beth says
Daye,
You might want to try installing raised beds or square-foot gardens (google it, it’s a brilliant method and you can get tons of produce without tons of work). That way, you’ll just fill the beds with “good” soil, and you won’t have to worry about amending the sandy soil in your area. As for veggies that survive cold nights, well, even though I’m from MI myself, I’m not sure what agricultural zone you’re in, but most of the “mitten” is zone 5 and 6, except the north-central part, which is zone 4. To get good advice for what to plant and when, check out the farmer’s almanac website. They have a section where you can put in your zip code, and it gives you a list of common garden plants, and when to plant them based on the average last frost date in your area. Hope this helps! 🙂
Ginger says
For the beetles, I have resorted to permethrin dust. I was overrun. You need to do it a couple of times and after it rains, but that and some DE seem to take care of them!
Margaret Thele says
For preparing beds in very sandy soil – either mix a great deal of compost into the soil or try building some raised beds where you can add your own soil mix. It will drain very well and will warm up earlier than a flat garden bed.
shell says
I want your dog! Just kidding, but she is sooo cute. She needs her own blog.
pat says
the one way I have found to keep almost everything from eating your plants it to use a homemade bug repellant that is safe for humans. take 2 tablespoons of hot pepper flake 2 tablespoons of garlic powder and 2 tablespoons of onion powder and put in a quart jar fill the jar with boiling water and let sit on counter for 24 hours DO NOT put a lid on this. then strain the mixture into a gallon milk jug that you have rinsed clean. fill the jug with colw water and add a squirt of regulas dish detergent. make sure to fill thr jug first or all you will get is tons of suds. put into a pump sprayer I use a gallon rose sprayer and spray your plant make sure to spray the underside of the leaves. most bugs and animals don’t like the taste of this but it won’t hurt humans cause it is all edible ingredients just really strong. I have found it works great but you have to reapply after rain. hope this helps a little bit . take care Pat
Jeni says
For Daye: Check out the Straw Bale Garden option. I started some this year along side my raised garden beds. After some preparation that involves a lot of water, some time and some fertilizer, you grow the plants (or plant the seeds) directly into the straw bales. It’s way less expensive than putting in raised beds and trying to mix your own growing media. When the season is over the bales continue to decompose and create a great mulch that you can use the next year.
For Carrie and anyone else dealing with critters that have an exoskeleton: try food grade diatomaceous earth. You can get it at a feed store and it’s relatively inexpensive. It will kill the bugs but will not harm humans or pets. Diatomacious Earth (often referred to as “DE”) is an off white talc-like powder that is the fossilized remains of marine phytoplankton. You must get food grade. There is a kind that you can get that is advertised as a pesticide but it usually has chemicals added to it.
Renay says
For Desiree:
Have used kitty litter? Keep it with the pee and poop in it and bury it, not too deep – about a spade deep- all around the perimeter of your property or around your raised beds. Gets rid of the litter, keeps moles and voles away.
Backyard Fruit Gardener says
For Daye in northern Michigan – Raised beds are great for getting around the sandy soils we have up here. Also much easier to keep weed-free. We started our beds by filling with composted horse manure in the fall, letting sit over winter, and topping off before planting in the spring. Just be sure the manure is well aged – 6 months or more. If you ask around or check the classifieds there are usually horse owners happy to part with some of their ever-growing pile. Other compost is good, of course too.
If you don’t want to go the raised bed route, you can build the soil over time (quite some time) by working in compost, shredded leaves, grass clippings or other fine organic matter. Growing green manure crops such as rye, oats, or buckwheat and turning them in each spring also works.
As for what can take our temps & short growing season – spinach, leafy greens, peas, cabbage, and broccoli can all be planted before the last frost date. We even seed a late summer crop of spinach, mulch it with straw (or snow, but you can’t count on that) that overwinters and is ready to take off as soon as the snow melts (when ever that is…) and keeps going until spring seeded lettuce is ready.
After Memorial Day carrots, beans, onions, tomatoes, cukes, and zukes can all be planted. We direct seed most, but having started tomato plants helps get an earlier crop. Just make sure you are growing short season varieties of these veggies. Most herbs, except Rosemary, also do well here. They prefer less fertile soil if you want the best flavor. If you want to grow Basil, wait until it is quite warm – plants can usually get set in late June and seeds put in even in early July when the soil is good and warm. Basil is VERY cold sensitive. I’ve had it get frosted in early to mid-September some years. If that happens, immediately harvest the still frozen leaves and throw into a ziploc bag that goes straight into the freezer. It will darken a little, but has some really great flavor. The key is not letting it thaw at all or it will just turn into dark wilted mush.
Don’t forget about perennial food plants either – raspberries, grapes, berry bushes, and strawberries (with a winter straw mulch cover) all do very well. Consider fruit trees too if you are not in a frosty pocket where early spring bloom tends to suffer. Good luck & Fruitful Gardening!