Table of Contents
87
4 Dare to Dig in
A guide for beginning gardeners.
9 Compost Made Easy
These 10 truths about composting will help you turn food and yard waste into garden gold.
14 Top Gardening
Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Veteran organic growers detail how they cope with vexing gardening problems.
20 Grow Your Own Seeds
Experience the ultimate in selfreliance, and even create new plant varieties that will perform better in your garden.
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25 Garden Transplanting:
Expert Advice
Follow these four simple steps to help your seedlings make a smooth transition from the growing pot to the full-scale veggie garden.
28 Maintain a Weedless
Organic Garden
Key factors are limited tilling, organic mulch, drip irrigation and permanent beds and paths. Learn about each one.
32 Expert Tips for Growing
Early Tomatoes
Add a whole month to your fresh-tomato season with these proven techniques.
20
34 Enlist Beneficial Insects
for Natural Pest Control
Grow the right flowers to attract these top 10 beneficial insects to your garden to minimize damage from aphids, caterpillars, flea beetles, and other pests.
39 Poultry: Secret Weapon
for Organic Pest Control
These reports tell how you can control ticks, mosquitoes and garden pests by keeping chickens, guineas, turkeys or ducks.
42 Crunchy, Colorful Carrots Nutritious and infinitely snackable, carrots are an easy vegetable to love, and an easy addition to any garden.
COVER PHOTOGRAPH: ISTOCK/RACHEL DEWIS
Transform the traditional ‘lean time’ of the coldest months into a time of abundance by using season-extending techniques in winter and early spring.
The MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Growing Your Own Food
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55 46 All About Growing
Summer Squash
Choose hybrid varieties if you need space-saving bush plants.
48 Plant Pollination Primer
Get the facts on how insects and wind pollinate your crops so you can plant smarter and haul in heftier harvests.
52 Buzz-Worth Plants:
Attract Native Bees to Your Organic Garden
Transform your backyard into a bee sanctuary with nectar-rich flowers, insect hotels and more.
55 Build Better Soil With
Free Organic Fertilizer
Avoid expensive fertilizers – here are your best organic options, including two that you won’t even have to pay for!
60 All About Growing
Peppers
62 Berries that Thrive
Where You Live
Learn how to grow strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and other tasty little berries.
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62 68 Best Summer Cover Crops Sow these four fast-growing, weed-suppressing soil builders in any patch possible, even during your prime gardening season.
72 Disease Prevention Basics These techniques can prevent many of the diseases that plague your vegetables
75 The Amazing Underground
Secret to a Better Garden
Enjoy healthier soil and superior harvests by nurturing the symbiotic relationship between plant roots and mycorrhizal fungi.
78 All About Growing Potatoes 80 Grow Sweet Potatoes,
Even in the North
This nutritious, easy-to-store crop is one of the best staples for anyone looking to be food self-sufficient.
84 Acidic, Alkaline or Neutral? Your garden’s soil pH matters
87 Grow Great Salads
Year-Round
Plant your greens now and enjoy a steady supply of super, succulent salads.
98
80 90 All About Growing Garlic
Plant your garlic in the fall for a spectacular harvest from the next summer’s bounty.
92 How to Store
Fresh Vegetables
Learn the best crops to grow and buy, and the right ways to keep them
98 Freezing Fruits
and Vegetables from Your Garden
Tap these straightforward freezing tips to turn your garden harvests into sensational, offseason meals.
102 All About Growing
Cabbage
104 Grow Veggies in Winter
With Quick Hoops
Double your garden’s productivity with these simple, inexpensive low tunnels.
108 DIY Greenhouse for
Winter Growing
Growing food in this solarheated structure will be far more productive than doing so with electric light indoors.
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SEEDS
Experience the ultimate in self-reliance, and even create new plant varieties that will perform better in your garden. By John Navazio
S
eed saving has helped humans grow their own food in the face of changing demands and environmental pressures ever since they began planting seeds. Historically, home seed saving was how uniquely adapted crop varieties were handed down from
generation to generation for continued selection and adaptation. Farmers and gardeners routinely saved the seeds of their crops until the turn of the 20th century, when commercial agricultural interests planted the false idea that only skilled professionals were capable of handling this job. Today, good reasons remain to contin-
ue saving seed of your own best garden vegetables. Open-pollinated pre-1970s vegetable varieties are fast disappearing from the commercial marketplace, pushed out by the “latest and greatest” new hybrids. Saving and sharing seed of such older varieties helps preserve their rich genetic heritage for farmers and gardeners of the future, and allows you to rub shoulders with your ancestors. And if these varieties are to be saved, home gardeners will have to do it; most of the professionals are headed in another direction. Many home gardeners feel a sense of empowerment and satisfaction when they rely on their seed-saving abilities — one of the oldest basic human skills — to build up personal seed stocks as they strive for self-sufficiency. And with many seeds now costing $2 or more per packet, saving some of your own can also save you cold hard cash. Seed saving also helps you develop a better working knowledge of your crops
To properly manage self- and crosspollinated crops, seed savers need to know the minimum distance, or “isolation distance,” that each variety should be from any other sexually compatible (crossable) varieties growing nearby. For self-pollinated crops such as beans, peas, peppers, tomatoes and lettuce, the ideal distance between two varieties to prevent crossing should be 50 feet. However, many seed savers and some seed companies report only infrequent crosses at 20 feet. Frank Morton, lettuce breeder for his company, Shoulder to Shoulder Farm, in Philomath, Ore., confirms that let-
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tuces seldom cross when planted 20 feet apart, “even in the presence of a number of insect pollinators.” Saving seeds of cross-pollinated crops is more challenging: You must grow only one variety of each crop type per year. It is also important to know if neighboring gardens or farm fields have any related crops that could spread their pollen to your seed crop. Arugula and radishes make good cross-pollinated crops for a beginner to try because relatively few gardeners grow arugula or allow their radishes to go to seed.
Spacing the Crop Healthy plants, unfettered by space restrictions, produce much more seed per plant than plants growing in crowded conditions. But many people plant their seeds more densely in a row than recommended on seed packets. For example, green beans should be planted at the rate of six to eight seeds
per foot per row, but frequently, overzealous gardeners plant them at twice that rate. If you’re planning to save seed, you should plant row crops such as beans and peas sparsely (four to six seeds per foot) to encourage maximum aeration, which helps reduce possible bacterial or fungal rot on the pods if wet conditions develop. Plant lettuce for seed saving at the recommended rate on the seed packet. Handle radishes differently. Pull and spread out the entire crop in a shady spot to select the best ones in terms of color, shape and good health. Trim off the oldest leaves of those plants, and replant the roots in a new spot at 12- to 18-inch intervals in the row. There is considerable leeway — as much as six weeks for beans and peas, and even more for arugula, lettuce and radishes — with respect to how late you can plant and still get a harvest before it freezes. This isn’t the case for crops being grown for seed. Plant breeder Morton says a full 150 to 180 days are needed to produce viable lettuce seed at his western Oregon farm. For the seed
Growing a Seed Crop
FROM LEFT: SCOTT VLAUN; DAVID CAVAGNARO
Grow Your Own
and can even help you improve varieties to meet specific needs or growing conditions. (For more ways to create exciting new varieties, see “Making Good Seeds Better,” Page 22.) Here are three factors you need to consider if you want to save seed from a particular crop: 1) establishing the right separation distance to keep seed plants from crossing with other varieties of the same species; 2) correct population size — saving seed from more than just a few plants to maintain genetic diversity; and 3) harvesting when the seed is mature, then cleaning and drying it properly. The chart on Page 24 gives these details on seven easy-to-save crops. Beans, peas, and Southern peas have seeds that are easy to save because they make harvestable seeds in the pods being produced as the vegetable crop. Just let the pods mature fully on the plant. Tomatoes are also an easy beginning crop: They bear mature seeds as a natural consequence of producing ripe fruit. These four crops plus lettuce are also naturally self-pollinated, which means each plant is pollinated primarily from its own pollen rather than from traveling insects, making it much easier to maintain distinct varieties. In contrast, other common crops, including corn, squash, carrots, and beets, are cross-pollinated: Before they can produce seeds, one plant is usually pollinated with pollen from a different plant and carried by wind or insects.
Good seeds are expensive; growing your own is an easy way to save money.
Beans, peas and Southern peas are especially suited to home seed saving. WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM
DAVID CAVAGNARO; LEFT: SCOTT VLAUN
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sweet with a pleasing balance of tangy aromatics. ‘Glacier,’ a smaller, red slicer, comes from Sweden and has potato-leaf foliage and a bushy growth habit. The bulky ‘Glacier’ tomato plant grows to 30 inches tall, and needs staking to support its concentrated crop. ‘Whippersnapper’ is a pinkred cherry tomato with a quirky growth habit. Short side branches spread out horizontally, making the ‘Whippersnapper’ tomato ideal for containers or hanging baskets. In Canada, this variety has gained a following after winning a race for first ripe tomato of the season. Do not pinch or prune these or other quick-maturing determinate tomato varieties, because all stem tips will bear flowers and fruits, and then the plants will decline. You can try growing exceptionally early indeterminate varieties, such as ‘Stupice’ (small slicer) or ‘Bloody Butcher’ (large cherry), but their sprawling growth habits make them difficult to handle in containers. Growing these types outdoors in plasticwrapped cages is a better bet.
Expert Tips for Growing
EARLY TOMATOES By Barbara Pleasant
I
n almost any climate, the best time to start seeds for most tomato varieties is six to eight weeks before your average last spring frost. (You can find your frost dates at goo.gl/Wk8fDQ.) Going by this tried-and-true schedule will provide juicy tomatoes by high summer — but many gardeners and cooks become impatient for sun-ripened tomatoes even earlier in the season. You can satisfy this premature tomato craving by learning how to grow extra-early tomatoes. By choosing varieties that mature quickly, starting those seeds a month ahead of your typical schedule — 10 to 12 weeks before your last spring frost — and then giving the plants special care, you’ll harvest tomatoes at the beginning of sum-
mer, when your main-crop tomatoes are only just beginning to bloom. Most tomato varieties thrive in warm soils, so plan to grow your earliest tomatoes in containers for best results. In spring, when the plants start spending time outdoors, their roots will stay warmer in containers than they would if planted in the ground. You won’t need huge vessels because the stress from slightly cramped roots will push quick-maturing tomatoes to produce flowers in less time than usual. A 3-gallon bucket or a 12-inch-diameter pot or hanging basket will be about right for each plant. Ideally, each container should have a lip or handle for easy lifting.
Extra-Early Varieties In the garden, indeterminate varieties that produce for many weeks are usually
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preferable, but certain compact, determinate varieties will provide you with more tomatoes sooner. Choose carefully, as some early determinate varieties have much better flavor than others! The following open-pollinated, determinate tomato varieties have well-deserved reputations for delivering rich, main-season tomato flavor in record time. (Search through 333 tomato varieties for those with qualities you seek in our Tomato Chooser app; learn more online at www.motherearthnews.com/apps). ‘Sophie’s Choice’ is a cool-tolerant heirloom that was developed in Edmonton, Alberta. This variety produces round, red slicers on compact, 24-inch plants. Fruit size varies from egg-sized to baseball proportions, and the flavor of ‘Sophie’s Choice’ is mildly
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: LOUISE MOSER; FOTOLIA/KINGAN; DWIGHT KUHN; JEFF H. MCCORMACK
Want to fulfill your cravings and make your neighbors jealous? Add a whole month to your fresh-tomato season with these proven techniques.
Tomato seedlings need plenty of light to grow well.
You can start with any good commercial potting soil for growing early tomato varieties, and then mix in up to one-third compost. Watch plants to make sure they’re growing steadily, and feed them with a diluted, liquid organic fertilizer if new growth stalls. Be ready to step up feeding when the weather gets warm enough to move the plants outdoors. Dry organic fertilizers are easy to sprinkle over the soil’s surface before thorough waterings. With container tomatoes, you’ll need to be extra-diligent about watering; strive to keep the soil lightly moist at all times.
In Transition
On sunny spring days with temperatures above 55 degrees Fahrenheit, move the plants to a spot outdoors that gets sun, but little or no wind. The container Next season, see fruiting action weeks ahead of schedule! tomatoes will probably be too large for a cold frame, but you can make a high-profile minigreenhouse in minutes by turning a small table upside down and attaching sheet plastic to the legs to form an enclosure. If needed, you can shroud the setup with row cover for additional The Right Light insulation. Bring the plants inTomatoes are full-sun plants, side at night and during periods so indoor starts need supplemenof cold, damp weather, keeping tal light to grow well. Fluorescent them in your brightest window. lights are cheap and easy to rig As soon as your early tomatoes up, but they’re not all alike. To produce flowers, enhance pol‘Sophie’s Choice’ (above) and ‘Whippersnapper’ (opposite) learn about the newest genare great-tasting, quick-maturing tomato varieties. lination by blowing gently on the flower clusters or touching eration of energy-efficient grow the back of a vibrating toothbrush to lights, see “Best Grow Lights for Starting tainers, such as plant cell packs or blossom-bearing stems. You’ll want to Seeds Indoors” at goo.gl/GzkZ9E. 4-ounce paper cups. After your young mimic the buzzing action of pollinating Keep your lights on for about 14 to plants each produce one true leaf and bees, which, according to the Xerces 18 hours per day. You can use a timer, you can see white roots in the drainSociety, can increase fruit set by apor operate the lights manually. Pause to age holes, gently repot the plants into proximately 45 percent. blow on the plants twice a day — these 4-inch containers. little puffs of wind will enhance the After three weeks or so, when the If you choose quick-maturing tosturdiness of the growing stems. plants’ roots have filled the 4-inch pots, mato varieties and start growing them shift the plants into their permanent in containers 10 to 12 weeks before Planting, containers — 12-inch-diameter pots or your last spring frost, then you’ll enjoy Care and Feeding baskets, 3-gallon black nursery liners, delicious homegrown harvests weeks Use a fresh bag of seed-starting mix or plastic buckets that have plenty of before your neighbors even pick their to get your seeds going in small condrainage holes. first fruits. WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM
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ENLIST BENEFICIAL INSECTS FOR NATURAL PEST CONTROL
Grow the right flowers to attract these top 10 beneficial insects to your garden to minimize damage from aphids, caterpillars, flea beetles, and other pests. By Vicki Mattern Illustrations by Keith Ward
D
ay and night, pesticide-free organic gardens are abuzz with activity, much of it a life-and-death struggle between predators and prey. We seldom see much of this natural pest control, in which tiny assassins, soldiers and lions — aka “beneficial insects” (the bugs
1. Braconid Wasps (Hymenoptera) North America is home to nearly 2,000 species of these non-stinging wasps. Adults are less than half an inch long, with narrow abdomens and long antennae. Adults lay eggs inside or on host insects; the maggot-like larvae that emerge consume the prey. Diet: Caterpillars (including tomato hornworms), flies, beetle larvae, leaf miners, true bugs, and aphids. Adults consume nectar and pollen.
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that eat other bugs) — patrol their surroundings in pursuit of their next meal. Assassin bugs aren’t picky: They will stab, poison and devour a wide range of garden pests, including caterpillars, leafhoppers, and bean beetles. Soldier and carabid beetles work the night shift, emerging after dark from beneath rocks, mulch and other daytime hiding places to feast upon soft-bodied insects and the eggs of Colorado potato beetles. Aphid lions (the larvae of the lacewing) have a hooked jaw that helps them dispatch huge numbers of aphids, caterpillars, mites, and other pests. These and many other beneficial insects (see illustrations and profiles of our top picks throughout this article) are well-equipped to see, smell and/or taste a potential meal. Sometimes they’re alerted by the plants themselves, as some emit a chemical alarm signal when pest insects begin feeding on them, and nearby beneficial insects are quick to
2. Ground Beetles (Coleoptera) Most of the 2,500 species are one-eighth to 11⁄2 inches long, dark, shiny and hard-shelled. Diet: Asparagus beetles, caterpillars, Colorado potato beetles, corn earworms, cutworms, slugs, squash vine borers, and tobacco budworms. Some are also important consumers of weed seeds.
respond. If your garden is teeming with beneficials, these bugs may often thwart budding pest infestations before you’ve even noticed the threat. It’s nature’s way of managing pests — no pesticides required. Judging from reports from M E N readers across the continent, tapping the support of beneficial insects is one of our best tools for natural pest control. By providing a welcoming habitat — shelter, water and alternate food — you’ll encourage these insect helpers to maintain year-round residence in your garden. You can then kick back and enjoy the natural pest control provided by the diverse and amazingly complex balance among what we humans see as the “good bugs” and the “bad bugs.” Habitats for beneficial insects go by several names, such as “farmscape,” “ecoscape” and, in Europe, “beetle banks.” The concept of “farmscaping” to promote natural pest control isn’t new, but designing studies to confirm exactly what works best for a given crop in various regions is challenging. An increasing number of researchers have been exploring these interactions between insects and
4. Lacewings (Neuroptera) Larvae, sometimes called “aphid lions,” measure up to half an inch long and are light brown with hooked jaws. Adults are light green or brown and one-half to 1 inch long with transparent wings. Diet: Larvae prey upon aphids, small caterpillars and caterpillar eggs, other larvae, mealybugs, whiteflies, and more. Adults eat honeydew, nectar, and pollen, and some eat other insects.
plants to find new ways gardeners and farmers can grow food without resorting to toxic pesticides. The information here will equip you to put this growing body of knowledge to work in your garden.
B
7 Ways to Welcome Beneficial Insects 1. Plant a Nectary Smorgasbord of Flowers. When they can’t feed on insect pests in your garden, beneficial insects need other food to survive and reproduce. Having certain flowering plants in or near your garden supplies that food in the form of nectar and pollen. Beneficials use the sugar in nectar as fuel when searching for prey and reproducing, and the protein in pollen helps support the development of their eggs. Which plants are easiest for them to tap? Researchers have identified the following groups whose flowers provide
p y ca at in
a an in
3. Hover or Syrphid Flies (Diptera) Larvae are small, tapered maggots that crawl over foliage. Black-and-yellow-striped adults resemble yellow jackets but are harmless to humans. The adults hover like hummingbirds as they feed from flowers. Diet: Larvae eat mealybugs and small caterpillars, and are especially helpful in controlling early season aphids. The adults feed on nectar and pollen.
th In ar p th
easily accessible nectar and pollen: 1) plants in the daisy family, such as aster, cosmos, and yarrow; 2) plants in the carrot family, such as cilantro, dill, fennel, parsley, and wild carrot; 3) alyssum and other members of the mustard family; 4) mints; and 5) buckwheats. Plants in these families are especially good because their clusters of tiny flowers make accessing their nectar and pollen easier for many insects. For a longer list of flowers that support beneficials, check out www. motherearthnews.com/beneficial-bugs, and if you’ve noticed plants in your garden that are bustling with insects while flowering, tell us about them in the comments section of that page. Beneficial insects can be broadly categorized as generalists — those that eat most anything they can catch — and specialists — those that WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM
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PLANT POLLINATION PRIMER By Barbara Pleasant Illustrations by Elayne Sears
Get the facts on how insects and wind pollinate your crops so you can plant smarter and haul in heftier harvests.
and ‘Tropic’ tomatoes. These are more likely to set fruit sucmale anthers to the female stigma, and then move on to cessfully under conditions that would cause a sensitive variety, do the same to another flower. The pollen grains of insectsuch as ‘Mortgage Lifter,’ to shed most of pollinated crops are sticky for easy transport, its blossoms. and many plants advertise for pollinator serPlant corn and other vices with colorful flowers — visual billboards wind-pollinated crops Insect Pollination promising a sweet drink of nectar, some nuin large blocks instead To produce fruit, about 35 percent of tritious pollen and occasionally a safe place of in rows to achieve food crops require repeat visits by insect adequate pollination pollinators, such as bees, wasps, butand a good harvest. terflies, flies, and beetles — any creature that will crawl into the blossom, transfer pollen from the The blossoms of some self-fertile crops, such as beans and tomatoes, benefit from a good “buzz” from pollinators, such as bumblebees.
A
Self-Fertile Plants s humans, it’s hard to imagine sex without the ability to move, which is the fundamental challenge of plant Beans, peas and tomatoes are examples of species that are pollination. To make seeds, reproductive cells (called “self-fertile,” which means that all the necessities for success“gametes”) from separate male and female cells must join, ful pollination reside within each flower. A bit of well-timed often from separate flowers and sometimes from separate shaking is all that’s needed to sprinkle pollen grains where plants — but the plants can’t move to help make the miracle they need to go, which in nature is done by wind and visits happen. Instead, they rely on the resources around them: by buzzing insects. For example, bean blossoms offer no necwind, insects, birds and, sometimes, people. tar, but a bumblebee can shake out a pollen reward by giving Understanding plant pollination is more crucial than ever, them a good buzz. as we are in the midst of a severe decline of native pollinators When beans, peas and tomatoes bloom but set no fruit, because of ubiquitous pesticide use in monocrop agriculture. the weather — not a lack of pollinating insects — is usually While we may not be able to change this unsustainable practo blame. Cold or hot weather often causes flower abnortice overnight, we can make some changes in malities that, in turn, cause fertilization our own backyards to bolster pollinator poputo fail. To overcome weather-related Water features, a lations and, in turn, our harvests. crop failures, plant a few varieties resident beehive Numerous factors that influence successful known for their cold or heat toland a diversity of pollination are within a gardener’s control, inerance — for example, ‘Glacier’ colorful blooms invite cluding planting in certain arrangements, using pollinators aplenty organic methods, encouraging wild pollinators into a garden. and, when need be, actively intervening with hand pollination. The benefits of better pollination can be huge with crops that are eaten as mature, seed-bearing fruits, such as berries, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, and tree fruits. Like most plants, food crops have sophisticated reproductive systems in place, ready to take on the pollination gamble. Delicate female parts are hidden inside the flower, safe from the elements. Plant pollen faces an out-in-the-open, hostile journey — even with a waxy coating and a stash of carbs for energy, male pollen grains must quickly find their way to a receptive female organ. There, they grow a tube that unites them with the ovary, thus forming a fertilized seed. 48 MOTHER EARTH NEWS • PREMIUM GUIDE TO ORGANIC GARDENING
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BUZZ-WORTHY PLANTS
Attract Native Bees to Your Organic Garden Transform your backyard into a bee sanctuary with nectar-rich flowers, insect hotels and more. By Barbara Pleasant Illustrations by Elayne Sears
T
he planet’s best pollinators are in big trouble. Wildflower meadows where native bees once gathered nectar and pollen have turned into shopping malls, and dead trees where these ancient insects nest are getting harder to find. The native bees that do manage to survive are imperiled by Big Ag’s pesticides — unless they can find safe haven in diversified organic gardens. Gardeners can reap huge benefits from hosting helpful pollinators, which tend to stay put when given food and a place to live. Native bees — including bumblebees, sweat
bees, mining bees and others — pollinate many crops more efficiently and completely than honeybees do, with strawberries, blueberries and the entire squash family reliant on local pollinators to produce their best crops. Tomatoes visited by bumblebees bear bigger fruits, because the big bees’ buzzing action shakes loose more pollen than wind alone. Strawberries pollinated by multiple types of bees yield fewer misshapen berries, and pumpkins pollinated by native squash bees produce larger pumpkins. Pollinators play a significant role in producing 150 food crops in the United States and, according to the Xerces Society (a nonprofit wildlife conservation group), one in three mouthfuls of our food and drink requires their work.
The Bees’ Needs For about 70 percent of the 4,000 bee species native to North America, home is a secure
spot tunneled into the ground (ground nesters). The other 30 percent nest in dead trees and stems (wood nesters). Almost all native bees live alone, not in colonies. Passive by nature, bees won’t usually sting unless squashed or pinched. Young adult bees emerge from their nests at various times during the year, usually in sync with the blooming period of their favorite crops. Females quickly mate and select good nesting sites, which are often within 1,000 feet of desirable flowering plants (see “Best Plants for Attracting Native Bees,” Page 54). After making a few short flights to learn their new addresses, ground-nesting bees immediately start working to excavate a nest and stock it with eggs. Gathering the necessary pollen, nectar and sometimes mud requires thousands of trips between flowers and the nest. The closer the flowers are to the bees’ nest, the less energy the bees must expend in flight.
pack their well-provisioned eggs into the hollows of twigs and branches. They frequently accept man-made nesting blocks. Mining bees look like miniature honeybees but have long, wasplike wings. Active early in the year, they are important pollinators of fruit trees. Although mining bees are solitary ground nesters, numerous closely spaced nests may appear in hospitable spots.
Types of Native Bees The following five types of native bees provide pollination for gardens and orchards. Bumblebees are the largest native bees, and they also tend to fly the farthest in search of food. Active from spring to fall, they pollinate a wide range of plants and are especially important to legumes. Bumblebees usually nest in the ground or in cavities in trees. Bumblebees are the only native bees that are truly social. Mason bees are also called “orchard bees” because they often appear in fruit orchards in spring. These stout, bristly little bees may be black or metallic blue or green. Mason bees use mud to
From left: Squash bees collect only cucurbit pollen; bumblebees pollinate legumes; sweat bees prefer strawberries and blueberries; mason bees can help ensure a good harvest of many tree fruits. 52 MOTHER EARTH NEWS • PREMIUM GUIDE TO ORGANIC GARDENING
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WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM
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CROP AT A GLANCE
In the Kitchen
Garden-fresh potatoes are a delicacy that you can pan-fry for breakfast, steam for a lunchtime salad, or serve roasted or mashed for a supreme comfort food. An excellent source of vitamin C and iron, potatoes also deliver a range of B vitamins and minerals. Everything goes with potatoes, but they pair particularly well with rosemary, onions and garlic, and with any type of roasted meat.
ies two to three weeks before your last spring frost date.
How to Plant
All About Growing
POTATOES By Barbara Pleasant Illustrations by Keith Ward
N
ative to the mountains of South America, potatoes should be planted first thing in spring, when the soil is still cool. Gardeners can tap into a deliciously diverse selection of varieties, and saving and replanting your favorite potato varieties from one year to the next is easy.
Types to Try Potatoes vary in size, shape, color, texture and time to maturity. Maturation time is the most important variable, because potato tubers grow best when soil temperatures are between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. No matter which type you plant, try to get your crop harvested before hot summer temperatures arrive. Early varieties that mature in less than 90 days are a good fit for any garden. Creamy, round ‘Irish Cobbler,’
purple-skinned ‘Caribe’ and prolific ‘Red Norland’ fall into this group, along with ‘King Harry,’ which is resistant to Colorado potato beetles. Midseason varieties mature in 100 days or so, and these include ‘Yukon Gold’ and ‘Red La Soda,’ which is often the top-producing potato in warm climates. Late varieties need 110 days or more of growing time, but they typically produce a heavy set of tubers that will keep well in storage. ‘Butte’ is an all-purpose brownskinned potato that performs well in the Midwest; ‘Katahdin’ and ‘Kennebec’ rule in the Northeast. Elongated fingerling potatoes vary in their maturation times and come in a range of colors and sizes. None are early, but late-maturing fingerlings will size up earlier if you pre-sprout the seed potatoes before you plant them. (To shop for seed potatoes, go to www.motherearthnews.com/customseed-search.)
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Prepare the planting bed by loosening the soil to at least 10 inches deep. Potatoes adapt well to acidic soils that have a pH below 6.0, which is lower than the pH many other vegetable crops prefer. Thoroughly mix in a layer of compost or rotted leaves, along with a half-ration of alfalfa meal, soybean meal or another high-nitrogen organic fertilizer (follow the directions on the label). Do not use manure, as it has been correlated with an increase in rough patches on spud skins. Two days before planting, cut the seed potatoes into pieces so that each piece has two to three buds (or “eyes”). Cutting the seed potatoes and letting the cut pieces dry for about two days will reduce the risk
of rotting. Work carefully if the eyes have already grown into sprouts. Allow the cut pieces to dry in a well-ventilated room. Plant the pieces 12 inches apart in 4-inchdeep furrows, and cover the seed pieces with 2 inches of soil. Fill in the furrows after the first sprouts emerge.
Harvesting and Storage Potato plants will die back as they finish making their crop. Begin digging when the foliage starts to yellow and wither. Gently knock off dirt, and allow the tubers to dry indoors, covered with dry towels, for a day or two. Take care to protect the tubers from sunlight at all times to prevent greening that may result in bitterness. Store the best tubers in a cool, 50- to 60-degree place, such as a root cellar, to be used as seed potatoes. Eat the less-than-perfect potatoes first,
Pest and Disease Prevention
Saving Seeds Plants occasionally produce true seeds, but they are easiest to propagate by replanting the actual potatoes. If you’re a new gardener, start with certified diseasefree seed potatoes. Set aside — and resist the urge to eat! — several pounds of perfect, medium-sized potatoes, as they will be great for planting the following year. You’ll need about 6 pounds of seed potatoes to plant a 50-foot row, and yield will vary from 75 to 125 pounds.
Problem
Description
Controls
Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata
Yellow-and-black-striped beetles lay orange eggs on leaf undersides. Brick-red larvae eat leaves and flowers.
Resistant varieties (‘King Harry’); row covers; straw mulch; crop rotation; handpicking; spinosad.
Slugs and snails
Soft-bodied mollusks, with or without shells, chew holes in leaves at night or during rainy weather.
No evening watering; handpicking and trapping; encourage ground beetles and other natural predators with enhanced habitats; practice delayed or reduced mulching.
Flea beetles Epitrix cucumeris
Tiny black beetles chew numerous small, round holes in leaves. Second generation may tunnel into tubers.
Tolerate light damage, or use spinosad to control serious infestations.
Scab Streptomyces species
Soilborne bacteria that cause corky patches to form on potato skins. Affected potatoes are good to eat, but less than beautiful.
Resistant varieties; rotate with unrelated crops; maintain constant soil moisture; do not use any kind of manure.
Early blight Alternaria solani
Widespread fungal disease that causes brown spots to form on leaves. Encouraged by wet weather and the presence of mature, failing plants.
Maintain wide spacing and use drip irrigation to keep leaves dry; harvest tubers before the disease becomes severe.
Late blight Phytophthora infestans
Devastating fungal disease encouraged by mild, wet weather. Causes leaves to wilt and turn brown within a few days.
Resistant varieties; early planting; wide spacing to help keep leaves dry.
When to Plant In climates with short springs and hot summers, plant the early and midseason varieties three to four weeks before your last spring frost date. (You can find your last spring frost date online at goo.gl/ L9ed6.) In climates with long springs and hot summers, plant early and midseason varieties three to four weeks before your last spring frost date; plant late-maturing varieties in early summer so they’ll mature in the cooler days of fall. In climates with cool summers, plant early, midseason and late variet-
but keep in mind that they won’t store forever. For longer storage, blanch and dry potato slices. If you plan to can any potatoes, you must use a pressure canner to do so safely. After harvesting the potatoes in the early stages of summer, plant the vacated space with beans or squash, or with a cover crop of buckwheat.
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7/31/18 11:21 AM