SHIFTING ROOTS

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Easy Ways To Prevent Bugs and Disease in the Garden

April 17, 2019

No one likes to think about diseases and pests in their garden. In a perfect world, we’d all have Pinterest-worthy gardens that get enough sun, are perfectly watered, and always produce well.

The reality is, pests and plant diseases are going to happen to you. If you’re new to gardening, there’s a few simple things you can do to give your garden a better chance of avoiding common diseases and pests.

Did you know there are easy things you can do in your vegetable garden to get a handle on pest control, insects, disease, and other problems, all in the Spring before the gardening season is in full swing?  Here's six ideas that even a beginner can do to have success. #gardening #bugs #pests #vegetables #croprotation

This post contains affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase something. You can read more about it in my Privacy Policy. Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

Rotate Your Crops

Rotating your crops is the easiest way to keep disease and bugs out of your vegetable garden. But what is it?

All vegetables have a plant family. For example, corn is part of the grass family, broccoli and cauliflower are cruciferous vegetables, and tomatoes peppers, and eggplants are nightshades.

Plants from each family take different amounts of nutrients from the soil, and in the case of the legume family, put nutrients back in the soil.

New to garden planning?  Don't miss crop rotation, an essential step in preventing pests, insects, and disease from ruining your vegetable garden. #vegetablegarden #croprotation #gardening #tips #beginners #planning

So if you keep planting the same vegetable in the same spot year after year, you’ll deplete the soil of those particular nutrients, which invites bugs and disease.

This is why it’s so important to have a garden planner and keep track of where you planted everything each year. If you don’t use one already, you can get a free garden planner here.

If your head is spinning with the thought of trying to keep all of this straight, I’ve also made an easy six year rotation for you to use, or you can find a more detailed version in my beginner gardening course.


Don’t Crowd Out Your Vegetables

Folks, I love square foot gardening to the moon and back, but it can be really tempting to try and get vegetables in even closer than suggested. Sure, it looks fine in May, but by late July it will be a crazy jungle that you can barely get through.

When plants don’t have enough air circulation, they are susceptible to mold and mildew type diseases. Last year I had a terrible infestation of powdery mildew, in part because of the weather and in part because I tried to squeeze too many things in my garden.

Experiment with Companion Flowers

Companion flowers, such as marigolds, bee balm, zinnias, nasturtiums, and more can be a huge help in the garden. They encourage pollination, as well as possibly keep some bugs away from your vegetables.

Be warned that one or two sporadic marigolds is not going to protect your whole garden. You’ll need a serious amount of flowers directly by the vegetable to actually create an effect.

You can read more about companion flowers here.

Did you know there are easy things you can do in your vegetable garden to get a handle on pest control, insects, disease, and other problems, all in the Spring before the gardening season is in full swing?  Here's six ideas that even a beginner can do to have success. #gardening #bugs #pests #vegetables #croprotation

Create Barriers

Sometimes the only way to keep bugs at bay is to use a physical barrier, like mesh fabric over hoops.

Where I live, cruciferous vegetables are almost impossible to grow because farmers like to plant canola, which shares a lot of the same pests. The only way (that I know of) to have nice broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts is to cover them with white mesh fabric that lets the water and light in and keeps the moths out.

You might live somewhere where this isn’t a problem. However, talk to gardening friends in your area and I’m sure there will be that one bug that is prolific and impossible to keep away. A barrier is probably your solution.

Make Friends with Beneficial Bugs

Not all bugs in the garden are your friend. For example, lady bugs, bees, and lacewings are all bugs you want to see. This video below goes into more detail:

Water Your Plants Just Right

Sometime in late-July, just when you’ve been kind of sick of your garden but your excitement renews because the first of your tomatoes are starting to appear, you’ll see a blackish-brown scab on the end of that prized tomato. Argh!!!!

That’s blossom end rot, and it’s caused by a lack of calcium due to inconsistent watering. Blossom end rot can be reversed in a plant, but those tomatoes you were so excited about are no good.

So keep to a regular watering schedule, so you don’t have to experience garden heart ache!!

Did you know there are easy things you can do in your vegetable garden to get a handle on pest control, insects, disease, and other problems, all in the Spring before the gardening season is in full swing?  Here's six ideas that even a beginner can do to have success. #gardening #bugs #pests #vegetables #croprotation

Do you know any other easy ways to prevent garden diseases? Let me know in the comments!

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

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Filed Under: Uncategorised Tagged: bugs, Companion Planting, crop rotation, insects, pests, watering

Goodbye Bugs! 14 Flowers to Companion Plant in Your Vegetable Garden

June 18, 2018

Have you always wondered what flowers keep bugs away from the vegetables in your garden?  Today we’re talking about companion planting flowers and vegetables, and which flowers can keep the bugs at bay in your garden naturally.

[Read more…]

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

2 Comments
Filed Under: Flowers, Gardening, Outdoor Life Tagged: Companion Planting, Flowers, Vegetables

Planting my Garden: Year One

May 13, 2016

PLANNING MY-2

In my last post I talked about our not-so-great outdoor space at the house.  The garden space left much to be admired, so I made a plan B and am gardening at my mother-in-law’s acreage.  There is a ton of space, so I’m lucky enough to be able to plant the garden of my dreams.  Possibly nightmares come September.

[Read more…]

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

8 Comments
Filed Under: Gardening, Outdoor Life Tagged: Bare Foot Gardening, Beans, Beets, Carrots, Companion Planting, Cucumbers, Flowers, Gardening, Lettuce, Marigolds, Onions, Outdoors, Parsnips, Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Spinach, Sweet Peas, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Vegetables, Zinnias, Zucchini

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Welcome!

Hi, I'm Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

P.S. First time gardener? You'll want to download the quick start gardening guide below!

Recent Posts

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  • 17 Perennial Flowers That Love Shade
  • How to Design a Cut Flower Garden in Raised Beds
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Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Connect with Shifting Roots On. . .

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Are you gardening in containers this year? When y Are you gardening in containers this year?  When you're shopping for vegetable seeds, look for varieties that have names with words like patio, tiny, small, etc.  While lots of vegetable varieties will do fine in a container, you'll have an easier time with ones that are specifically bred for that situation.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I'm living the pepper dream in this photo. While I'm living the pepper dream in this photo.  While these ones are a bit on the small side, who doesn't want ripe peppers in July in zone 3?!?! ⁠
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Over the years I've gotten better at growing peppers, and I promise I'll spill my secrets in February when it's actually time to start them.  Until then, get yourself all or one of my four favourite varieties: ⁠
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🌶️Carmen⁠
🌶️Escamillo⁠
🌶️Candy Stripe⁠
🌶️Hungarian Hot Wax⁠
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Do you have a favourite pepper variety?⁠
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Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately? It Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately?  It's so easy to get completely overwhelmed, especially if you're new to gardening.  Why are there so many varieties of everything and which ones do I choose?⁠
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Here's how I try to narrow it down.⁠
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🌤️ Short growing season like me?  Try and prioritize varieties that have short dates to maturity.⁠
🥗 What do you or your family actually eat?  While I think you should always try a couple of new things, there's no sense in planting a giant garden filled with vegetables that you're not going to cook with. ⁠
🥒 Do you care whether your vegetables are heirlooms or hybrids?  Heirlooms are the kind that have been around for 50+ years and you can save seeds from.  Believe it or not, this year we're prioritizing hybrids for some of our garden.  The Hermit @mgsraney is obsessed with production this year, so anything that's going in "his" greenhouse better be able to produce a lot.  I'm using more heirlooms in my "glamour garden" as we call it, because I want things that are pretty and I can save seeds from.⁠
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What do you prioritize when you're picking out seeds?⁠
Last week we started thinking about our plans for Last week we started thinking about our plans for cut flower gardening, now this week we start thinking about plans for our vegetable gardens.  Unlike cut flowers, there's not as many vegetables that need to be started ridiculously early.  However, it's still fun to plan and dream and get your thoughts sorted.⁠
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I'm curious--what size of garden do you have to work with?  Are you on an acreage or farm, city backyard, or do you have a couple of pots on an apartment patio?⁠
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As for me, I have quite a mix.  I have my container garden on my backyard deck, the small cut flower garden in my yard, then vegetables in raised beds.  We also garden at my Mother-in-law's acreage, so there's a giant garden over there where we're figuring out how to grow food on a larger scale.  Then finally, sometimes my Mom grows things for me in her garden if I'm nervous that I'll ruin them in my own garden--call it a backup garden if you will.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I hope you've enjoyed this week of chatting about I hope you've enjoyed this week of chatting about the best flowers to plant in a cut flower garden.  There's so many options, these 5 that I talked about all week don't even come close.  If you need more help creating a small cut flower garden, I created this plan intended for a raised bed (but you can plant it in-ground too.⁠
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Head over to my insta links page on my profile, and you'll see the button to click on that will take you directly to it.⁠
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#cutflowergarden #cutflowers #raisedbedgarden #raisedbedgardening  #growyourown #greenthumb #raisedbeds #urbangarden #urbanfarm #squarefootgardening #slowflowers
Hey friends! There's a lot of new faces in this l Hey friends!  There's a lot of new faces in this little corner of IG, so I wanted to introduce myself.  My name is Kristen and I'm the gardener & content creator behind Shifting Roots.  I'm wife to @mgsraney and mom to 3 kids, ages 8, 23 months and 7 months.  Needless to say, our house is BUSY.  I garden in zone 3 in Saskatoon, SK, so if I can grow it in my short growing season and cold temperatures, you probably can too.⁠
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Here's a few fun facts, can you relate to any of these?⁠
🍅I don't like raw tomatoes, but I grow a ton of them because I like tomato sauce.⁠
💐I probably sound like every flower is my favourite flower, but my two favourites are peonies and zinnias.⁠
🌈I can't pick a favourite colour--I love so many of them in different circumstances.  If you force me to choose, I think I've got it narrowed down to coral and turquoise, but even then I still want to throw in yellow, emerald green, fuchsia. . . ⁠
🖤Even though I love colour to the moon and back, you'll often find me wearing black and white in real life, because it's just easier and I don't have to think about it going together.
When you think of rudbeckia, do you think of those When you think of rudbeckia, do you think of those maybe-slightly-boring flowers with yellow petals and a brown centre? (Please don't come at me with your pitchforks if that's your favourite flower!!)⁠
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Rudbeckias, like these orange and burgundy ones, can be so much more!  Pair them with sunflowers & amaranth for an especially striking late summer bouquet.⁠
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🤞I'll have amaranth and sunflowers this year to play around with.⁠
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Need help planning the cut flower garden of your dreams?  It doesn't have to be complicated.  Grab your copy of Cut Flowers Made Simple and have pails of flowers like this one at your fingertips.⁠
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See my link in bio and click on the ebooks button.
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