Weed 'Early and Often"

Vegetables are better for you if they have been grown without pesticides.  One good way to keep the bugs off our plants is to have clean, weed-free aisles, and garden boxes. 

The secret to weeding is to pull them up when they are tiny.    

This keeps the bugs much further from our plants and makes the garden look well kept.

A two-way hoe also makes weeding easy. It just rakes across the soil and catches the weeds by their roots.  I've only seen this at Ace hardware in Cullman (in the Piggy Wiggy) but the hoe can be order at Growfood.com.  This organization donated one to Hulaco.  

Sometimes it's hard to tell which are the plants that are supposed to be in the garden, and which are the weeds.  We planted the garden in neat rows near the water pipes, everything else is a weed.  The arrow on the left is pointing to weeds in the middle of the box.  Those need to be pulled out.  The arrow on the right is pointing to crabgrass weeds outside the box.  These will try to grow inside the box and choke our plants.  

When crabgrass is about the size of a quarter is the best time to pull it up.   

Crabgrass makes a star shape and is still easy to pull up at this stage.

If crabgrass gets big, it may take a shovel to get it out.  The motto for weeding is "Early and Often".  You can tell it's a weed if it's not growing in a straight line near the water pipes in the garden.  Weeding the garden is easy if it's done just a few minutes each week.  

I hope you have great success with your garden.  To get more inspiration check out the Mittleider Garden group on Facebook or click here to go back.

How to shop for plants and seeds

When shopping for plants, tomatoes for example, check to see if the soil is very dry.  Bedding plants should be watered every day.  Poor watering practices can weaken plants.  Check for green leaves.  Yellow leaves is also a sign the plant has not been cared for properly. 

Check the underside of the leaves for tiny little bugs.  Once these get on the plants and lay eggs it may take chemicals to get rid of them.  The bugs will also transfer onto your healthy plants.  Check for fruit.  If plants are too neglected, usually from lack of water, they will attempt to bear prematurely as a way of casting seed before they die. 

So look for watered soil and green leaves, no bugs and no fruit.  The local feed store is my favorite place to shop.  They sell them in packs of three for around $1.50.  

This Better Boy is my favorite tomato.  Notice where it says “Vine Type: Indeterminate” That means the plants will continue to grow all season and can be pruned.  Pruning helps the plants bear more fruit.  We will talk about pruning in the next lesson.  One Indeterminate tomato plant can produce about 35 tomatoes. The tag also tells how big the fruit will be, about 1 pound each.  The “Days to Maturity” will help you plan how long before you’ll have fruit.  This tomato is a Hybrid which means it is a combination of more than one type of plant. If you save the seeds from the fruit and plant them, the new plant won’t be a true representation of this plant.  I like hybrids through because they have been bread to resist diseases and produce nice uniform fruit.  

This is my second favorite.  It is an heirloom.  As opposed to a hybrid, the seeds will be true to the parent plant so they can be saved and replanted year after year.  This Brandywine is more acidic than Better Boy and has an old-fashioned taste.  The fruit is not uniform but very tasty.  It is also Indeterminate which means it can be pruned.  It will grow well with T-Frames and strings.  If pruned this plant will also produce about 35 tomatoes.

Notice the “Vine Type: Determinate”.  It also says in the description that it “Grows well in containers.”  This plant isn’t good for pruning but it is a good choice for a container on a porch or deck.  Determinates don’t produce all season.  They usually come on all at once and are done.  One plant may have about 8 tomatoes. 

This is a pruned Indeterminate.  When I’m shopping for tomatoes to help me remember which ones to purchase, I think, Indeterminates produce “Indefinitely”, or at least all season. Determinates are “Determined” to produce all at once and get it over with.  

When choosing seeds, season is what matters most.  The map on the back will tell what time of year to plant the seeds.  Hybrids are breed to avoid certain problems with diseases and sometimes cracking or misshapen fruit.  Hybrids are generally easier to grow, especially for a new gardener.  

Once you have your plants and seeds, it's time to plant the garden or click here to return!