Takes a hard frost. Start indoors 8 to 10 weeks before your last frost; plant out 2 to 4 weeks before your last frost; sow outdoors up to 2 weeks before your last frost; sow in fall 11 to 13 weeks before your first fall frost. First harvest 40 to 80 days from sowing.
What you'll see: Velvety green caterpillars chew holes in leaves and bore into heads, leaving dark green droppings. White butterflies flutter over the bed.
Prevent
Cover plants with row cover from planting.
Check leaves each week and pick off caterpillars.
Organic options
Hand-pick caterpillars.
Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki) or spinosad on young caterpillars. Look for OMRI Listed products.
Conventional options
Same as organic: Bt and spinosad are the usual choices.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
What you'll see: On cabbage-family crops, yellow V-shaped patches grow in from the leaf edges and the veins turn black. On sweet potatoes, firm, dark, sunken patches form on the roots, often found in storage.
Prevent
For cabbage-family crops, use certified or hot-water-treated seed and healthy transplants.
Keep cabbage-family crops out of a bed for 2 to 3 years, and control weeds.
For sweet potatoes, grow slips only from clean roots and cure the roots before storing.
Organic options
Pull and destroy infected plants and roots.
On cabbage-family crops, copper may slow spread while disease is light. Look for OMRI Listed products.
Conventional options
None. No spray cures black rot, and none helps stored sweet potatoes.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
What you'll see: Yellow patches on top of leaves, often boxed in by the veins, with gray to purple fuzz underneath; on shallots, whitish-gray growth on older leaves. Leaves brown and die, worst in cool, wet weather.
Prevent
Grow resistant varieties; basil sold as downy mildew resistant holds up far better.
Space plants, trellis vines and water at the base so leaves dry fast.
Remove and destroy infected plants promptly.
Organic options
Copper protects cucumber and melon leaves best when used before the disease arrives. Look for OMRI Listed products.
Conventional options
Chlorothalonil or mancozeb on vine crops, if labeled. On basil, home-garden sprays work poorly; grow resistant varieties.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
Read and follow the product label: it is the law. It sets the rate, the crops it is for, and the days between spraying and picking. Products registered vary by state; for organic growing, look for products allowed under the USDA National Organic Program (OMRI Listed). We name active ingredients, not brands or rates.
The link opens this growing guide, so anyone can read it and look up their own planting dates.
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Sow
Sprout
Plant out
Leaf growth
Head forms
Harvest
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