How to plan and protect your organic vegie patch

You can manage plant pests and diseases without reaching for the spray gun

As the heady days of quick-growing summer vegies pass and you start helping winter’s slow coaches reach their potential, think about changing your gardening style. Instead of tackling pests and diseases as they appear, act so these perils don’t eventuate in the first place. Here are tips on how you can take control of your patch.

YOUR CARE PLAN

• Rotate your crops to ensure pathogens don’t build up in the soil.

• Plant small native shrubs to provide food and shelter for small birds, which will eat plenty of pests as soon as they arrive.

• Ensure your garden is in the sun and has good air circulation so plants don’t develop fungal diseases.

• Water the soil, not the foliage, in the morning. If leaves are le wet overnight you’ll encourage fungal problems.

• Consider a wicking bed, where water is drawn up from under the soil by osmosis. This cuts down on your watering tasks and lets the plants determine how much water they need.

• Rather than planting in rows, scaer your arrangement. Different plant shapes and smells confuse pests.

• Think about the company your plants keep. Some can be good companions while others are a bad influence. Good friends are peas and beans, as their nitrogen-fixing ability helps other plants grow. Plants with equal root depth are a bad combo because, if you have different deep-rooted plants next to each other, they are both competing for the same nutrients.

• Look a er your soil, as this is the main source of plant growth. Turn it over aer you harvest, dig in home-grown compost and water deep into the soil, rather than on the surface.

Pests and diseases are opportunists and will first go for non-thriving plants.

• Clean your garden tools aer use so you don’t transfer pathogens. Methylated spirits reduces disease transmission.

• Finally, with your patch in good shape, decorate it with flowering plants that aract pollinators. This will ensure a healthy crop of veg such as pumpkin and cucumber.

SEEN ON BHG TV BRIGHT-EYED AND BUSHY TAILED – THAT’S HOW YOU LOVE YOUR VEGIES.