Tips to keeping your garden healthy this year!
Amanda Sears Cooperative Extension Agent for Horticulture
Spring is upon us and it is time to start thinking about gardening! Below are some tips to help you have the best garden yet.
· Purchase high quality plants and seeds. When choosing plants, look for healthy looking leaves and strong stems.
∙ Rotate your crops. Some diseases only effect certain plant families. If you had any disease last year a great way to avoid the same problem this year is to rotate your crops to a different area of the garden. Just remember, you need to rotate plant families not just the species.
For example, tomato is related to pepper, eggplant, potato; squash is related to cucumber, melon and pumpkin. For more information on plant families, go to: https:// extension. psu. edu / plantrotation-in-the-gardenbased-on-plant-families
∙ Keep the garden clean. Be sure to remove any of last year’ s crop debris. Debris can harbor plant diseases and insects.
∙ Do not plant too early. As tempting as it is to get a head start, if the soils are still cold plant growth will be inhibited. A slow growing plant is more susceptible to plant diseases.
∙ Do not crowd your plants. You know on plant tags where it says the amount of space recommended between plants? That information is important! If you overcrowd your plants air flow will be decreased. That sets up an environment perfect for diseases.
∙ Mulch. Whether you use newspaper, straw or grass clippings, using a mulch prevents any diseases lingering in the soil from splashing onto the plants. They also help to keep the soil moist longer and suppress weeds.
∙ Water at the base of the plant, not the leaves. You will lose less water to evaporation if you irrigate low to the ground. Plus, the longer leaves are wet the more likely they are to get sick.
∙ Scout your plants. Remove any diseased leaves, flowers, and fruit as soon as they are noticed.
∙ Fertilize correctly. Fertilizing is important, but if you over fertilize you will end up with a lot of green growth and no fruit.
∙ Keep an eye on insects. Most insect problems, if caught early, can be easily managed. Be careful what and when you spray. Insecticides kill good and bad insects. And we need to rely on those good insects as much as we can! The University of Kentucky Entomology website is a good source for information on insects: http:// entomology. ca. uky. edu / vegetable. For information on beneficial insects: https:// aggie-horticulture. tamu. edu / galveston / beneficials / index. htm
22 • Good Health Magazine 2025