An assortment of freshly picked organic vegetables in a trug basket on an idyllic English allotment with person wearing boots in background.
Grow Your Own Veggies—and Keep Blooms Fresh—With Horticulturalist Erica Jo Schaffer
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Asia Tabb
An assortment of freshly picked organic vegetables in a trug basket on an idyllic English allotment with person wearing boots in background.
Aired; May 8th, 2025.
This spring, as we look forward to harvesting homegrown produce and gifting fresh flowers for Mother’s Day, horticulturalist Erica Jo Schaffer joined The Spark to share her expert advice on everything from planning your first vegetable patch to reviving cut blooms.
“First thing is where are you going to put it,” Erica says. “It has to be in an area that’s going to get at least six hours of sun.” She also warns gardeners to watch for wildlife corridors:
“If it’s an area where deer are going to come through… you really should consider a fence of some sort, at least up to three feet.”
Your harvest goals dictate your space:
“If you’re going to be… showing up in the night with zucchini on your neighbor’s porches, that’s going to depend on how big or how small… and if it’s your first one, you probably should start a little smaller so you can get some confidence.”
Erica recommends starting every new bed with a soil test from Penn State:
“They send you back the results… so you actually know what nutrients… to put in.”
When it comes to heavy or tired soil, her motto is simple:
“Compost, compost, compost—I love leaf compost.”
Deer, rabbits, and groundhogs can decimate young plants, but Erica’s found a winning combo:
“We put marigolds all the way around, we do the three-foot fence…and we never have deer damage, ever.”
For groundhogs, she adds, “You can actually put the fence deeper in the ground… [and] blood meal… is dried blood… they absolutely hate that.”
Interplanting edible flowers like nasturtiums not only brightens beds but also attracts pollinators:
“Flowers are going to bring more pollinators…and you’re going to have a bigger harvest.”
For feeding veggies, she prefers organic:
“Espoma… garden tone… keeps on giving a little, a little, a little. Chemical fertilizers can make lush foliage—but aphids love that lush foliage and then often they fall over.”
Erica advises identifying the root cause of infestations before resorting to sprays:
“Insects attack weaker plants… Interplant radishes with onions… sacrifice the radishes to save the onions.”
For diseases like powdery mildew or blossom end rot, she points to proper spacing and balanced calcium in the soil.
