WHERE IT ALL BEGINS: THE SOIL - Growing Chinese Vegetables in Your Own Backyard - page 215

oretically, you can dig them into the soil at the beginning of the season and be done
with fertilizing for the year. You may find that some plants need a snack as the season
progresses, especially those that bear heavily or get cropped a lot. These fertilizers are
more expensive, but if you have trouble remembering to fertilize, they're worth the ex-
tra money.
In the discussion of individual vegetables, I've given fertilizer recommendations.
Don't take these recommendations as exact prescriptions. Variables of rainfall, soil,
temperature, seeds, and many other factors affect how much fertilizer to apply and
when. You can follow some general rules, but pay attention to the condition of your
garden and the individual plants in it. You'll soon learn to distinguish between a healthy
plant and one that is under stress.
Pests and Diseases
The healthier your plants, the more resistant they will be to pests and diseases. Aphids,
whitefly, flea beetles, and powdery mildew will still make some inroads even on healthy
plants. Many times insects can be sent packing with just a strong spray from the garden
hose. As a last resort, the organic gardener can use insecticidal soap, pyre-thrum, or
rotenone.
Baking soda spray helps control some diseases such as powdery mildew. Try spray-
ing plants with 4 teaspoons dissolved in a gallon of water (some people add 1 to 2 ta-
blespoons of vegetable oil to help it stick). If you have trouble with a particular disease
year after year, seek out varieties resistant to that disease.
Some insects, such as flea beetles, can be avoided by growing plants under floating
row cover. For cucumbers and eggplants, you have to remove the row cover as soon as
plants start to flower. Otherwise you'll keep out pollinating insects and will end up with
no harvest.
A few insects here and there won't do much damage, so don't get nervous just be-
cause you see something walking around on a vegetable leaf. Remember that a veget-
able garden is part of nature and you can't run it like a machine. Remember the old
farmer who philosophically planted three cherry trees for every one he hoped to harvest.
“One for the bugs, one for the birds, and one for me.”
Starting Seeds Indoors
When you head to your local plant nursery or farmer's market in the spring, you prob-
ably won't find Chinese broccoli among the broccoli plants. If you want to get a jump