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How to Plan, Plant, Harvest and Store Your Survival Garden
Growing your plants, protecting from weeds, pests and disease
Weeds are easier to manage if you can get ahead of the problem with prevention. A barrier to block their growth works well. When you are planning your garden, consider using landscape fabric. You can cut holes where you want to plant and keep weeds from growing everywhere else.
Mulch is another way to smother weeds. Untreated wood chips, shredded leaves, cardboard, paper, and straw all make good mulch for gardens. Use mulch on garden paths as well. Any bare spot is an invitation for weeds to grow.
Pulling weeds when they are small is easier than digging out a fullgrown weed. When you pull weeds, make sure you get the whole root. Keeping your garden weed-free also helps you to keep out pests and diseases.
You’re not the only one who wants to eat your vegetables! Careful daily watching helps to keep pests away. Pay attention to signs of nibbling or visits and take action quickly. Depending on your location, you may need fencing to keep out rabbits, deer, or other animals. Covering your plants with insect netting over hoops can also keep birds, squirrels, and insects from taking over your garden.
Caterpillars, worms, and bugs can all be picked off when noticed, so look early and regularly at the leaves of plants. Check underneath the leaves for eggs and wipe them off. Duct tape is a helpful tool to pick eggs off leaves.
Companion planting is an excellent, non-toxic way to deter pests and attract beneficial pollinators to your garden. Flowers and herbs are generally good to add to your garden, and some are especially good pest deterrents. Marigolds, rosemary, sage, nasturtium, mint, lavender, and basil are all good choices to add to your garden.
There are some low-toxic chemicals you can use to control pests, too. Two examples are Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) and neem oil. Whenever using any form of chemical pest control, follow the instructions exactly. Remember these chemicals can also harm beneficial insects, so you may want to save them as a last resort.
Learn how to deal with one of the more insidious garden pests, squash bugs in our blog post "How to Get Rid of Squash Bugs"
Your best bet for disease control is prevention. Following seed-growing instructions is important as it allows you to establish your plants and get them off to a healthy start. Keep your garden free of weeds and remove any diseased plants you do find immediately to protect your healthy plants. Mulching keeps the soil and your plants well protected. Don’t overwater your plants and make sure you’ve got good drainage. You also want to make sure you’re not overwatering your plants. Trellising climbing plants keep the fruits off of the ground and allow for good air circulation. Crop rotation is also an important part of disease control.
Ideally, you should only plant the same crop in the same place once every 3 years. This extends to other plants in the same family, too. The most important plant families to rotate are the brassica family (kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts) the cucurbit family (cucumbers, gourds, melons, pumpkins, squash), and nightshades (eggplant, potato, pepper, tomato, tomatillo).
Crop rotation is extremely helpful for keeping pests and diseases at bay. If you plant the same type of plant in an area, a buildup of pests and diseases that target that plant family is likely. Crop rotation also prevents soil depletion. By planting a different type of plant every year, the soil can replenish lost stores from heavy feeding naturally.
Check out "Choosing and Planting Cover Crops" to learn how planting cover crops can restore nutrients as part of crop rotation
