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Iowa Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association

2 weeks ago

Iowa Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association
This week's Small Farm Sustainability's Podcast episode features the upcoming Iowa Specialty Producers Conference! Check it out below! 🎙 ... See MoreSee Less

smallfarmsustainability's podcast: 2021 Iowa Specialty Producers Conference

smallfarmsustainability.libsyn.com

In this episode, I interview Kendra Meyer, executive secretary for the Iowa Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association, to talk about the upcoming Iowa Specialty Producers Conference.
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Iowa Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association

2 weeks ago

Iowa Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association
Mark your calendar for January 19-20, 2021, for the Iowa Specialty Producers Conference! Join the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and the Iowa Wine Growers Association for two days of learning, networking, and fun. Funded by IDALS. Registration is now open at www.iowaspecialtyproducers.com/registration-page. ... See MoreSee Less

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Iowa Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association

2 weeks ago

Iowa Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association
Mark your calendar for January 19-20, 2021, for the Iowa Specialty Producers Conference! Join the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and the Iowa Wine Growers Association for two days of learning, networking, and fun. Funded by IDALS. Registration is now open at www.iowaspecialtyproducers.com/registration-page. ... See MoreSee Less

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Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Associationlogo

Advice to first-time gardeners: Think small. Find your spot.

Posted on December 30, 2019 by Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers AssociationDecember 30, 2019

Another growing season is building momentum with the arrival of the 2020 seed catalogs, and gardeners are drafting plans for new harvests. There’s such a thing as being too enthusiastic, though, especially among novices.

Beginners can achieve their best planting results by thinking small.

“Starting too large is the most common mistake made by first-time gardeners,” said Barbara Murphy, a Master Gardener coordinator and horticulturist with University of Maine Cooperative Extension for 23 years.

“Limit yourself to 10 feet by 10 feet,” she says. “If you grow frustrated because of too many things happening the first year, there’s a good chance you won’t feel like gardening for a second. You can always expand as your skills develop.”

Other tips that beginners can start thinking about now:

Find the right location. You need 12 to 16 hours of sun per day for a vegetable garden, Murphy said. Ornamental gardens aren’t as fussy.

Gardens also need a convenient water source and rich, well-drained soils.

“Good soil preparation is important to success, but be patient,” said Rosie Lerner, an Extension horticulturist with Purdue University. “Don’t force the soil when it’s wet. Soil structures will compact and get tight. That makes it tough for water and air to move through and greatly inhibits growth.”

Squeeze the soil gently in your hand. If it crumbles a bit when squeezed, it’s ready for use. “It can take a long time to get good soil texture, and just minutes to destroy it if you work it while it’s too wet,” Lerner said.

Keep records: “You can learn a lot by recording things,” Lerner said. “What worked and what didn’t. Put those lessons to use the following year.”

For vegetable gardens, choose easy-to-grow plants like leaf lettuce, carrots, zucchini, potatoes, green beans and radishes. Leave more challenging plants like cauliflower, melons, celery and broccoli for another season.

Deal quickly with insects. “Make regular visits to your garden to check for plant pests,” Murphy said. “Don’t worry about the adults. You want to go after the eggs before they develop into juvenile leaf cutters. Most eggs are on the underside of leaves. Use soapy water and picking or simply remove the infested leaves.”

Weeds compete with your plants for nutrients and water. Get rid of them before they go to seed.

Mulching retains soil moisture, cools the ground and smothers weeds. Use natural and free materials like shredded leaves, newspaper, grass clippings and sawdust that also enrich the soil over time.

Avoid overcrowding. That stresses plants, invites disease and reduces yields.

Recruit pollinators. Adding clumps of pollen-rich blooms (think daisy-like coneflowers, sunflowers, asters) to a vegetable mix enhances pollination and boosts harvests.

Eliminate or ease up on the pesticides. Chemicals don’t discriminate. They kill the beneficial insects along with the bad.


Online:

For more tips for first-time gardeners, see this fact sheet from Oregon State University: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/tips-first-time-gardeners

You can contact Dean Fosdick at deanfosdick@netscape.net

–By DEAN FOSDICK Associated Press

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