Mario Bautista
Q: I’m new to vegetable gardening and want to get some ideas before I dive into setting up my own home plots. Where can I see some examples or get inspired?
A: Master Gardener volunteers are a great resource, with local classes, workshops, and demonstration gardens on the grounds of many county Extension offices. You can visit the program’s home page (go.umd.edu/mg) for information that includes a link to area gardens and plant clinic sessions (where you can bring questions to the MGs). The Master Gardener subprogram Grow It Eat It focuses on backyard and community food production using sustainable and affordable practices.
If you plan on attending the Maryland State Fair, which is coming up shortly, be sure to check out the MG Learning Garden on the grounds, stocked with vegetables, herbs, and some plants for pollinators. I visited that garden in early August, and it’s looking great! There are good examples of growing vertically and using support structures to save ground space and make veggies easier to harvest.
In addition to useful techniques, demonstration gardens can also introduce you to new veggies to try. My inspiration from this year’s learning garden crops include red noodle beans (picture a plum-red, one- to two-foot long flexible green bean) and ‘Zephyr’ squash, a cultivar hybridized between summer and winter types that is purportedly resistant to squash vine borer. (Harvest it like a summer squash.)
Q: I haven’t seen a lot of pollinators this year… butterflies, wasps, bees … all seem to be scarce. What’s going on?
A: Probably lots of overlapping things: weather, insect-specific disease outbreaks, habitat loss, pesticide use (mosquito and tick sprays included), and a general lack of resources for adult and juvenile insects. I see a lot of residential and commercial landscapes that use the same plants over and over again, to say nothing of expanses of lawn where it’s probably not needed.
As gardeners, we can do our part to support insect biodiversity by including more site-appropriate native plant species in our landscapes and encouraging public spaces (commercial properties and business campuses) to do the same. Instead of planting more of the same overused (or invasive) species like boxwood, arborvitae, barberry, crape myrtle, Japanese maple, euonymus, cherry laurel, yew, and so on, let’s try a wider array of perennials and shrubs.
The more diverse the range of plants grown, the more diverse the insect population we can attract and retain, especially for the insects that are highly specialized and need certain plant resources for their reproduction.
Gardeners with only balcony space and container plants can still make an impact. You might not get to witness all the floral visitors to appreciate them – some pollinate at night, after all, or come and go in just a few minutes – but if leaves get nibbled and flowers set seed, you can presume that at least some insects are benefiting from your efforts. In turn, other plants and animals are benefiting from those pollinators.
I am encouraged by the growing enthusiasm and idea-sharing that happens between gardeners online, particularly regarding native plants, and hopefully by showing our neighbors our successes and sharing plants or seeds, more gardeners can be convinced to reimagine their landscapes in a way that will support our ecosystem.
University of Maryland Extension’s Home and Garden Information Center offers free gardening and pest information at extension.umd.edu/hgic. Click “Ask Extension” to send questions and photos.
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