This is How 'People in the Know' Get Their Garden to Grow

So you’re not a gardening guru, but you would like to give your green thumb a try this year. Good for you! And it’s not too early to start thinking about planning your garden. Most farmers have already started to receive their seeds for the planting season; and as a home gardener, I’m already mentally mapping out what seeds I’ll be sowing this year.

Even if you consider yourself a gardening expert, I bet you’ll find at least one or two things you didn’t already know in this blog. Without further ado, here are some tips gathered by me and my team of “experts” on how to make the best of your soil and have a hearty harvest.

Debbie Norz, one of the locals from Hillsborough, who you may recognize as an owner of Norz Hill Farm, shared some of her super secrets, for those who are fortunate enough to have ample property for planting large crops. She says, “Plant a lot of corn so the deer leave the rest of the low crops alone. They don’t like to bend to eat if they don’t have to.”

Who knew deer were lazy?

And this may sound strange, but save your hair clippings (human hair)! Why? Well, according to Norz, “When rabbits or other small animals come sniffing, it gets stuck in their nose. They hate that.”

Michael McCarthy of Denver, Colo., joked in response, “What if the deer just lay there and eat parsley under the shade of the cornstalks? Then your whole family is bald; but you’ve got carrots!”

Norz clarified, “You want to use the trimmings from your hair cut! Long hair will not do the trick … just the small, pesky little hairs!”

Spy on farmers. Plant when the farmers plant their crops, and see what kinds of things thrive in their soil if you live near them. Chances are the same kinds of plantings will do well in your own backyard. This is what they do for a living–trust them. I learned this the hard way when I moved into my neighborhood which is near many farms (I used to be near more of them, but development took over). It may seem obvious, but it pays to follow the lead of the land experts in your area.

On my first garden attempt years ago, I fought with my clay-like soil trying to grow carrots and radishes. In hard soil, root vegetables don’t grow the way you would expect them to. You’ll wind up with lush green tops, and microscopic onions, turnips, and taters beneath the ground. Better choices in central west New Jersey are tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, corn, eggplant, zucchini, green beans, and herbs.

Plant your tomatoes next to basil. Did you know tomato slugs and bugs hate basil?  It’s true. Basil acts as a natural pest repellent.

Tomatoes need sunshine. Where I live, in New Jersey, we’ve had two very rainy years for crops in recent seasons past. Moisture encourages fungus on many fruits, including tomatoes. Make sure you plant your seedlings where they get plenty of exposure to sunlight so you don’t get tomato rot after waiting all season for your crop to come in.

Start your seeds indoors, if you’re not a farmer. This will save you a lot of frustration in the spring when you get an unexpected frost.  It’s relatively inexpensive to order seed starting supplies from companies like Burpee or Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Most seeds take about two weeks to germinate and sprout into pint-sized plants which can then be relocated to their final outdoor resting place. Just wait until the last frost of the season passes, or your best guess as to when that will be, before you put your baby sprouts in their garden beds. A good rule is, if it’s too tough to toil your soil, it’s to early to plant your seedlings outside. Wait for the ground to thaw.

Prep your soil. Even if you think that you’ve got the best soil going, add some nutrients to it. Stacey Suppa of Toms River suggests using compost for a vegetable garden is the best way to fertilize it. And fertilization starts before you even put the seeds down.  Just like an artist needs a good medium to work with, a gardener is only as good as his soil and seeds. Compost is best, but if you don’t have that on hand, I suggest adding a mixture of potting soil and manure to what the ground has to give.  Raking this into the soil helps break it up to allow better water penetration so it gets to the roots of your plants, and encourages friendly worms to tunnel through, allowing ample oxygenation to the ground all around. Doing this also replenishes the nutrients that previous plants have already siphoned out of the soil. Speaking of which, Suppa also remarked that flowers sometimes need a bit of TLC in the fertilizing department, so she uses Miracle Grow on those once a month.

Rotate your crops. If you planted tomatoes in the world’s greatest spot last year, consider switching them with your sunflowers or zucchini location this year. If you plant the same seeds in the same spots, year after year, you won’t yield as many or as high quality vegetables and fruits over time.  You want plant variation or alternation so the surrounding soil isn’t depleted of the same nutrients in the same spot year after year.

Buy netting to protect your berry bushes. Birds love berries. But you grew those tiny juicy bursts for yourself; not for  avian benefit.  You can find garden netting in most stores and online, which you throw over your brambles once you see them starting to bear little green berries.  Birds can’t be bothered to get through it to steal your berries; but the sun and rain and water can. Bon appetite!

Don’t just plant fruits and veggies; stagger your garden rows with some simple flowers. Why? In order for your plants to produce produce they need pollination.  Who does that? Well, you can rely on the wind; but butterflies and bees are by far the best. What attracts them? Flowers. My personal favorites are zinnias which add a splash of color but won’t overtake your food bearing plants. They’re also long lasting, and bloom from July until October without a lot of maintenance. I’ve also seen farmers plant thistle between rows of strawberries to serve the same function. 

One word of caution, if you want the bees to go about their business peacefully and not disturb your outdoor recreation, don’t plant your garden and flowers too close to your pool, patio, or playground area. Give the pollinators their space, and they’ll take care of yours.

Got aphids? Get ladybugs. Last year we had an invasion of these little green insects called aphids in my backyard. I would be lying on my hammock and they’d just drop on me out of the tree. Not only that, but they were wreaking havoc on my newly planted sprouts. I was complaining about these tiny invaders just as my daughter was learning about insects in school. She suggested we invite some ladybugs over to have a feast on one of their favorites. Yes, ladybugs eat aphids. Problem solved. 

Leave it to a 6-year-old to tip me off on a way to naturally reclaim my garden and yard. I use pesticides as a last resort and pride myself on my organic garden and animal-safe yard. I’m not sure where you can buy lady bugs locally, but I ordered mine online. They are inexpensive and you will be shipped a box full of live ladybugs. Some won’t make the trip alive, but you’ll have a few hundred hungry ones left by the time they arrive to help you with your aphid elimination. 

What you do is, wait until sunset; then water your plants with a hose. Then, by the last light of day, carefully place your ladybugs on the leaves of your affected plants, bushes, and trees. Ladybugs don’t fly at night. They just crawl. This is why you wait until sundown to release them. They like moisture (hence the watering of your plants ahead of time),and trust me, they will hang around for an easy meal.  In a matter of days our aphid problem was gone, and we saw that the ladybugs hung around for about a week, until they flew away to find another food source.

If ladybugs aren’t your thing, soak your cigarettes. Yes, really. Hilary Saporito of Boulder, Colo., recommends putting tobacco in water and let sit for a few days. Then, transfer the liquid to spray bottle and use it on your rose bushes or other foliage to get rid of aphids.

Speaking of rose bushes, Debbie Norz  also suggested putting coffee grinds–used or new-in the soil around them. They love it for a little acidic caffeinated pick-me-up.

Whatever you do, don’t plant a herb that spreads like wildfire right next to your veggies. Chamomile, dill, and mint are known for creeping beyond their borders and sprouting up in random places. They have no respect for neighboring flora.  If you plan your site well, you’ll have a much easier time harvesting your bounty when the time comes. These herbs are great for attracting natural pollinators, but they definitely need their own separate space. This is why I have a separate herb garden in my yard. I get the butterflies and bees to fly close, and while they’re there, they zoom over to the veggie garden to take care of business before they buzz away.  Meanwhile, my plants are happy being not-so-distant neighbors that can’t commingle into a compilation of chaos.

Got bunnies? Chris Agudelo of Mantua is going to be trying garden gutters this year.  If you have the space for it on side of your house or a shed, you can plant your gravity defying garden, fending off creatures that crawl, hop, or otherwise arrive uninvited for a snack.

This may seem like a daunting list to remember, but proper planning and prepping is the hardest part.  If you do it right, you’ll have a relatively pest free garden that just needs a little watering and weeding over the growing season, that will give you a bountiful harvest.