Cultivating a vegetable garden is a gesture with many positive implications, and many words have already been spent on how good it is for health, how rewarding it is to pick fresh vegetables as they are born and develop, on how much it helps to learn about the seasons and get closer to nature. And then how effective the aggregative and educational power is in city gardens, schools, retirement homes and in many situations and conditions.

However, the result of cultivation depends a lot on the knowledge you have and their practical applications. Because if starting to cultivate generates great enthusiasm, failures can just as powerfully cause frustration and abandonment of the garden.

It becomes essential to take care of all aspects of cultivation, and in this article we dedicate ourselves in particular to two of these, certainly of fundamental importance: nutrition and defense, in both cases with a modern and eco-sustainable approach, providing for the use of products of natural origin and prevention as a basic prerequisite.

Fertilization: what plants need and why it is important

Although it is not necessary to calculate how much the species remove in terms of nutrients when growing a home garden , it is a great help to take into account two important factors:

1. the fertility of the soil on which we will cultivate our vegetable garden

2. provide what plants, in general, require.

Organic matter in a vegetable garden

The presence of organic matter in the soil is a basic prerequisite for its fertility and therefore for the success of the vegetable garden. It improves all the characteristics of the soil, making it rich in life, i.e. microorganisms, even those antagonistic to pathogens, and also improves the physical characteristics that translate into greater ease in working it with tools. On the contrary, a tenacious, compact soil, prone to forming deep cracks, indicates a low presence of organic matter. But how can a soil be enriched with organic matter? Through the contribution of manure, compost, other organic fertilizers and through the green manure technique, which consists of cultivating species that are then not harvested but buried to decompose and act as green fertilizer. Further contributions of organic matter then come from the decomposition of any straw-based mulch, from crop residues left on the ground, from spontaneous grasses torn away but left to decompose on the spot.

Plants primarily need

nitrogen (N),
phosphorus (P) and
potassium (K),

the elements that in fact absorb in greater quantities and for this reason also defined as macroelements.

The first is used for the development of stems and foliage, i.e. the vegetative parts of plants; phosphorus affects flowering and fruiting; Potassium improves taste, cell color as well as making plants resistant to adversities such as cold and even some diseases, and is also required in large quantities by some vegetables, such as potato, onion and lettuce.

Calcium, magnesium and sulfur, i.e. mesoelements, are also very important, while a list of microelements (iron, zinc, boron and others) are absorbed in small quantities but are still indispensable.

Our advice for carrying out the above is to carry out a pre-sowing or pre-transplant fertilization with these two products.

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Composting, a virtuous practice

By now we are all used to separate waste collection, which also includes the "wet" fraction of household waste, i.e. all organic kitchen waste. If you have a vegetable garden, the ideal is to use all these wastes, together with those from the vegetable garden itself and the garden, for the production of compost. Compost is in fact an excellent soil improver, which derives from the transformation of these materials by a series of microorganisms that feed on them.

For good composting, whatever the shape of the heap (free, delimited by nets, pallets, or the classic plastic bell), it is necessary to ensure good ventilation for all the organic mass being transformed. In fact, the microorganisms involved in this process are aerobic, i.e. they need oxygen. The ideal, therefore, is not to compact the pile too much, and occasionally air it out with a pitchfork. All garden waste can be placed in the composting pile except for weeds that have risen to seed and vegetables affected by some incurable diseases such as cabbage hernia. On the other hand, animal remains of meat or fish should be discarded from wet kitchen waste. In this way, bad smells are also avoided, an aspect that is certainly important in an urban context.

The compost should be distributed in the garden when it is fully ripe, i.e. when it takes on a uniform consistency, a dark color and the starting materials are no longer recognizable. Compost contains about 1% nitrogen compared to 0.5% for cow manure, so it can be distributed in lower doses, such as 1-2 kg/sqm. It also contains in a balanced way all the elements required by plants and listed above. Generally, the compost that can be produced is rarely enough for the whole garden, and it almost always becomes necessary to supplement it with the purchase of other fertilizers.

Commercial fertilizers, how to orient yourself in the choice

There are many fertilizers on the market, in bags or bottles, depending on whether they are solid or liquid products. To orient yourself in the choice, it is useful to read well what is written on the package, and if you want to grow organically, we can give preference to those products on which it is written "allowed in organic farming".

Solid fertilizers

Solid fertilizers for organic cultivation are generally found in bulk or in pellets. The latter are very concentrated and are usually found either in light 5 kg bags, which are sufficient for distribution over a 100 square meter vegetable garden, or even 25 kg, usually more convenient for larger gardens or even thinking about several distribution cycles. These products should be spread in handfuls over the entire surface, excluding the walkways that divide the cultivation spaces.

On the bags there are indications about the origin of the fertilizer and its composition. For example, many fertilizers derive from animal manure or even from slaughterhouse waste such as antler meal, hooves and bones, or from vegetable waste as in the case of stillage. Excellent fertilizers are those that combine organic material with rock flours, which provide many precious microelements.

The important thing is not to distribute them only in the transplant hole, because the nourishment they contain must reach the entire root system of the plants, which as it develops explores a volume of soil that goes far beyond those few cubic centimeters of the hole. Ideally, the entire growing space should be fertilised evenly.

Liquid fertilizers

Liquid fertilizers are especially convenient for irrigating by fertilizing, or for practicing the so-called fertigation. They are therefore useful during spring and summer, as a nutrient topping up to plants, especially in the case of crops with a long crop cycle, such as tomato, potato, eggplant and others. Many of these products are based on blood flours, stillage or humic acids.

Do-it-yourself fertilizers with plants

Many plants such as nettle, dandelion, comfrey and horsetail can be used for the preparation of macerates with a fertilizing action. In spring these essences can be easily found, in uncultivated areas or along ditches, and, kept to macerate for about a week in a bucket of water, they become excellent concentrated liquid fertilizers. After this time, they must be diluted in other water in the ratio of 1:10, after filtration, and then used in a short time for fertigation, taking into account the fact that they have a low shelf life.

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Diseases and pests of the garden

The issue of defending the vegetable garden from diseases and pests is extremely vast and important, and it is above all here that a big difference between conventional cultivation and organic cultivation is played.

Given the current availability of knowledge and means for successful sustainable agriculture, it is certainly advisable to avoid non-selective insecticides and systemic fungicides, which cause negative effects on the environment and can be toxic to those who distribute them, if not properly used.

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Preventing adversity

Prevention is a fundamental attitude in organic farming. It means putting plants in the best conditions to avoid massive attacks by pathogenic insects or fungi by avoiding the most predisposing factors.

In concrete terms, prevention in the garden translates into the following practices:

Crop rotations: the alternation over time of different vegetables on the cultivation spaces allows the interruption of the development cycle of pathogens and parasites linked to specific vegetables.

Right crop density: transplants and sowing too densely must be avoided, because in this condition they are more prone to pathogenic attacks.

Irrigation system with driplineand, avoiding sprinkling: the aerial part of the vegetables should never be wet during irrigation. Instead, you need to wet the soil near the roots. The humid microclimate on stems and leaves, in fact, favors the penetration of pathogenic fungi into plant tissues.

Do not fertilize too much: over-fertilized plants are less resistant, especially if the excess is nitrogen.

Encourage the presence of insects and other useful animals: the presence of flowers, aromatic plants, bushes and hedges around the vegetable garden helps a lot in the presence of animals antagonistic to harmful ones. For example, there may be insects that feed on harmful insects, or birds that feed on the larvae of the latter or hedgehogs that eat snails. Biodiversity in an environment plays a fundamental role in its ecological balance. The actual biological control, which consists of launching antagonistic insects to reduce the population of a harmful insect, is used in large productions and in greenhouses, while in a small vegetable garden it is not very effective as these insects would tend to disperse easily elsewhere.

Use of products with a strengthening action (corroborants, biostimulants, plant extracts): these are products of natural origin that are very effective in preventing adversity.

Corroborants

By corroborating we mean, technically, those products that enhance the natural defenses of plants and that are not pesticides. In fact, for their use it is not necessary to be in possession of the "license" even if you are a professional farmer. The use of corroborants is preventive and requires a certain consistency, but the positive aspect is that in a garden full of different vegetables it is also possible to use the same corroborant for all of them, with a great advantage in practical terms.

Corroborants include, for example:

Rock flours such as zeolite and kaolin: both dissolve in water and, when sprinkled on crops, create a thin patina. Zeolite helps plants to resist fungal diseases because with its microgranular structure it absorbs the moisture present and thus removes the conditions favorable to pathogens; it also causes an abrasive effect on insects. Kaolin also forms a veil that hinders insects and also protects vegetables from sunburn in summer.

Propolis: propolis is produced by bees and is used as a corroborant in hydroalcoholic solution, to be used for example after pruning fruit plants as a natural disinfectant, but also in the vegetable garden as a preventive against diseases and pests.

Wood distillate: it comes from the linfa of wood and strengthens the plants' defenses against adversity and stimulates the root system.

Soft soap: it is used especially in the presence of aphids, whiteflies and thrips, since although it is not an insecticide, it is effective in fighting these pests.

Baking soda: like the classic baking soda used in cooking, it is effective in the case of powdery mildew (white mildew), a very frequent pathology in summer on pumpkins, zucchini and cucumbers.

Nettle extract : preventive against aphid attacks

DIY extracts

Nettle extract, prepared as a macerated fertilizer, but kept only one day to macerate, is used undiluted as a preventive against aphid attacks. Garlic and hot pepper extract also perform the same function. Horsetail macerate, on the other hand, helps plants in the prevention of fungal diseases.

The use of biostimulants

Biostimulants are products that stimulate plant growth, but are not fertilizers or even pesticides. They stimulate overall growth and in some cases naturally protect plants from pest attacks. This is the case, for example, of mycorrhizae, a typical symbiosis between beneficial fungi and plant roots, a symbiosis that is exploited for the production of commercial substances that help plants in root development, for better absorption of nutrients and water. Mycorrhizae-based products are in granular or liquid format and can be used both at sowing or transplanting and afterwards.

The new frontier: useful insects

The increase in the use of beneficial insects is determined by the increase in awareness of environmental protection. Knowing this practice is important in order to be able to recommend it, especially because there are no negative implications, in the use of useful insects in agriculture and even less in the home garden.

Today almost all the predators of parasites that attack the home garden are available on the market, and their use is really simple and harmless.

Fungicides and insecticides with low environmental impact

If the use of all preventive techniques and corroborants is not sufficient, products with low environmental impact could always be used for phytosanitary treatments. The label of the commercial product purchased shows the list of all the adversities and crops for which it is registered and therefore usable.

Among the best known products for the organic garden, there are:

Copper-based products, which has a blocking effect against well-known diseases such as downy mildew, which affects tomatoes and potatoes a lot, but also other vegetables, aternaria, cercosporiosis and others.

Sulfur-based products, typically used against powdery mildew.

Ampelomyces quisqualis: antagonistic fungus that can be used, instead of sulfur, in the defense against hatred of cucurbits (pumpkins, courgettes, cucumbers).

Bacillus thuringiensis: bacillus with which a very selective bioinsecticide is prepared, which kills the larvae of many harmful lepidoptera while sparing all harmless insects. For example, it is registered against the moth and moth of tomatoes, against the corn borer which also attacks green beans, against the moths of cabbage, etc.

Azadirachtin: derives from neem seed oil, it is used against aphids of various vegetables, against whiteflies (whiteflies), noctuae, thrips, young larvae of the potato doryphora.

Spinosad: bioinsecticide based on toxins from a bacterium, it is very valid for example in the fight against potato dorichora, the most feared pest on this crop, and which also easily attacks the eggplant.

Beauveria bassiana: antagonistic fungus used as an effective bioinsecticide against the doryphora and other beetles, against various lepidoptera, aphids and more.

From what we have seen above, it is evident that we can defend the vegetable garden with many means and biodegradable and non-polluting products, arriving at a good harvest of healthy and genuine vegetables. Consistency is important, because prevention requires time and attention throughout the cultivation phase, and also the acceptance that an organic garden may not always be perfect and that some plants here and there are still attacked.

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