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Maryland Master Gardeners’
Mission
To educate Maryland residents about safe, effective and
sustainable horticultural practices that build healthy gardens,
landscapes, and communities.
www.extension.umd.edu/growitGrow Your Own Food
We Can Show You HowClick on Classes TabAnd Scroll down to
Howard County
What is a holistic approach
• Webster’s defines holistic as “emphasizing the organic or functional relation between parts and whole”
• When growing vegetables that means relationship between our vegetable plants and• Soil
• Nutrients in the soil• Water and air in balance
• Sun• Insects
Why Practice a Holistic Approach
• To conserve scarce resources• To mimic nature• To maximize biological and genetic
diversity• To provide the best environment for our
vegetables• Healthy plants grow quickly and resist
insect attack
Keys To A Healthy Vegetable Garden
• Healthy soil• Full sun• Sufficient soil moisture and air• Keeping pests to acceptable levels • Grow recommended vegetable
varieties• HG 70 Recommended vegetable cultivars for
Maryland home gardens
What is healthy soil
• Lots of organic material added• Six inches of OM for new gardens• One inch for established gardens• Creates a beneficial environment for soil
invertibrates and micro organisms• Holds water and nutrients -
• Ways to add organic material• Well composted farmyard manure• Compost• Shredded leaves and grass clippings• Organic mulches• Cover crops
What does compost do
• Creates a beneficial environment for soil invertebrates and organisms
• Creates well-drained, deep and crumbly soil• Allows for maximum root growth• Improve soil structure (breaks up clay) and
creates pores for water retention and air infiltration
• Creates a reservoir of slow-release nutrients.
What is healthy soil• Soil with proper pH and nutrient levels
• Do a soil test• Proper pH for vegetables is between 6.2 and 6.8• Test will provide recommendation for macro
(NPK) and micro nutrients • Follow recommendations• N is the nutrient most often in short supply
• UMD recommendation is .1 to .2 #/100 sqft.• Over fertilization can harm plants
• Uncompacted soil with lots of pores for air and water
Soil References
• Online references at www.extension.umd.edu/hgic
• Click on “Information Library”, “Publications” then on “Vegetables, Fruit and Herb Gardening• HG11 Soil test basics• HG110 Selecting and using a soil testing
laboratory• HG 42 Soil amendments and fertilizers• FS782 Basics of soil and plant fertility
• Videos – Click on Youtube button on GIEI website
Sun
• Fruiting vegetables like full sun• Minimum requirement is 8 hrs.
• Leafy greens like full sun• Minimum requirement is 5-6 hrs.
Most commonly available commercial organic fertilizers
• Check OMRI for specific producers (www.omri.org)• Fish emulsion: 6-2-2• Seaweed extract: 1-0.5-2• Blood meal: 15-1-0• Cottonseed meal: 6-2.5-1.5• Guano: 8 to 13-8-2• Bone meal: 4-21-0• Rock phosphate: 0-22-0• Alfalfa meal: 3-1-2• Soybean Meal 7-2-1
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Soil Moisture
• On average plants require one inch of water a week• Equals .62 gallons/sqft.• Equals 20 gallons on a 4 by 8 ft. raised bed
• Moisture requirements are dependent on weather and the variety of vegetable being grown• E.g.. Tomatoes require extra moisture to avoid
blossom end rot (BER)• Moisture needs to be delivered to the plant roots
• Most efficient method of delivery is drip irrigation• GIEI Youtube videos – search for drip irrigation
• Mulching plants helps conserve soil moisture • GIEI Youtube videos – search for mulchzilla
Air• Plant roots require air
• Clay soil – holds water tightly• Sandy soil – doesn’t hold water
• The residual decomposition of organic materials creates soil structure by binding soil particles together into large clumps or aggregates which create pores for air
Integrated Pest Management
• Simple steps and common sense• Study• Spy• Squish
• An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure• Companion planting• A healthy garden with good soil, adequate
moisture and proper nutrition can withstand some pest predation
Beneficials v. Pests
• Attract predators and parasites• Ultimately, predators will increase as prey is
available• Planting open faced flowers attracts predators that
require nectar in their adult stage• Purchasing predators tends not to be effective• Ducks, chickens and toads
Common PredatorsPraying Mantid
Common PredatorsLady Bird Beetle and Larva
Common PredatorsYellow Argiope
Jumping spider
Wolf SpiderOrb Weaver
Wheel bug
Common Predators
Common PredatorsSyrphid fly and larva: predator of aphids
Common PredatorsParasitized Tomato Hornworm
Common Vegetable PestsMexican Bean Beetle
Adult Eggs & larvae
• Row cover• Crush• Pyrethrum, neem, spinosad spray top and bottom of leaves
Common Vegetable PestsCucumber Beetle
Stripped Spotted
Floating row coverPyrethrum, neem oil, spinosad
Common Vegetable PestsHarlequin bug
Adult Eggs & nymphs
• Row cover• Crush• Insecticidal soap alone or with pyrethrum or neem
Common Vegetable PestsFlea Beetle
Adults
Floating row cover over hoopsSurround (kaolin clay) – reapply after rainPyrethrum, neem, spinosad
Common Vegetable PestsImported Cabbage Looper
Adult Larvae
• Floating row cover• Bacillus Thuringensis (BT), insecticidal soap• Pyrethrum, neem, spinosad – use with sticker spreader
Common Vegetable PestsSquash Bug
Adult Eggs & nymphs
• No pesticide for homeowners• Floating row cover• Hand pick tear out section of leaf with eggs• Kill nymphs with neem or hort oil or insecticidal soap
Common Vegetable PestsSquash Vine Bore
Larvae
• Floating row cover• Cut out borer and mound soil over wound
Common Vegetable PestsStink Bugs
BMSB Adult Southern Green Stink BugBrown
• True hard shell bugs like squash and stink bugs are hard to kill• Use row cover where possible• Hand pick and destroy adults and eggs• Insecticidal soap and botanicals can be used on 1st and 2nd instars (nymphs)• No pesticide available for homeowners to kill adults
Physical Controls & Barriers
• Hand pick and destroy• Apply a barrier on the plant (Surround)• Cover the bed with a barrier (row cover)
Targeted Applications for Specific Pests
• https://extension.umd.edu/growit – Click on “Vegetables” tab, “Common Vegetable
Problems” and “Vegetable Insects Pests”• With all pesticides
– Always read the label and follow instructions• Bacillus Thuringiensis
– Use on brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, etc.)– Cabbage looper and other caterpillars
• Horticultural oils• Insecticidal soap
Broad Spectrum Killers• With all pesticides
– Always read the label– Follow label instructions
• Pyrethrums - contact• Spinosad –ingestion• Neem oil - contact and ingestion
– Azadirachtin• These insecticides can be ever bit as deadly as
synthetic ones
This program was brought to you by
Maryland Master Gardener Program
Howard County
University of Maryland Extension
