Maintaining the garden is of the upmost importance to plant health. Here I break down my process. There’s a worksheet at the end you can print out as you adapt to this practice. It takes time but is soooooo worth it. You’ll feel more connected to your garden, more confident as a gardener, experience all those health benefits of gardening and have more beautiful and healthy plants and more bountiful harvests.

Enjoy your garden!

How To Maintain The Vegetable Garden

• EXAMINE/INSPECT - look for bugs and disease, shake your plant, hand remove pests
• HAND POLLINATE SQUASH
• WATER IF NEEDED - use hose on bugs
• PRUNE/DEADHEAD/THINNING - cut, don’t pull; work from bottom to top and outside to inside, clean scissors between tomatoes or other diseased plants
• LIGHT CLEANING - clean up dying leaves and any refuse on the surface of the soil, remove weeds - put into composter
• STAKE PLANTS - add supports, attach plants to support or gently guide through support
• PLANT - plant seeds or new seedlings for replacement or succession
• HARVEST - don’t pull, cut. Check on root veggies to see if ready. Put harvest in shade or inside.
• FERTILIZER/AMEND - side dress with dry fertilizer every couple months, liquid fertilizer (foliar or root drench) every 1-2 weeks, check pH
• MULCH/COMPOST - cover bare roots and/or added fertilizer with compost or mulch. Check on your composter too!
• WATER again to moisten fertilizer if needed.
• REMEDY - if you are doing to spray or sprinkle remedies, do it now.
• COVER - install or reinstall your row cover.