May 18 column: Floating row cover

May 18, 2014 Susan

Here is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Products boost plant health organically. (you can also read my column lower in this post.) This one’s about how I garden organically through the use of some very helpful, environmentally-friendly products. I hope you’ll find it interesting and useful.

Quick clarification

I also wanted to mention that due to a mistake in the editing of my column, there is a confusing statement that I wanted to clarify. It reads, “The only veggies I grow that are susceptible to insects are cabbage-family crops — spinach, Swiss chard and beets.” That wasn’t how I wrote the sentence and I do know that spinach, Swiss chard and beets aren’t in the cabbage family (they’re actually part of the beet family). The way the sentence should’ve read was that the crops I grow that have insect issues are cabbage family crops and spinach, Swiss chard and beets. So cabbage-family crops would include things like cabbage, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi and the like. Sorry for the confusion!

If you ever have any questions about sources for the types of products I mentioned in it, just put a comment on this post or drop me an email at Susan@susansinthegarden.com.

Floating Row Cover column:

by Susan Mulvihill

Last week, I discussed several things a gardener can do to keep their plants healthy and productive. Today, I wanted to share with you the types of products I use to grow vegetables and fruits organically.

What is floating row cover?

My favorite product is floating row cover. This is a lightweight, woven fabric that looks like the interfacing seamstresses use in garments. When placed over plants, it acts as a physical barrier to keep out hungry insects.

Many organic farmers use row covers to reduce insect damage to their crops. The only veggies I grow that are susceptible to insects are cabbage-family crops, spinach, Swiss chard and beets.

Since none of these crops needs to be pollinated, I cover their beds as soon as I sow the seeds and leave them covered the entire season. It works great.

Frost protection

Row covers also provide a few degrees of frost protection. Lightweight row covers protect plants down to about 28 degrees F. I often use it to plant some of my warm-season vegetable crops a bit earlier or I’ll use it the first couple of weeks to help plants get off to a good start. There are heavier weights of row cover — often called “frost blankets” or “garden quilts” — that offer even more protection.

Organic products

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) provides an organic way for dealing with the larval, or caterpillar, stage of bothersome insects. These include tomato hornworms and cabbage worms. This is a strain of bacteria safe for humans but deadly to caterpillars.

Whenever slugs are a problem, I sprinkle a product called diatomaceous earth around their favorite plants. Since it’s comprised of crushed, fossilized crustaceans, the sharp edges cut through the slug’s skin. There are also organic slug baits available.

Organic fertilizers

The next item I use frequently is organic fertilizer. Many years ago, it was tricky finding them but now they’re widely available at nurseries and garden centers which is terrific.

My favorite high-nitrogen fertilizer is fish fertilizer. This comes in liquid form and is diluted with water. I use it to get seedlings off to a good start once they have one or two pairs of true leaves. Fish fertilizer is also great for plants that produce a lot of foliage, such as lettuce, spinach and Swiss chard.

I use bone meal, which is high in phosphorus, for root crops like beets, turnips, carrots, parsnips and onions, and for veggies that will bloom and set fruit. There are many organic fertilizers that are high in phosphorus and/or potassium, which also helps with root growth.

Organic orchard products

There are a few organic products I use for growing tree fruits like apples and cherries:

Different types of indicator traps contain pheromones (mating hormones) that lure in codling moths and cherry fruit flies. The traps are lined with a sticky substance. Once these insects start getting caught in the traps, I know it’s time to use organic sprays to protect the fruit.

For growing apples, I spray the trees with an organic product called kaolin clay. It’s a flour-like powder that you mix with water. I cover our apples with little nylon footies, also known as maggot barriers, to prevent codling moths from laying eggs on the developing fruit. That’s a tedious job but between the kaolin spray and all of the footies, the majority of our apples are worm-free. For cherries, I now use an organic spray that contains spinosad. There is more information about organic orchard practices on my blog. Garden centers carry all of the above products.