Weekly Hint #1

Weekly Hint #2

It is good practice this time of year, especially if you have been growing throughout the winter, to perform a soil test.
Starting from a simple PH kit, these tests can measure every aspect of nutrient balance in tired soil. This is a vital prerequsite to soil amendment if you wish to provide optimum growing conditions for plants. Manure teas, organic blood meal and well rotted finished manure/compost are what we added to our dome to make up for nitrogen depletion and alkali soil. Diatameceous earth can be used (carefully) if ground bugs are a problem. Do this before introducing beneficial insects. Hope this helps!

Aphids, Whiteflies, Sow bugs, centipedes, caterpillars, millipedes, mites, mealybugs, fruit flies and vinegar flies. The two most effective methods of natural pest control we have used this spring, before introducing beneficial insects are:

1). Pyola a plant extract oil that controls the egg stages of pests present in dormant season and scale insects etc and also works on live insects such as aphids and whiteflies. The active ingredient is Canola Oil and Pyrethrins. The important thing about it is that it does not persist for long periods in the environment and does not contain Pheronly butoxide. Can be purchased at www.gardensalive.com

2). Diatomaceous earth which is EPA approved and found at your local gardening shop, is fantastic for crawling insects such as sow bugs, millipedes, slugs, beetles and ants etc. It comes in powder form and like Pyola will destroy any beneficial insects so is best used before introducing them. Check the plastic liners in beds to see if this is where the bugs are coming from and if need be place the dust behind these.

Good luck winning the battle with the bugs!

Weekly Hint #4

Safer® Tomato & Vegetable Insect Killer - 32 oz

APHIDS AND WHITEFLY DEMISE! Our absolute favorite tool for safely killing these bugs is called SAFER®, Tomato & Vegetable Insect Killer. "Safer, is a product made for the food you eat from a name you trust." Since it was created with tomatoes in mind, you can be confident when using it in your vegetable garden. It breaks down quickly, completely and harmlessly. A patented mix of pyrethrins and insecticidal soaps, this mixture kills most soft-bodied bugs on contact. The main active ingredient, pyrthrin, disrupts the nervous system, causing virtual instant paralysis in insects. The secondary ingredient, insecticidal soap penetrates bugs and vaporizes their cell walls. The bugs don't stand a chance. For best results use regularly. Heavy pest infestations may require more frequent useage intervals"

Note: Hose the plants down to wipe off dead bodies between sprays. Keep away from beneficials.

Weekly Hint #5

August is the best time to plan ahead for your cool hardy crops. Start seeds for carrots, kale, cauliflower, raddish, lettuce, onions, broccoli, cabbage and many others.

Now is a great time to reduce your potential pests next year by interplanting for resistance i.e. garlic and other strongly scented plants, which pests despise. Also, you should choose pest free plant stock and resistant varieties. Johnny's Selected Seeds has a good variety of organic products and has proved popular with organic gardeners.

To prevent new plantings from being eaten, put copper mesh or wire around them, this distributes a charge which shocks and repels them. Because of the fertilizer they produce, Killing slugs is usually only advised when you have a large build up - it is much better to control them using copper around new shoots, beer traps and watering in the morning instead of night.

Pruning herbs such as basil, makes them bushier and more flavorful - add these trimmings to your compost to add an essential source of nitrogen.

Weekly Hint #6

Preparing for Winter - Part 1

After a summer of cornicopia bliss, we should now be looking once again to amending/changing our tired soil. If the goal is to produce throughout winter, the nutrients in the soil will need replenishing before planting the cooler weather crops.

If you have not changed the soil at all within the last year, you might want to dig around in various parts of the bed and look at the quality. A large amount of root matter often gets left in the soil between harvests and this drains heavy amounts of nutrients in order to be broken down.

I would try and take out as much as a third in the worst spots and then put in a good layer of green organic compost and or bagged animal manure. Then put a layer of top soil and finish off with potting soil if you are going to plant directly in the beds. This provides a perfect start for seeds and the layer of compost will release nitrogen into the rest of the soil every time it is watered.

Weekly Hint #7

Preparing for Winter - Part 2

Winter planting: Now is a great time to put in the herbs, both for winter stews and cooking and because they are natures natural insectisides.
Other plants to plant in November would include; fava beans, kale, spinich, garlic, cabbage, swiss chard, beets, lettuce, green onions, turnips, radish, kholrabi and brussel sprouts. If you are bringing plants from outside inside the dome, try to bring the smaller ones as larger ones more established plants will often go into to too much shock. Make sure you spray them with SAFER or eqiuvalent of a mild soap detergent and clean the leaves the next day to get off any pests and eggs.

Weekly Hint #8

Organic Composting:

Good compost added throughout the year will give your plants a much healthier life. They will be more resistant to bugs and will be getting a slow release via the compost into the soil of the nutrients they need to survive. The NPK balance is likely to be severely depleted by year round growing. What you are looking for is a rich humus in your finished compost and if your compost is taking a long time to finish, chances are there is not enough heat build up to be destroying disease and weed seeds. The most common reason for this is not enough green material in the pile, oxygen or manure. The pile is best put in a container with 3/4 sides and a bottom or to prevent leaching, drying out or overwatering. If the pile smells too strong, there could be too much nitrogen, don't put animal products into your compost (exccept eggshells and manure!). Chopping up the ingredients helps break it down faster. Some good ingredients to add are: green leaves and vegatable waste, comfrey leaves, worm castings, algae from your pond, coffee grounds, egg shells, dryer lint, manure, a small amount of pine needles and wood ash.