I'm starting a little record keeping here [May 2012]. This will help me keep track of what I planted, when, seeds or plants, notes, etc. I'll be making additions and revisions as the season goes along.
There are three sections on this page [headings in red]: Garden Pests, My 2012 garden, Our month-by-month garden schedule. I hope you find what you need. If you want to see something else, email me. [my email is on the right sidebar.]
Common garden pests and what to do about them:
Flea beetles attack especially eggplant, but like everything in the nightshade [tomato/potato] and brassica [cabbage] families. Hand pick them off into soapy water. Sprinkle diatomaceous earth on and around the plants.Squash bugs attack squash and melon plants and fruit. Hand pick into soapy water or squash them. Pull off and destroy any egg deposits that you find under the leaves. Young squash bugs look like little blue-ish spiders. Kill them. Squash bugs like to hide under big leaves and things next to the ground. Make sure you lift up any leaves that are on the ground and look under them. Get rid of any dead plant material around the plants.
Vine borers attack squash and melon vines. You'll see little holes drilled into the stems and vines and debris that looks a bit like sawdust around the hole. The plants will suddenly faint and may die within a few days. Sprinkle some Bt [an organic bacteria] on the young plants and affected areas. I have had great success saving really sad plants this way. Bt is an abbrevation for bacillus thuringiensis. Several gardening products contain Bt as the active ingredient. Ask for it at your local garden centers.
Hornworms attack tomatoes, potatoes and tobacco. There are two types of hornworms - the tomato hornworm and the tobacco hornworm. They are the larvae of big beautiful moths. Watch for them early and pick them off the plants. They'll get all unhappy and wiggle around. Don't let that stop you. Watch for their very distinctive frass [poop]. Where you see the frass, look up until you find the worm. We pick them off and feed them to the chickens. Be vigilant! You'll get good at noticing them when they're small, before they do a lot of damage. That said, they're easy to find when they've eaten off two feet of tomato vine and have left a big frass trail.
Blister beetles attack potatoes, tomatoes and many other garden plants of all types. The plants look chewed and there is quite a bit of slimy looking bug poop. The beetles are easy to identify and see. They can get pretty big when they're well fed. We hand pick them off in the morning and it only takes a few pickings to really cut down on the population. They are called blister beetles for a reason - they contain a toxin that can cause spectacular blisters on your skin if the bug is squashed on it. Wear gloves if you have sensitive skin. My fingers did peel when I squashed them as I picked them off. [I didn't know what they were the first time we found them.] When I just picked them off and dropped them into soapy water, I had no blisters or peeling.
What I'm growing in 2012
Notes: Seeds come from BC=Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, unless indicated. I've listed the exact variety of each plant, where I knew it. There are some that I've lost or never knew. I'll add more notes as the season progresses. We've had poor luck pollinating the winter squash in the past, but now that we have bees, I expect we'll have better luck. That's why I planted a lot of the squash seeds we tried last year but had no luck at all with. I tried saving some of my own seed last year and I've noted which of our own seeds we're trying this year.
Beans
- Red Chinese long beans [our saved seed from 2011]
- Green Chinese long beans
- Dragon Tongue [our saved seed from 2011]
- Blue Lake [our saved seed from 2011]
Cabbage: 4 pack from Menard's
Carrots: St Valery
Collards: 4 pack from Menard's
Cucumber
- Telegraph
- de Bourbonne [tiny ones]
- Japanese Pickling [good success 2011]
- Rosa Bianca [round, rose pink]
Flowers: zinnia (liliput), tithonia
Herbs, Annual:
- Basil, dark purple opal
- Basil, italian
- cilantro, slo bolt [our saved seed from 2011]
- Lavender
- Thyme
- Sage
- Horehound
- Chives
- Anise Hyssop
- Hyssop
- Chamomile [self sows]
- Alpine Strawberries
- Clary Sage
- Winter savory
- Lemon balm
- Sorrel
- watermelon Crimson Sweet
- muskmelon Kansas
- muskmelon Sweet Passion: good success 2011
Onions
- 1 bag sets yellow
- 1 bag sets red. From May's
- Egyptian walking onions
- Sugar Snap
- Mammoth Melting Sugar
- Pepperoncini
- Orange Bell
- Lipstick
- Anaheim
Radish: rat's tail
Sweet potatoes: Georgia Jet. From Bloomingfood's
Squash, Summer
- Zucchino Rampicante
- Golden Marbre Scallop [pattypan]
- Lemon Squash
- Castata Romanesco [zucch type]
- Baby blue hubbard [try again, BC seed from 2011]
- Golden hubbard
- Omaha pumpkin [smallish, enlongated]
- butternut Rogosa Violina Gioia
- Queensland Blue
- Greek Sweet Red [BC seed from 2011 to try again]
- Black Futsu [BC seed from 2011 to try again]
- Choctaw Sweet Potato squash [BC seed from 2011 to try again]
- June bearing [from May's]
- Ever bearing [from May's]
- Red Zebra
- North Dakota Earliana
- Beauty King
- Principe Borghese [grape]
- Amish Paste
- Pontano Romanesco
Our basic month-by-month planting/harvesting schedule for south central Indiana.
February
- Kale: Transplant from the coldframe to the garden as soon as the weather warms up some - late Feb, early March
- Tomatoes: plant seeds in milk jugs with holes poked in the bottom. Put the jugs in the cold frame to stay warm until they sprout and get a few inches high.
- Eggplant: plant seeds in milk jugs with holes poked in the bottom. Put the jugs in the cold frame to stay warm until they sprout and get a few inches high.
- Peppers: plant seeds in milk jugs with holes poked in the bottom. Put the jugs in the cold frame to stay warm until they sprout and get a few inches high.
- Peas: at the end of the month, plant seeds right where you want them.
- Cabbage, Broccoli, Collards, etc: Put plants out. [I've had bad luck with seeds so far. Need to try again.]
- Sweet Potatoes: Start calling around to see if you can reserve starts. They go fast!
- Onion sets: Plant them around the edges of the garden beds. Easier to harvest all season when you need them. You can start using them as soon as there are nice greens.
- Strawberries: New plants if you need them.
- Beans: Plant seeds where you want them in the garden.
- Coriander/Cilantro: Plant seeds where you want them in the garden.
- Radishes: Plant seeds where you want them in the garden.
- Carrots: Plant seeds where you want them in the garden. [This is our first year to try them.]
- Okra: Plant seeds where you want them in the garden.
- Zinnias, Tithonia, Cosmos, other flowers: Seed where you want them.
- Dill: Plant seeds where you want them.
- Potatoes: In towers or rows. Do not plant them in the same bed as squash or melons.
- Kale: Harvest the last and pull it up
- Lettuce: Harvest the last and pull it up.
- Squash [all]: Plant seeds where you want them. In mounds.
- Melons: Plant seeds where you want them. In mounds.
- Cucumbers: Plant seeds at the base of a trellis. They want to climb.
- Basil: Plant seeds where you want them.
- Tomatoes: Put out plants.
- Eggplant: Put out plants.
- Peppers: Put out plants.
- Sweet potatoes: Put out plants. Do not plant them in the same bed as squash or melons.
- Fennel: Plant seeds where you want them.
- Leeks: Put out plants. Mound sand or straw in a long row next to them. As they get bigger, push the much on them to blanch them.
- Peaches: Harvest and freeze. Make chutney, pie filling and jam.
- Basil, round 2: Plant seeds where you want them.
- Strawberries: Harvest and freeze. Freezer jam is good!
- Blueberries: Get these from a U-Pick place. 9 gallons. Freeze them.
- Black Raspberries and Blackberries: Pick these wild from the property: 6-8 gallons. Freeze, make syrup and jelly.
- Can: Tomatoes, Tomasqua, Jam, Jam and more Jam, Pickles, Chutney, etc.
- Freeze: Beans
- Pesto
- Pears: U-Pick. Make pie filling and jam.
- Garlic: Plant the cloves where you won't forget them in the spring
- Egyptian walking onions: Plant them in a place they can stay and move around a bit. They'll set plants where the tops drop.
- Apples: U-Pick. Applesauce, pie filling.
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Arugula
- Radishes
- Parsley
- Onion sets
- Onion seeds: I've had minimal luck doing that, but did manage to get a couple.
