Soil Testing and Crop Rotation

 

Fall is a great time to get your soil tested and think about rotating crops in your garden. Before you put in your garlic (mid-October for us), get soil samples from the different beds in your garden. Check out https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/catalo g/files/project/pdf/ec628.pdf to find out how.

These links will help you find out where to send your samples https://catalog.extension.oregonstate. edu/sites/catalog/files/project/pdf/em8677_0.pdf & https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/ec1478 so you can find out just the right amendments to add to your soil for next year’s crops.

Leaves like lettuce, herbs, kale, arugula, spinach, and broccoli, are first in the rotation because they need to get first crack at the nitrogen (N) in the soil. This is very important for our soil, which tends to lack nitrogen, unless you put in lots of nitrogen along with compost and/or animal manure in the spring, not the fall.

Fruits include tomatoes, melons, squash, peppers, and eggplant. These plants need phosphorus (P) to produce fruit and nitrogen is less important to them. However, fruits like tomatoes need extra calcium in the soil and, since it takes a while to break down from added lime, it is a good idea to add your lime in the fall where you plan to put your tomatoes next year.

Root crops, like carrots, beets, onions, and garlic, need even less nitrogen than fruits; instead, they need lots of potassium (K) to develop their roots. Our soil has lots of potassium because of the rocks that were broken down to form it, so your root vegetables should thrive if you make sure the soil is broken up enough for their roots to go down deep into the soil.

Legumes are mostly green beans and peas. These plants as well as many cover crops can help replenish the nitrogen (N) in the soil, and at the same time, need lots of nitrogen themselves. That’s why they have nitrogen-fixing nodules on their roots. So don’t skimp on nitrogen come spring in the beds where your peas and beans are going to grow.

Corvallis Backyard CSA

Have extra produce from your garden after you’ve thinned your plants? Consider do-nating to the Corvallis Backyard CSA whose mission is inclusion for all people in Corvallis. It does this by delivering produce boxes to families from different cultures

(Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin American) while building mutually supportive relationships with the families. Contact Sandi Cheung sandi.cheung@gmail.co

m to find out how you can drop off produce that will be added to the CSA boxes. The boxes are delivered to families every Thursday.

Interested in learning other ways to support the Corvallis Backyard CSA? Check with rachel@shonnards.com or text/call 503-779-8570.

Food Action Team -- Edible Garden Group meets on Wednesday September 9 from 5-6:30.  For more information contact Rachel Barnhart at rdbarn4@gmail.com.

What to do in the Garden in April

Planning

·      Prepare garden soil for spring planting. Add generous amounts of organic materials and other amendments, ideally using the results of a soil analysis as a guide.  Compost can be especially helpful if it is free from weed seed and left on the surface.For more about soil testing, click here.  Also, the Master Gardener help desk can test your pH.

·      Prepare raised beds in areas where cold soils and poor drainage are a continuing problem. Add organic matter if possible.  A wooden or other structure is not necessary, but it prevents soil from slumping out of bed over time.
 For more about raised beds, click here.

 Maintenance and Clean Up

·      Allow foliage of spring-flowering bulbs to brown and die down before removing.



·      Apply compost or fertilizer to cane, bush, and trailing berries.  Mulch to prevent weeds and moisture loss.

  

·      Place compost or decomposed manure around perennial vegetables, such as asparagus and rhubarb.
 Mulch to prevent weeds and moisture loss.

  

·      Optimum time to fertilize lawns, as long as heavy rains aren’t expected. Apply no more than 1 pound nitrogen per 1,000 square feet of lawn. It's safest and kindest to our environment to use organic fertilizer.  Reduce risks of run-off into local waterways by not fertilizing just prior to rain, not over-irrigating, and keeping fertilizer away from drainage or very wet areas.

·      Optimum time of year to dethatch and renovate lawns.  Moss is not a problem for most.  It is green most of the year and never requires mowing or attention.   If you really don't care for it anyway, consider shade tolerant plantings instead or if there is adequate sunlight, add lime and rake soil surface prior to seeding with perennial ryegrass.

·      Prune and shape or thin spring-blooming shrubs and trees after blossoms fade.



 Planting/Propagation 

·      It's a great time to start a vegetable garden. Among the vegetables you can plant now - broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, chives, endive, leeks, lettuce, peas, radishes, rhubarb, rutabaga, spinach, and turnips. 

    · See this very helpful publication on growing vegetables. Growing Your Own Guide

Pest Monitoring and Management

·      Use traps or pet safe baits for slug control near susceptible plants.  Read and follow all label directions prior to using any chemical control.

  Did you know that invasive slugs brought from Europe are the ones that damage our plants?  Did you know that some slugs and snails are good for your garden because they are predators of the damaging ones??   For more about slugs, click here.

·      Monitor strawberries and other plants for spittlebugs and aphids; if present, wash off with water.  

Spittlebug

Aphids can be green, yellow, gray, brown, reddish, 

·    

·      Cut or pull weeds near the garden to remove potential sources of plant disease.  These are good to compost if they haven't gone to seed.  Turn pile if they begin to grow.

  

·      Use floating row covers to keep insects such as beet leaf miners, cabbage maggot adult flies, and carrot rust flies away from susceptible crops.

  For more on row covers, see this link.

·      Help prevent damping off of seedlings by providing adequate air flow.