Spring has really kicked in across the country, and as a result, we're covering a lot of specific growing questions today. Stay tuned for more on slug control, a carrot seeding experiment, supplemental feeding, as well as lots of details around spring planting.

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In this episode, we discuss:

• Slug control

• Carrot seeding techniques

• Supplemental feeding for Brassicas

• Potassium salt build-up in transplants

• Yellowing leaves on garlic

• Beet thinning

Important Take-aways:

• Slug control

  • Iron phosphate slug control products are safe for humans and pets- Sluggo is a great organic brand of iron phosphate and is what we use in our gardens!

  • Even if you’re using iron phosphate, removing the slugs from your garden is very beneficial. You can easily round up a bunch of slugs by placing a few wooden boards on your garden pathways. When the sun comes up, slugs will retreat to these dark wet spots, so you can simply flip the board over and collect a bunch of slugs at once that would otherwise have dispersed widely around the garden.

  • Diatomaceous Earth is an organic product that is made from the pulverized fossils of ancient organisms known as diatoms which also helps keeps slugs and other soft-bodied creatures out of your garden. Be sure to surround your plants with Diatomaceous Earth because it's effective as a physical barrier between your plants and pests. 

• Supplemental feeding for Brassicas

  • With the exception of Brussels, if my brassicas are looking happy and healthy as they grow, I just stick with a kelp-based liquid fertilizer every other week after the initial dose of balanced granular fert + extra blood meal at planting time. If you didn't get a chance to add extra nitrogen at planting time, I'd side-dress your plants with some now, but then call it good.

• Yellowing leaves on garlic

  • Yellowing leaves on garlic is normal. It’s just a sign that the plant is starting to mature. Once ¾ of the plant has turned brown, it will be ready to harvest.

• Beet thinning

  • When plants have 1-2 sets of true leaves, thin to 4” spacing

  • Eat your thinnings, they’re delicious!

  • If you’re very careful beet thinnings can be transplanted back into your garden. If you're transplanting beet thinnings into another part of your garden, or using them to fill out places where seeds didn't germinate, just be sure to handle to plants really gently and get all of the root. Beets tend to germinate in clusters. If I'm going to transplant my beet thinnings, I would actually use a hand trowel to lift the soil under the plants and pull out the entire cluster (even the one you were planting to leave in that spot), and then gently separate the cluster of plants and replant at your desired spacing.

  • If you’re growing in an area with a shorter season, you many actually want to grow beets as transplants and plant them in the ground when they're a few inches tall.

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