Vegetables for the Scholarship Fund

The Just Wait Foundation believes that what is healthy for the environment is healthy for kids, and promotes learning opportunities that develop sustainable habits of environmental stewardship in children and their communities.

Just Wait couples standards-based curricula with active participation, acknowledging that children learn best through hands-on activities that enhance their critical thinking skills. The essence of organic growing is soil management and fertility maintenance: feed the soil, not the plant -- the soil will feed the plant very much better than you can. In an natural or manmade collapse there will be no chemicals available, so one will be forced to do practice organic gardening.

Below are ideas to consider:

1. The praying mantis is a fascinating insect with a voracious appetite. Not only will they eat aphids, crickets & grasshoppers, they are one of the only insects fast enough to catch mosquitoes.

2. Fennel is an excellent plant for attracting ladybugs. The statuesque plants are usually covered in ladybug eggs and larvae. Set aside a space in your garden for this beneficial herb.

3. Keep garlic in your toolkit. If insect pests like aphids become a nuisance, use the crush the cloves to make your own insect spray. Any garlic that sprouts can be planted in the garden to help repel other pests.

4. To prevent damping off in your seedlings, sprinkle the top of your potting mix with cinnamon, a natural fungicide.

5. Before starting your seedlings, make sure your containers are clean. Wash them out with warm soapy water and sterilize them with a 10% solution of bleach.

6. While soil temperatures are still warm, fertilize leafy greens like spinach, corn salad & sorrel so that they have enough nutrients to take them through the fall

7. Don't let powdery mildew ruin your garden. Control it easily using milk! Mix 1 part milk to 9 parts water and spray affected plants once a week

8. Whitefly can cause considerable damage as temperatures rise. Keep their numbers down by using sticky traps & organic sprays such as pyrethrum or neem.

9. If carrot rust fly is a problem in your garden, spread onion and shallot skins around your carrot seedlings to repel the flies and prevent them from laying their eggs.

10. To repel many common insect pests, use members of the allium family such as chives, onions, scallions and garlic as companion plants. Plant whole rows or slip in seedlings wherever you can fit them.

11. Ladybugs will control a variety of pests in your garden, especially aphids. Keep them in your garden by providing nectar plants like dill, parsley & fennel. You'll soon see their bright orange eggs all over your garden

12. Attract beneficial insects to your garden by planting angelica, cilantro, dill, fennel, & parsley and allowing them to go to flower

Nothing stops Mr. Rabbit from his lifelong pursuit of getting into your garden. But there are ways to keep the cottontail bunny and other unwanted creatures from your flower and vegetable gardens.

While a high fence may be the first barrier for some animals, particularly deer, others can easily squeeze under or jump over to reach their tasty motivations.

Organic Tips

1 Human hair is particularly good in warding off deer because deer do not like the smell of humans. Gather hair from hair brushes or get it from a barber or hairstylist. Place the hair around the perimeter of the garden or around plants.

2 Bacon grease placed around the garden will ward off rabbits.

3 Attach aluminum pie pans to a string and hang them around the perimeter of the garden. The noise of the pans will ward off raccoons.

4 Place a scarecrow in the garden. Making the scarecrow is a fun activity for parents and their children.

5 Shavings from a very strong deodorant soap will ward off a host of creatures, including rabbits. Using a peeler, shave off thin strips of the soap and scatter lightly on the edges of the garden or around the plants. An alternative to fragrant soaps is to make your own spice mixture. A blend of one gallon of water and a couple of teaspoons of cayenne pepper sprayed on plants will ward off squirrels and rabbits.