Fall Potager Garden Update 2023
Fall Potager Garden Update 2023
Every year I try to give an update on garden systems at Mezzacello Urban Farm. Today it is the fall potager garden update 2023. These gardens are still evolving and adapting from the 2020/2021 COVID19 Project Martian overhaul.
Steel and Still Squash Bugs
As you can see, the squash bugs are back and the new steel fencing is mostly in place. I did better with the squash bugs this year. I blieve it is down to the use of the marigolds and the sacrificial berry bramble.
In 2021 and 2022 the squash population was decimated completely by June. Large parts of these plants are still providing fruit well into October. We'll have 20 fruits to chop and dry for use in the winter.
The butternut squash was planted in late August, but they too are thriving (See the above). I'll destroy the wastes atop the rest of the planted beds and the fallow beds alike with a flame torch. Then I will lay out the manures and apply Eden's Ghost.
Some I will switch to fallow and plant hairy vetch (deep roots to fix nitrogen and improve the soil) the already fallow I'll plant turnips and garlic and shallots to over winter. I must deal with these squirrels though!
The Squirrels!
I won't go too deep into it here, but the squirrels have really turned up as my nemesis this year. The are decimating - and in some cases annihilating my leafy root plants. I must come up with a strategy for this.
This is a part of the City of Columbus Parks and Recreation Summer Grant Grant #1521-2023.