If you're planning a vegetable garden for the spring, whether it's through the community garden or on your own, it's time to start thinking of how to make the most of your plot and how to get the highest yield, the least crop failure, and the most fun out of your garden. Even if you consider yourself a novice gardener, there are some simple ways to defeat nasty pests and diseases and to ensure that you have success with your veggies through companion and succession planting.

The number one way to control disease in the garden is to plant disease-resistant varieties. These may cost a bit more up front, but you will be saving yourself time and money in the long run. Most catalogs will list the disease resistance of the plant varieties and if you're buying your plants or seeds in a nursery the labels should tell you or a knowledgeable staff member can help you out. The label will say something like "Celebrity"-VFFNT. This is the Celebrity tomato (All-American Winner, mid-season, medium red fruit, determinate) and has resistance to Verticillium Wilt, Fusarium Wilt race 1,2, Nematodes and Tobacco Mosaic Virus. Unfortunately the heirloom varieties, in which there has been a huge resurgence of interest lately, are not disease resistant.

Another common issue in the vegetable garden is pests such as aphids, cutworms, whitefly, hornworms, among many others. Before reaching for your chemical pesticides (which are not allowed in the South Orange Community Garden anyway), there are many organic biological, cultural and mechanical means of control for these pesky critters. Your first line of defense is to grow plants in your plot that will attract beneficial insects. You see, not all insects in the garden are bad; some insects such as ladybugs, lacewings, and certain types of tiny wasps should be welcomed into your garden as they will feast on the nasty bugs that are feasting on your veggies. To enhance the habitat of your garden to attract beneficials, you'll want to plant things such as dill, fennel, coriander, sweet alyssum, cosmos, basil, borage, yarrow, goldenrod, golden marguerite, sunflowers, and coneflowers. By attracting beneficial insects you will be balancing the ecosystem of your veggie garden so that the pest insects are under control and you won't have to resort to non-organic chemical pesticides, which indiscriminately kill all insects.

Another way of controlling pests and disease in your garden is to invest in a magnifying hand lens and closely inspect your plants on a regular basis. Turn over the leaves and look at the growing tips because this is where most pest infestations start. At a quick glance your plants can look perfectly fine, but if you turn over the leaves and look with your lens you may see hundreds of aphids which can quickly turn into hundreds of thousands of aphids (aphids are born pregnant!) If you find that you have an infestation you can remove the insects mechanically (crushing worms and beetles with your fingers, or spraying the plant with a strong stream of water to knock off aphids, whiteflies or spider mites) and then hopefully you've reduced the population to the point where the beneficial insects can take over and finish the job.

Other means of pest control include collars around your seedlings to prevent cutworm and cabbage maggots, screens or rowcovers, and mulches. You'll also want to maintain good sanitation practices, especially in a group setting such as the community garden. Remove any diseased debris and put it into a hot compost pile to kill off any spores. (Ideally this compost would not be re-used in a vegetable bed.) Water your plants from below to avoid getting the leaves wet which attracts fungus and other diseases. If you must water with a sprinkler do it first thing in the morning to give the plants an opportunity to fully dry off before dark.

Companion planting is an excellent way to get the most out of your vegetable garden. Companion planting has been in practice for thousands of years and benefits your garden by boosting crop production, attracting beneficial insects, hiding or masking a crop from pests, providing trap crops, and creating a habitat for beneficial creatures. For example, many people plant nasturtium in the garden as a way to trap aphids and keep them off the more important food crops. Aphids are attracted to the soft tissue of the nasturtium so they are more likely to go after those than your tomatoes. (Plus, nasturtiums are edible and add a nice, peppery bite to a salad!) According to the Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, basil repels aphids, mites, and mosquitoes, slows the growth of milkweed bugs and acts as a fungicide. Basil is also said to improve the growth and flavor of your tomatoes. Plant marigolds freely throughout your garden, says the Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, as they are the workhorse of pest deterrents; they keep the soil free of nematodes and discourage many insects.

Succession planting is a way to keep your garden producing at its highest capacity all season long, as well as ensuring that you will have some vegetables to harvest even if you lose some to pests or diseases. With a small plot such as the 4' x 12' community garden plots or a small home garden, succession planting is even more important so you can get the most out of your limited space. In April or May you can plant crops that can withstand a light frost and mature early. These include lettuce, peas, radishes, early cabbage, early spinach, mustard, and turnips. While these are maturing, you can plant the more permanent residents of your garden after May 15th, including tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, squash, okra, Swiss chard, and beans. After the early crops are harvested, you can then plant your cool weather crops in July, including broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, beets, kale, kohlrabi, spinach, turnips, collards, and lettuce. For leafy greens such as lettuces and spinach, you can sow seeds every 2 or 3 weeks to have a constant source of salad greens until winter. You may even be able to squeeze in a fourth planting after the permanent plants are harvested in late summer if you choose early-maturing varieties of cool weather crops so they can be harvested before winter sets in.

This may seem like a lot of information at once, but if you allow yourself to become an intuitive gardener a lot of this will come naturally to you. The main points to remember are to use your eyes as your first line of defense against pests and diseases; keep balance in the garden by planting a variety of crops and flowers and by attracting beneficial insects; and plant in succession to allow for the highest yield from your garden. And most importantly, have fun in the garden, especially if this is your first year attempting a vegetable garden. It is a constant learning process and Mother Nature is always throwing us a curveball in the form of a drought (last year), floods (the year before) or who-knows-what this coming season! We'll never have all the answers, but the excitement is in the uncertainty of it all.