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Soil is the earth’s living skin, as fragile in some ways as human skin. In this second newsletter about soil, we’ll tell you what you can do about “problem skin,” such as if your soil is too sandy or has too much clay. But to do that, you’ll need to know what’s in your soil, and we’ll explain how to perform a free and simple soil composition test.

Soil Composition

Soil composition is the mixture of silt, clay, sand, and organic matter found in your soil. It’s important to know what the mix is within your garden because it will affect the type and amount of fertilizer you use, how well your soil drains, how well it holds what you plant in it, and how likely it is to wash away in heavy rains or blow away in high winds. Finally, soil composition indicates how alive your soil is—and the more alive it is, the better it is for growing things!

Hollywood should make a movie with people shrunk down to the size of microorganisms and then placed into some rich soil. Viewers would then see that every square inch contains billions of bacteria and fungi, as well as worms, insects, spiders, and other many other critters. The presence of such biological activity is good news: it means that the soil is fully capable of supporting and nurturing whatever plants are placed into it. But this kind of biological activity only occurs if there are good amounts of water, air, and organic material in the soil.

We’re not talking about watering here—you can pour water on a rock for days and no water will get in. We’re talking about how porous the soil is, and that depends on the size of the particles that make it up.

Sandy soil allows for water and oxygen to penetrate easily because sand particles are large. However, water drains away too quickly, taking with it any fertilizer you may apply. In this case, the fertilizer you apply—and the money you spend on it—goes right down the drain!  On the positive side, it holds plenty of oxygen, plant roots have no problem traveling through it, and it’s easy to dig.

Clay soil presents the opposite problem: because clay particles are so small, they make it hard for oxygen to get in, and whatever water gets in will have a hard time getting out, resulting in poor drainage. This type of soil is difficult for plant roots—as well as spades and hoes—to penetrate.  But don’t despair: this type of soil is generally richer in nutrients than other types of soil, so once you break it up, you won’t need to fertilize as much.

Silt predominating in your soil is good news; such soil is ideal for gardening because silt particles are medium sized and usually result in good soil drainage and aeration.  All you have to do is make sure your silty soil contains ample organic matter.

Soil Wash Test

The soil wash is an easy test you can perform that will tell you the approximate proportion of sand, clay, and silt in your soil. Of course, you can pay a lot of money for a laboratory to perform a professional analysis, but for most gardeners this rough-and-ready test will tell you everything you need to know.

Take a half-gallon jar (a Mason jar will work or any large rounded jar) and put half a cup of soil into it. Then fill the jar halfway with water. Shake it for 30 seconds and then let it settle. Repeat three times.  Then let the jar sit for three days.

The thickness of the layers indicates the proportions of sand, silt, clay and organic matter. As R.C. Harris explains, “With each mixing, more and more coarse particles will drift to the bottom and more and more clay particles will drift to the top, with silt settling out between them. Some of the clay particles may not settle out for several days with this garden soil test: they are so fine they form a colloidal solution in water.”

When you take a look at the jar after a few days have passed, you will get a rough idea as to what general type of soil you have, based on whether there’s mostly sand at the bottom, clay at the top, or silt floating around. If the results are not clear, R.C. Harris provides more detailed instructions, as does Paula Lovegren. A big thanks to George Weigel for providing us the mason jar photo!

Improving Your Soil

The short answer is that whether you’re dealing with sandy soil or clay soil, the remedy is the same: add compost.  One of our previous newsletters, A Rind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste: The GHS Scoop on Composting, will tell you everything you need to know. And if you don’t want to make your own compost, we sell 32 qt. bags of BioMax 3-in-1 Garden Mix, a fine product that combines sea-based compost with black earth and Canadian sphagnum peat moss.

One thing not to do is add sand to clay soil or add clay to sandy soil. It would seem like this would be the easiest solution but due to the varying pH and magnetic charge of the particles, they might end up binding together, causing your soil to be as hard as a rock. Anyway, clay likes to bind to itself, and this alone can cause problems.

If your soil is too high in clay, the best thing to do (in addition to adding organic matter) is to add gypsum to help break it up.  If you have problems with drainage and this doesn’t fix them, you might need to dig a trench or take other more extensive actions.

If your soil is compacted because it is high in clay (or for some other reason such as a bulldozer going over it too many times), aeration will help a great deal. This can be done either by renting a machine called a core aerator or by hiring a lawn or landscape company to aerate it for you. For more information about aeration, read this article from the Virginia Cooperative Extension.

If your soil is too sandy, it will need lots of compost. However, compost alone isn’t enough; you’ll also need to introduce an earth-based matrix. As mentioned, clay isn’t a good choice, but Premier’s BioMax 3-in-1 Garden Mix would be ideal in this case, because it contains black earth as well as sea-based compost and Canadian sphagnum peat moss.

Finally, keep in mind that improving the composition of your soil will take time. It’s something that you have to work at, year after year, but you will see results, even early in the process. The closer your soil gets to being rich and fertile loam, the more productive your garden will be.

Caring for the Good Earth

We hope this newsletter will help you to better care for your soil through understanding its composition. Please join us again for Part 3, coming in two weeks, in which we will explain some additional measures such as mulching and double digging that will help you get your soil into tip-top shape. Did you miss Part 1, read it here.

Until then, happy gardening from all of us at Garden Harvest Supply!

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The Great White tomato is exactly what it sounds like. Producing a harvest of creamy white globes that can reach up to 2-pounds, but average about a pound each, the overall consensus of backyard growers is that this is a keeper.

An heirloom variety, I could find no information on the approximate date it was first introduced, which I can only deduce, means that it is a very old variety. The customer reviews of this unusually colored tomato have me agreeing that it is worth growing.

The Great White tomato is a beefsteak type of heirloom tomato that is amazingly meaty, while being incredibly juicy at the same time. Gardeners tell of its having only small pockets of seeds close to the outside, while the interior is almost completely solid with sweet, juicy meat. The flavor is most un-tomato-ish. Of course, anyone in-the-know knows that tomatoes are considered a fruit, but most tomatoes don’t closely taste like any type of fruit that is common today. The Great White tomato, however, is a tomato with a fruity taste. Described as sweet, juicy, kind-of citrusy and “almost impossible to describe”, one producer describes the flavor as reminiscent of fresh cut pineapple, melon and guava, all at one time. Hmmmm. I wonder if you could make wine out of these. An interesting idea, since tomatoes are chock full of vitamin C and antioxidants!

So, the proponents for the Great White tomato tell of the many compliments they receive, once people get past the unusual color. You may have to blindfold someone to get them to take the first bite! But…once they do, they will most likely be at least willing to admit that they are pleasantly sweet and tasty, while most will want plants for their own gardens. Their size makes them good for slicing and their color makes them an interesting addition to a sliced tomato plate. I can picture them on a blue plate, alternated with slices of a red beefsteak for the 4th of July picnic. I can also visualize them cut in tiny pieces in a baby spinach salad, maybe served with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. A couple of customers have actually made them into marinara sauce and remarked on how much their friends enjoyed it, though it was a little weird eating white marinara sauce.

As far as growing them, they can be grown like any other tomato.. The Great White tomato is an indeterminate variety, which means it will produce fruit all season. It is important to provide support for these plants due to the weight of the fruit they will bear and the heights they will achieve, easily topping 3 or 4-feet. They are also quite leafy, which is a good thing, as the dense foliage protects the white flesh from getting sun-scorched. In fact, the Great White tomato has a better tolerance to heat than many other varieties and definitely much better than most whites, with very little cracking or splitting, if any.

One grower commented that he was in a competition with his wife and babied his in 18-gallon pots, with a combination of planting mix and manure, carefully building an arrangement of laths and cords to support them, only to have just one of his ten plants produce fruit. While…on the other side of the yard, his wife planted her tomatoes in partial shade, right in the ground, with no fertilizer and right next to the pumps for their saltwater swimming pool and managed to get about 60 pounds of tomatoes off of just three plants. I think that we can conclude that the Great White tomato plant does not need to be babied and is not at all fragile, regardless of its color, which might lead you to believe otherwise. I wonder if the ground vibrations from the pumps had anything to do with the heavy production.

Your Great White tomato plants will arrive in a 3-inch pot. We have grown them in our greenhouses, with high quality planting soil and have provided them the essential nutrients necessary to develop strong root systems. Tomatoes stand up remarkably well to the stresses of shipping and transplant, but our short video will give you some transplant tips. Here in our greenhouses, and in our own personal gardens, we use Neptune’s Harvest when transplanting any of our plants from the pot to the garden, and we use Espoma Tomato-tone® to provide the best possible nutrients for optimal tomato growth. These organic products provide assurance that your family is only getting nutritionally sound produce from your garden, without ingesting chemical traces, and without the worry of ground water contamination.

Try the Great White tomato this summer! I can almost guarantee you will enjoy the flavor, even if you are not already a tomato lover!

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My question to you is: I bought some “Yoder” Mums. Will these survive indoors? I would love to put them on a huge counter space near a window. Our home does not get over 80 degrees inside. Will they live if I keep them in the house?   Thank you, Cheryl C

Answer: Cheryl, Chrysanthemums are typically grown outdoors for the fall season and then either left in the ground or tossed in the compost pile if they were in containers, but they can be grown indoors with a little care and understanding their needs.

If your plants are just beginning to bloom, they need to be in a location where they can receive direct sun until they are in full bloom. To prolong the life of the blooms, move the plants back away from the sun. Keep them well watered and away from heating vents. Watering with filtered water can help keep them looking attractive. After they have finished blooming, fertilize them about every other week with a general purpose fertilizer.

Getting them to rebloom will require a little skill and effort. Like many other plants, mums set bud based on length of day. They require 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness, so if you want them to bloom other than in the fall, you may need to set up an area where you can control the light source.

Mums are generally pest and disease resistant, but when you are growing them indoors they might be a bit more susceptible, so you will want to watch for aphids, mites, leafminers, whiteflies and thrips.

Happy gardening,

Karen

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Did you know that fall is the best time to test your soil? Test results are affected by the bacterial action in the soil, and during summer and fall, the levels of bacterial action are optimal for getting an accurate reading.

However, experienced gardeners prefer to test in the fall because they can fertilize their soil based on the test results, and then, whatever they add to the soil will have time to “set” over the winter. By testing in the fall and then fertilizing based on the results, your garden will be in the best possible shape when the spring growing season rolls around.

There are two tests that are important to do annually: a pH test to determine whether your soil is alkaline or acid and to what degree, and a nutritive test to evaluate how rich your soil is in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N, P, and K). We’ll talk first about the pH test, because it’s the most important.

pH Testing

Plants grow best within a specific pH range. Most plants like slightly acidic soil; others need a greater degree of acidity, and some prefer alkaline soil. What this means in a practical sense is that when you give your plants the right pH, they will best be able to absorb nutrients in the soil. The right pH will also make your plants less susceptible to plant diseases and fungi.

Many of our soil test kits come with a chart that tells you exactly what pH different plants need, or you can consult a chart on the Internet or find one in a gardening book.

Once you have your pH results, you can then amend your soil accordingly. Adding lime is the usual way to make your soil less acidic. Wood ashes mixed into soil will also help to lessen its acidity. Just be sure to use ashes from untreated wood, and keep them dry until you apply them.

Add sulfur, aluminum sulfate, or gypsum to make soil more acidic. Organic soil amendments such as sphagnum peat moss, oak leaves, coffee grounds, and well-composted sawdust also help to make soil more acidic.

Some fertilizers have an acidifying effect, enabling you to take care of your plants’ nutritive needs while lowering the pH a little. Look for a fertilizer designed for acid-loving plants such as Espoma’s legendary Holly Tone.

Keep in mind, though, that it can take several years to change the fundamental pH of your soil. You don’t want to go too fast: no more than 1 pH degree per year. And you’ll want to test each year, until you see that your soil has really settled into being the pH that you want it to be.

Nutritive Test

You’ll also want to do an annual nutritive test to determine how much nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N, P, and K) are present in your soil.

If you live near a Cooperative Extension, give them a call: they can do soil testing that will test for other nutrients also, for no more than ten dollars, and carry out the analysis using equipment that is too costly even for most farmers. They also have the expertise to interpret the test results, and can advise you as to how to best address whatever issues show up in them.

That said, do-it-yourself soil testing is more economical than ever. In fact, you can get a Rapitest Model 1609CS containing 4 pH and 2 NPK tests for only $5.25. Though not as accurate as the professional tests, the do-it-yourself tests are more convenient and certainly work well enough to get a valid estimate.

Another advantage of the do-it-yourself tests is that they make it easy to retest after you’ve added fertilizer or other amendments. The Rapitest Electronic Soil Tester, Model 1860 does both NPK and pH in less than a minute, and you can stick it in different spots around your garden to customize your amendment strategy. A week or two after amending your soil, take a stroll around to the same spots to see if the NPK and pH levels are where you want them.

One of our previous newsletters, Choosing a Fertilizer,  will help you determine which fertilizer is best for your needs. But don’t wait ’til spring…. seize the season!

In Part Two of the GHS Guide to Soil and Soil Testing, coming up in two weeks, we’ll tell you about two simple tests you can do yourself at no cost that will yield valuable information about the composition of your soil. And we’ll talk about what to do if your soil is lacking in organic matter, doesn’t drain well, contains too much clay, is highly compacted, or has other problems related to its composition.

Until then, happy growing from Garden Harvest Supply!

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Since we have started offering worm castings on our site, I don’t think a day goes by that someone is not asking, “What are worm castings?”

The simple answer is that it is worm poop. Also called worm manure, worm humus or worm compost, this amazingly rich soil amendment and fertilizer is becoming more popular than ever, and for good reason. Word of mouth has spread the good news and as more and more people plant gardens and become ever more aware of the harm that pesticides and synthetic fertilizers can cause, the use of worm castings has increased dramatically with sometimes astounding results. Most people are very pleasantly surprised when they open their first container of worm castings. The odor is pleasantly earthy, it is dry, not moist at all, and the texture will be similar to a good soil/peat mixture. You don’t have to wear gloves to handle it, nor do you have to wear a mask or use in a well-ventilated area. Worm castings are 100% organic, 100% safe for the planet, you and your family and are 100% beneficial.

Worm castings are created by feeding a particular type of worm a variety of organic materials. The worms most often used are Red Wigglers (Eisenia foetida) and one other type of red worm (Lumbricus rubellus). These worms are a top-dweller/feeder, which simply means that as you add organic material they will move to the top to eat it. They are also able to withstand the high temperatures needed for the best composting results and they are prolific breeders. These are not the earth worms that you go fishing with, though I’m sure that any hungry fish would not turn its nose up at them.

The act of worm composting is called vermicomposting. Vermicompost is a verb, not a noun. Home vermicomposters will normally use garden and kitchen refuse of the organic variety, such as fruit and vegetable peels and rinds, leaves and grass clippings. You can also use coffee grounds, right along with the filters, moldy bread, tea bags; anything but dairy products or meat, which can rot and attract unwanted pests. Cooked foods that are oily or on which butter has been utilized is also not recommended. It is true that the worms will eventually be able to break down these items too, but it takes longer and the benefits are not worth the smell or the mess.

So, why do worm castings work so much better than other fertilizers, organic or not? Well, all soil and food has microbial activity. Microorganisms are a critical part of our own lives, as they are of every living thing. Worm castings have 10 to 20 times as much of that microbial activity as the soil and food that they eat. As the organic materials go in one end and out the other, it is mixed with worm mucus, which helps the soil to hold onto the nutrients, rather than having it washed away with watering, and also enables the soil to retain more moisture. When used by farmers or in your backyard garden plot, or even as a top dressing on your lawn, they also attract even more earthworms, which also serves to improve the quality of your soil. Just using worm castings once starts a healthy cycle of soil enrichment and plant health.

The reason that worm castings are so much more beneficial that soluble plant fertilizers is because the nutrients that are stored in the microbial rich organic matter and in the bodies of the microbes is not lost through the process of irrigation, ending up in the ground water. Fungal tentacles, called hyphae that are about the size of a very thin strand of hair, wrap around organic matter and soil particles when searching for food. These form aggregates (a material or structure formed from a loosely compacted mass of fragments or particles) that are the very basis for quality soil structure.

But, to answer the question, “What are worm castings?”, a picture, or two, is well worth a thousand words. We have a customer who bought her first bag of worm castings and decided to share her results, through pictures. She was given some peat-potted cuttings of a white flowered, unidentified perennial. Rather than plant them right into the ground, she chose to pot them first, to see what kind of plant they were. Out of the six plants, only three of them appeared healthy. The others were quite wilted, meaning they were loosely and limply hanging over the edges of their peat pots, with little sign of life, except that they were still green, though quite sickly looking. She decided to plant them anyway and mixed the worm castings with the old potting soil that she had on hand. She also chose to keep them inside until they were well established, as her area of the country was experiencing extremely hot temperatures.

This is the first day, right after planting. As you can see, there are two very upright plants in each planter with another barely upright plant on the left side of the left planter. On the back side of the left planter, and on the back and right side of the right-hand planter, are the three “dead” plants.

This is the left hand planter on the third day, with the plant on the left standing more upright and the plant in the back showing signs of life, to include new growth at the top.

And this is the right hand planter on the third day, with the plant on the right really starting to perk up, at which point our customer is convinced that there is no help for the last of the 6 plants on the back side of the planter. It still hasn’t turned brown, but there is little sign of life and no new growth…yet.

And then this is that same right hand planter five days later, just 8 days after they were planted. She turned the planter around in order to get a better view, but the position on the tabletop has not changed, as you can tell by the curtains behind.

Finally, 6 healthy plants that will be kept in pots until they can be identified and our customer can decide where in her yard she wants their permanent home to be.

Thanks for the great advertising!

What are worm castings? I hope that I have answered your questions. We have built our business on the belief that having a good relationship with our customers is tantamount to having a successful business. Articles like these are just one way that we pass along our knowledge and expertise, free of charge. Customers like the lady above are why we keep on doing it!

Happy Gardening Everyone!

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I have heard about using epsom salt for bell peppers to help them grow. I wish to know more about this natural mineral & peppers. Thank you, Gale

Answer: Epsom salt is a good source for the trace nutrients magnesium and sulfur. Late in the season tomatoes and pepper plants may start to show signs of deficiencies, such as leaves yellowing between the veins and a decrease in fruit production. This looks similar to blight, but blight will appear as blotchy brown spots on the leaves and stems. Be sure to confirm which it is.

Before randomly adding nutrients it’s always best to obtain a soil test to evaluate the levels of trace minerals in your growing area. Too high a level of calcium will inhibit the plants’ uptake of magnesium, and depending on your soil type you might require more than just what one nutrient can add.

Best advice is to watch your plants toward the end of the growing season. If they start to show yellowing leaves and you’ve ruled out other diseases, you could try adding a tablespoon of epsom salt around the base of the plant, making sure to water it in well. Some report that peppers are heavy magnesium feeders so this could be the reason for the use of epsom salts. Some also suggest starting the treatment at first bloom to thwart the late season deficiency.

Happy gardening,
Karen

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I am interested in planting fall potatoes. First frost looks like it\’s around October 10-11 for zone 5b. Is it possible to plant now? Also, what potato would be the best variety to plant? Thanks, Lydia

Answer: Unless you are planning to just harvest “new” potatoes right before the frost, there is not enough time for them to mature. Next year you need to count back about 80-90 days before the first fall frost in order to have a fall potato crop. Unless you plan ahead, you will have a hard time seed potatoes this late in the season. Happy Gardening, GHS

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I have hydrangeas which are in pots outside but the flowers have died and the leaves are green and look healthy. Would they survive being planted out in the back yard? Some of my neighbors have large hydrangea plants in their yards. Second question – will a kalanchoe plant (in a pot) grow if I plant it in my flower bed? Thank you.I have hydrangeas which are in pots outside but the flowers have died and the leaves are green and look healthy. Would they survive being planted out in the back yard? Some of my neighbors have large hydrangea plants in their yards. Second question – will a kalanchoe plant (in a pot) grow if I plant it in my flower bed? Thank you, Phyllis

Answer:

Phyllis,

You did not specify what variety you were growing: quercifolia, macrophylla, arborescens or paniculata. Most hydrangeas are hardy from Zone 5 to 9, with a few being even more cold hardy. Since you are in Zone 9B, the hydrangeas will do OK for you in the ground, but you are on the high end of the their tolerance range. If others are growing them successfully then you should be able to as well, if you give them the right conditions. Check the ones that are the most successful and see how much shade or sun they are receiving, and how much moisture they are getting. If you are growing the macrophylla (mophead) variety, then you will probably want to check the acidity level of your soil if you want them to be blue. Typically hydrangeas like some shade from the hot midday sun. They are heavy drinkers (of water, please!) and need soil acidification if your pH is too low. Even though you are in a warm climate, they will still most likely have a resting period, like the dormancy they undergo in colder climates. Don’t push them if that is the case.

The kalanchoe is technically a hardiness Zone 10.  Since you are 9B, you might try to find a well-protected area to see if it will survive. Keep it protected from any frost and keep it in a partially shaded location; it is not a full sun lover.

Happy Gardening!
Karen

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You might have fallen victim to the Squash Vine Borer, without knowing how they get inside your squash plants, or where they come from. You might not have even been aware they are there until your vines have wilted and died. The Squash Vine Borer attacks cucumbers, gourds, pumpkins, melons and both winter and summer squashes. Blue and Butternut squash seem to be the most resistant, but Hubbard squash seems to be the castle most preferred by this voracious pest.

Recognizing the Squash Vine Borer Moth

So, how do you identify the problem to begin with? The best way is to be aware of what to look for. As your squash-like plants are just about to blossom, you may notice wasps flying around your vegetable garden, paying particular attention to your squash, melons or cucumbers. Look closely; these wasps may actually be the moth that lays the eggs of the squash vine borer. They will look somewhat like a giant hornet, having a wing span of about 1.5 inches. The wings will be translucent, but colored in shades of orange and black. These female moths will have a bright orange or red and black abdomen and femurs. They can be quite elusive, prefer daytime flight, are rather noisy and will lay their eggs at the base of your plants, right on the soil. In the south, this will usually occur sometime in April or May, but it may happen later in the north, normally in June and July. The eggs will be flat, brown circles about 1/10 inch across and nearly impossible to see.

The Destructive Squash Vine Borer Larvae

In one to two weeks, depending upon the heat and weather, the eggs will hatch and become larvae. The larvae are grub-like, about an inch long, white with a dark brown head and itty bitty brown legs. They bore into the stems of your plants and are gluttonous eaters, which is what ultimately kills your plants. Inspect the stems about an inch above the soil level for tiny holes through which the larvae have entered. You may even see a yellowish saw-dust looking material near the hole or at the base of your plants. You can confirm their presence further by using a knife to make a slit lengthwise along the stem, from the bore hole and about an inch up. You will see the worm and more of the yellowish excrement inside the stem. At this point you can kill the worms with the knife blade and then mound soil up above the wound to encourage root growth along that particular section of the stem. Be aware though, that this method will only work at the very earliest stages of infestation and can be quite time-consuming and messy.

Perpetuating Their Life Cycle

Once the larvae have matured, they can leave the insides of your plants’ stems and start feasting on the maturing fruit. They will finally mature to the point where they leave the plant, burrow into the soil and spin a mahogany brown cocoon in which to hibernate until the following spring when the orange, red and black moths will appear once again.

Control with Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth

Now, how do you control them? I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”; and in this case, that is SO true. Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth is one of the best preventive measures. Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is a naturally occurring, organic pesticide in dust form that cuts the exoskeletons of the moths, both as they emerge from the soil and as they land to lay their eggs. A little goes a long, long way and it is easy to apply, especially if using a duster designed for DE, but the best part is that Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth will also deter and destroy a whole host of other garden pests with absolutely no ill-effects on your family, your pets or the environment. Dust with DE from the ground up, paying special attention to the undersides of the leaves, as this is where most insects will lay their eggs. Application is recommended once a month or after a very heavy rain, but as long as dust is evident at the base of the plants and under the leaves, you do not have to reapply heavily.

Deterring with a Plant & Seed Blanket

If, on the other hand, you’ve never had Squash Vine Borers in your garden, you may be able to get away with a simple cover. There are a number available, but the one that seems to work best is the Plant & Seed Blanket by Easy Gardener®. This lightweight, breathable blanket can be applied when you seed or first transplant seedlings. It allows essential air and moisture to reach your growing plants, but will prevent the Squash Borer moth from being able to lay her eggs. Just apply the blanket over your seed bed or transplants with plenty of slack to allow for plant growth and blooming. The ends and sides can be held down with garden stakes or with loose soil. Once the blossoms have wilted, giving way to the fruit, it should be safe to remove the plant and seed blanket.

Use Hot Pepper Wax Spray to Make Their Lives Miserable

Another preventative measure that is used very successfully is Hot Pepper Wax Spray. Made by combining capsaicin (what makes cayenne peppers hot) and a thin, food grade paraffin, the spray coats your plants with an unpleasantly irritating liquid that stays in place by being bound to the waxy paraffin. Apply to the bottom couple of inches of the stems to prevent the larvae from boring as they hatch, or apply to the whole plant, including the undersides of the leaves, to also deter aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, lace bugs, leafhoppers, thrips and many more pests. Be aware though, that when checking growth progress, weeding or harvesting your produce, the capsaicin can transfer to your skin and be quite irritating, especially if you have open wounds or you rub your eyes. It will sting, but warm water will wash the residue away. Young children who put their hands in their mouths will also experience an unpleasant heat.

Kill Them with BT

Finally, for the very worst infestations and to completely prevent the larvae from spinning cocoons that will produce Squash Vine Borer moths next year, we recommend using Bacillus Thuringiensis, a.k.a. BT. BT occurs naturally and is a soil-borne organism that has the ability to control squash vine borers and other insects that are in the worm or caterpillar stage of development. It can be applied to the foliage of plants on which larvae are feeding, but it can also be used as an injection to the insides of the stems to destroy the borers. Bacillus Thuringiensis effectively paralyzes the digestive tract of the larvae, which means they can’t feed anymore, which causes them to die. BT is effectively used as a pre-emptive measure, when injected into your plants right after the first blossoms appear and then again in a week to 10 days. You simply mix it as you normally would for external application, and then use a disposable syringe that you can buy at any drug store. You can also use a wood worker’s glue injector, but be sure to rinse the needle with a mixture of chlorine bleach and water between injections in order to prevent possible cross-contamination of other diseases that you are not yet aware of. Mix the BT just prior to use and inject the stem about 1.5″ above the soil line. The borers will eat it as they first start to feed, causing them to die. The recommended amount is about 1cc of BT for each injection. It will wash the hollow interior of the stem, but will flow back out of the stem through the injection site if you use too much.

We here at Garden Harvest Supply hope that we’ve provided you some much needed, valuable information about Squash Vine Borers and how best to deal with them. We are always available to answer any of your questions and concerns. You can contact us here, or contact our Master Gardener directly.

Happy Gardening, Everyone!

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Wouldn’t it be great if your garden were like a 24/7 farmer’s market, providing you with fresh produce year-round? Sure, that would take a lot of work, but extended harvests are within every gardener’s grasp. With a little planning, you can harvest at least one or two crops right through the winter.

In this newsletter we’ll discuss ways to extend the growing season, starting with a review of fall planting and continuing with to how to cover and protect your plants in cold weather. Finally we’ll discuss measures that serious gardeners take to ensure year-long harvests, such as the use of cold frames and greenhouses.

Late Season Planting

The simplest way to extend the growing season is to plant a second round of vegetable plants in late summer or early fall. Fall is an easier time to plant than spring: the critters and weeds decrease, there’s less need to irrigate, and there are no heat waves to drive you indoors, panting.

There’s also less prep work involved; consult our Guide to Fall Vegetable Planting for the details, but basically what you need to do is clear out the old debris and amend the soil.

In choosing what to plant, most gardeners like a mix of plants with varying degrees of hardiness. Tender and very tender plants need to mature before the first frost or else they’ll be damaged.  Semi-hardy plants can weather a frost or two, and hardy plants can weather repeated frosts.

To plant tender and very tender plants, you have to find out what date they need to be planted by in order to mature before the first frost.  First find their growing times by looking at the product details section of the GHS web pages that describe them. Then find the approximate first frost date by looking at the Frost Chart at the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Count backwards from the first frost date to determine your deadline for getting those plants into the ground.

With semi-hardy vegetables, you don’t need to be concerned about the first frost date but you’ll want them to mature before repeated frosts occur. Again, compare the growing times with the first frost date, and make your selection based on what will be ready soon after that first frost.

When planting hardy veggies, you don’t need to worry about the cold weather at all. Just get them in the ground and mark on your calendar when they’ll be ready to harvest.

Help Them Make It Through the Night

When temperatures drop, most plants need to be covered. Coverings also help them grow faster in the colder weather. Some gardeners simply throw old bed sheets or towels over their less hardy plants when the nightly news predicts a cold snap. To improve on this method, support such materials with stakes or wire. Individual plants can be protected with buckets or gallon milk jugs with the bottoms cut out. Put them on in the afternoon while it’s still relatively warm and remove them in the morning after temperatures have risen again. Root crops can be covered with a thick layer of hay, straw, dry leaves, or pine needles.

We sell several products that have been engineered to provide optimal cold-weather protection. The most popular is the Wall O’ Water Plant Protector, which is like a plant-sized teepee whose insulating walls can be filled up with water. The Wall O’ Water absorbs heat during the day and releases it during the night, keeping your plants comfy on chilly nights. In fact, it will protect them down to 16°F!

For larger plants as well as sensitive shrubs, our Plant Protector Bags are great at keeping in the heat while still allowing for air circulation. Simply bag the plants when they are at risk, and remove as soon as the danger is past. The Fleece Frost Protection Bags offer even more of a defense against cold, maintaining your plants down to 20F. And for even larger plants, shrubs, and seedlings, use the 8’x 6’ Harvest Guard Plant Protection Bag with an adjustable closure for a custom fit.

If you have many plants to protect, Haxnicks Easy Tunnel Row Cover is the way to grow. It offers shelter to an entire row, forming a barrier that retains humidity and warmth, while protecting against frosts and harsh weather. Made of polyethylene supported by galvanized steel hoops, you’ll get years of use out of it, and the hoops can be stacked against each other for easy storage.

Cold Frames

A more solid way to protect your plants is by building a cold frame, which is like a mini greenhouse. You can get instructions on how to build and use cold frames from the extensions of Cornell University, the University of Missouri and Ohio State University. There are also do-it-yourself videos available on YouTube.

If you want to save time and don’t want to search for materials, we sell a Cold Frame Mini-Greenhouse kit that is easily assembled and provides more than 5 sq. feet of growing space. Constructed of durable, UV-protected panels, the adjustable polycarbonate roof provides maximum light, adequate ventilation, UV protection, and easy access. It’s on sale for $49.99 until September 15, with free shipping.

Its older brother is also on sale: the Cold Frame Double Mini-Greenhouse, which is the same design but twice the size. Measuring 41” x 41” x 21”, it provides ample space to grow and protect at least 10 sq. feet of veggies. It’s $89.99 until Sept. 15, also with free shipping.

Greenhouses

Serious gardeners will want to build or buy a greenhouse sooner or later. Actually, sooner is better, because you’ll get so much benefit from a greenhouse that whenever you get one, you’ll wish you had gotten it sooner!

Naturally, building a greenhouse is more involved than building a cold frame. If you’re up for a project of this size, instructions and plans are available from West Virginia University Extension as well as from North Carolina State University Extension.

If you’d rather get a greenhouse kit, be sure that the kit itself isn’t too difficult to assemble. As we said in 2009, the last time we had a greenhouse sale, “The gardening blogosphere resounds with little yelps of frustration from people whose jubilant smile turned to a grimace worthy of a gremlin as they realized—after bolting and unbolting, starting and stopping, moving forward and backtracking—that ‘the instructions are rubbish.’”

To spare our customers this kind of frustration, we sell only Snap & Grow Greenhouse kits made by Poly-Tex, a family-run business located in Castle Rock, MN. What we like about their greenhouses is that the parts snap together with SmartLock™ Connectors, a unique system that makes Snap & Grow kits the quickest and simplest on the market.

The other great benefit is that you’re not limited to the greenhouse you started with—you can expand it whenever you desire, thanks again to those SmartLock™ Connectors. What’s more, Poly-Tex produces a full range of accessories: automatic vent openers, shade kits, even plant hangers.

As with many of the best greenhouses, the greenhouse panels are made of polycarbonate, a polymer that is as clear as glass but offers 100% UV protection and is virtually unbreakable. The heavy-duty frame is molded out of corrosion-resistant aluminum, and the kit includes an innovative split-style door and window, both of which come pre-assembled, right down to the attached weather stripping.

We’re currently running a sale, our first in two years, on all our Snap & Grow Greenhouse kits, plus the extension kits. You will find great deals, such as the 22% discount we’re offering on the Multi-line Silver 6’ x 8’ Hobby Greenhouse, which normally sells for $599, but is currently priced at $469.

If you’ve been thinking about getting a greenhouse, we know you’ll love the advantages of Snap & Grow, and we hope you’ll carefully consider each of the five models we offer, and perhaps give us a call at 1-888-907-4769 to discuss which one would best meet your needs. Just think: you can keep gardening all winter, and have as much space as you want to do it in!

Always More to Grow and Know

To learn more about extending the growing season, there is one book we particularly recommend: Four Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables From Your Home Garden All Year Long by Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch. This book has gotten rave reviews from beginning gardeners and veterans alike. It gathers together a wealth of information and presents it in a really fun and interesting way. The authors’ enthusiasm for gardening really shines through as well, and you might find your own gardening spark rekindled as you “hang out” with the authors by reading this refreshing and informative book.

That’s all for now. Happy Growing from all of us at Garden Harvest Supply!

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