What to grow when you're not growing?

16 years ago

Dear Forum,

I'm a third year vegetable gardener in east central Illinois. (That is, I've been building my garden for two years). Normally, I grow the usual (peppers, tomatoes, basil & other herbs, squash, beets, carrots, etc. along with a smattering of flowers). I've rotated things around from year to year.

Next year, however, it looks like my family and I are going to be away for most of the summer, from about June 15 to August 15. This is, of course, the real ripening and harvest season around here. I'm not sure we'll have a house sitter, and in any case, I couldn't really expect them to do more than minimal gardening.

Okay, here's the question: what are some good things to grow in an off year, to help the garden grow better the following year? I'm not really planning on planting my usual crops, to give the soil a break from them (and also frustrate various pests who may be overwintering out there as we speak).

I've seen references to buckwheat as a good, green-manure cover crop. Is that a good idea? Also, I have had problems in the past with japanese beetles, cucumber beetles, and whiteflies. Would it be good to grow beds of plants that scare these things off?

In short, I'd be grateful for anyone who has a good idea of something fun and perhaps pretty that one might do in a vegetable garden in an off year. Rather than coming back to a messy lot of rotting tomatoes, I'd love to come back to a healthier yard!

(PS: I also have grub problems in the grass, though that's not in the garden).

Thanks in advance for your help!

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Comments (10)

plantermunn
16 years ago
Lugeums like clover vetch or beans would do.They would build the soil and alot of them can make it with out any attention.
pnbrown
16 years ago
If you have up until early june to sow, then there are a lot of options. All sorts of warm-weather legumes, including buckwheat, are good. You could plant some of it earlier in peas. Buckwheat can and probably will self-sow by mid-august, so you'll probably see it crop up again in the fall and the next spring, but it isn't hard to control. Beans and/or cowpeas would likely give you at least a little something to eat when you get back.
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tclynx
16 years ago
Clover might be good as would many other legumes.
Buckwheat is supposed to attract beneficials.
What about sunflowers! They attract beneficials and pollinators. Also feed the birds as well as squirles.
Many herbs also attract beneficials. Bees seem to love the basil. Carrots take a long time so if there is a little water, you could come back to find carrots in the fall and if they were to go to flower, the good bugs love em.
Radishes can help add organic matter to the soil if you leave them to rot. They may also be deterrent to some squash pests.

Lots of annual flowers or even an annual wildflower mix might be great if you are starting from a relatively weed free base. I like growing alyssum along with lots of veggies. Nasturtium would be a good choice in somewhat dry/poor neglected areas, when grown in with other plants they make good aphid traps crops.

Marigolds, they are supposed to be great companion plants but I've read that they would actually be far more effective is grown as a cover crop and turned in to help deter some soil pests.

I've also read a bit about using sesame plants as a cover crop against some pests.

You are probably best off having a bit of variety so that if something fails there is still a chance that something else will work. You will probably want to use something that you can get inexpensively and easily. Check for local seed sources or someplace like Johhny's selected seeds usually has some cover crop mixes. I got several different seed bags from them to see what cover crops will work well here.
I currently have beds of clover, oats, winter and spring wheat, buckwheat, and since I can various cool weather crops that are struggling with the almost 80 degree days we have had lately.

Just be careful of perennial plants that are known to be aggressive (stuff like mint and yarrow are probably not a good idea where you want to plant a veggie garden again next season.)

It is definitely a good idea to keep something happening in the garden even if you aren't actively cropping. If all else fails, bury that garden under lots of leaf or compost mulch for the season so the worms can have a party while you are away.

Here is a link that might be useful: TCLynx Gardening
pnbrown
16 years ago
Sunflower is definitely a great suggestion. Stands drought well. If it survives the deer and squirrels.
tclynx
16 years ago
LOL on the squirrels. I remember this past season walking out of the back door and seeing one of my sunflower's heads fall 14' out of a tree. Apparently the squirrel had stripped it of all the seeds worth keeping.

Here is a link that might be useful: My garden
ocdplants
16 years ago
Beans clover or mulch it. letting it go fallow only lets the hardier weeds take hold as they are the first to colonize recently tilled ground. sunflowers while cute would only rob the ground further if nutrition. just my opinion.
peter_6
16 years ago
John: any roots in the ground are good; even weeds -- especially deep-rooted weeds because they will both mine minerals from the sub-soil and their roots will add carbon to the soil deeper than you can place it. My favourite deep-root crop though is beets; their roots go down as much as 12 feet and they forgive you for neglecting them. Similarly, but somewhat less so, turnips and rutabaga. Regards, Peter.
pnbrown
16 years ago
I can attest to that; I grow beets at a remote site without irrigation.

ocd, I don't see why any plant would rob the ground if the bio-mass is left in place.
maupin
16 years ago
I strongly recommend inoculated Clover. I don't know anyone who grows buckwheat in Central IL. Sunflowers do nothing to build up the soil. When you get back in August weed whack the clover to ground level, mulch with grass clippings, and plant fall crops through them.
led_zep_rules
16 years ago
First, grow peas and lettuce and things before you go, so at least you get some nice crops.

I actually once did a similar thing. Flew out at the end of May, lived in France the summer of 93, when we lived in NE IL. Returned home about August 3. Had planted my garden with the usual suspects of tomatoes and eggplants, I remember those in particular. I mulched REALLY THICKLY with newspaper and maybe some leaves on top of that right up to the plant. Relied on a friend to water (I had a soaker home rigged up on a thing with a timer, so she just had to turn it on.) Another friend, a DEAR friend, actually watched over the garden and did a lot of weeding for me a few times. If you can get someone to weed just a couple times for you, and someone (can be someone else) to water a few times, you might get lucky. If all else fails, at least the newspaper or whatever mulch (cardboard would be good, too) keeps the weeds down somewhat on their own. Anyway, it worked for me, I got a few eggplants and a lot of tomatoes is what I recall. It was so long ago it is hard to remember.

Actually one thing I do remember is that our house was on the police vacation watch list. Since we were gone for so long, they didn't just drive into the driveway and look around, they actually got out and walked around the house every day (small town about 11K people.) Since I knew they would be doing that, I told them to help themselves to any tomatoes or whatever in the garden. So when I got home and called the police dept. to tell them we were home, the lady said, "Oh, you're the people with the vegetables." So the police actually did pick some of my vegetables, I am sure that helped my house get watched over better. :-)

We have left our house alone for months many times, but that was the only whole summer, usually we were gone in the fall or winter (sailing in the Virgin Islands a lot.) Now I am stuck in very cold, snowy WI, and pining away for the Caribbean.

Marcia

What to grow when you're not growing?

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