A vegetable garden is a great way to keep your mind sharp, no matter how experienced or new you are. Although pest and disease problems are inevitable, they can be prevented by taking proactive steps to avoid recurrences. My guest this week is Susan Mulvihill. Her new book The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook is out.
A vegetable garden is a great way to keep your mind sharp, no matter how experienced or new you are. Although pest and disease problems are inevitable, they can be prevented by taking proactive steps to avoid recurrences. My guest this week is Susan Mulvihill. Her new book, The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook, is out.
Susan is a master gardener and lives on five acres in Spokane, Washington. This area is about 300 miles east from Seattle in the Inland Northwest. She is the blogger Susan’s in the Garden and writes a column for Spokane’s Spokesman-Review newspaper. We have been friends for many years and I am a huge fan of her gardening methods.
“The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook”: Identify, Manage Diseases, and Other Common Problems for Edible Plants is her follow-up to ” the Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook: Solve Common Pest Problems for Edible Plants”, which she published in 2021. They are both a quick and easy way to reference them together.
For me, the key word is “identify”. Identification is essential for anyone wanting to be an organic pest and disease manager. Susan and I agree on this subject.
She says identification is crucial. It is important to identify what you are dealing with. Insects are an important thing to recognize before you can decide their fate. You just need to be vigilant and keep an eye on your garden. Then you can get going.
Her new book is about the 28 most common problems and diseases in gardens. Ironically, Susan is an organic gardener who follows best practices and doesn’t have to face all these problems all the time. Living in dry areas, where there are few plant diseases, is a benefit for Susan. She also did extensive research on diseases that gardeners who live in wetter environments are familiar with.
Before I get into the conversation with Susan, I wanted to remind you that I recently published The Vegetable Growing Book: Your Complete Guide to Growing an Eating Organic Garden from Seed to Harvest. It is full of tips and information that will help improve your gardening skills and overcome challenges.
How Susan’s New Book Came About
After Susan’s book about pests, Jessica Walliser was offered the chance to write a book about plant diseases. Susan felt exhausted after finishing her first book, and was not convinced that a book about diseases would be as popular with gardeners as one on pests. So she declined the offer. Bill, Susan’s husband suggested she write about diseases and all the problems gardeners face. After thinking about it, she came up with a list that could arise in gardens.
Susan says, “I have spent my entire career sharing what I know with others because it is important for me to help people succeed.” I want them to be able to grow their own food. I knew that I had a lot of information to share. So Bill and I took out a piece of paper and began listing things such as extreme weather conditions, pollination problems with squash or seeds not germinating, and plant disorders. We also have to deal with various critters in the garden. This is how I imagined the book would look.
Jessica loved the outline and Susan wrote another book, despite being initially reluctant.
Susan states, “I’m glad to report that I was able to write during off-season and I’m so happy with the result,”
The book was written between October 2021 to February 2022. She used an accelerated timeline in order to avoid conflicts with the growing seasons.
Get Your Plants Off to the Best Start
Many gardeners have been new since the pandemic and could benefit from a primer on how to get plants started. Even seasoned gardeners might need to remember some of these principles. These steps can be taken early to avoid potential problems later.
Susan advises, ” Make sure to choose a very sunny area for you garden.” It is vital that vegetables plants get at least six to eight hours of sunshine per day. Many crops, especially leafy, can tolerate some shade. However, try to get as much sunlight as possible.
A space plant in is another important step.
Susan explains that “if you put them together, there are some things that can happen.” “For one, they are competing for nutrients and moisture — and space.
Crowded plants have poor airflow, which means that when they get wet their leaves stay wet longer, making them more vulnerable to disease. Susan also points out that pests can easily move between plants if they are too close together. Susan’s new book offers spacing guidance as well as plant tags and seed packets.
It is vital that plants succeed by getting the right water.
Susan advises, “Don’t drown them. Don’t overwater them.” She also suggests this tip: “Just stick your finger in the soil to the second knuckle, and feel what it feels like.” Is it dry? This is not a good sign. Is it sopping wet? This is terrible. This is the fastest way to kill plants.
The finger test is a great way to check your soil for moisture. I know that other speakers and writers who know this method highly recommend it as the best. The best way to determine if your soil is thirsty or not. It may disappoint some people looking for more advanced methods, but I believe it is the best.
Another important point that I often mention is to take care of your soil.
Susan recommends no till gardening to prevent soil from being disturbed by beneficial microorganisms. She also suggests adding a top layer of compost to garden beds in spring and fall, and letting the nutrients naturally work their way down.
Susan also practices giving plants support by using cages and trellises to keep their leaves off the soil. This will prevent them from harboring plant pathogens. She explained that by removing their leaves from the soil, it makes it more difficult for pathogens to reach the leaves.
Susan uses cattle panels to grow winter squash and pumpkins. This helps to keep the leaves and fruit off the ground and prevents hungry animals from getting to them. Arbors are great for light and air circulation.
Spread organic mulch over the soil to protect it from soil-borne pathogens. Mulch will prevent foliage contact with soil, and it will also protect plants from soil splash-ups when it rains or is watered. Organic mulch also has the added benefit of suppressing weeds and retaining soil moisture. It can also improve soil fertility as it decomposes.
Susan also advises to be careful when using fertilizers . Different fertilizers serve different purposes. Be aware of all the options and select the fertilizer that best suits your crop’s needs.
Is it something that will bloom and bear fruit? Are you able to see a lot of leaves, like lettuce? Susan wants to know if it’s something that will form roots that you can harvest like carrots and parsnips.
Because it is a common problem for many gardeners, she devotes a lot space to it in her book.
Avoid overextending yourself. This is one of the most important points to remember.
Susan says, “We get so excited about planting all these different things. But, especially when we’re new, you might not realize the time it takes to maintain a garden.”
She continues, “People are busy working and have other things to do. They don’t realize that gardeners must spend some time tending to their garden to ensure it grows well.” You could become overwhelmed if you start too early in your gardening career. It will be difficult to keep up, which can lead to a poor experience. This might sound natural, but you should only do what you can.
You can see how plants can grow far beyond your wildest dreams. If you have too many plants, it is difficult to keep up with weeding and pruning. It can be frustrating and demotivating. It can be difficult to maintain a garden when there are pests or diseases.
Susan states that a stressed plant is not happy and sends out chemical signals that attract insects. Plants that are stressed are not strong enough for them to withstand problems like insect or disease problems.
