By PAUL HETZLER

The Fountain of Youth, The City of Gold, and of course, The Disease-Free Garden. While we know these things don’t exist, gardeners of all levels of superstition can take measures to reduce the incidence of plant disease. Here are a few suggestions.

Hedge your bets: When possible, buy at least one variety of each vegetable that has disease resistance. While a ‘Mountain Magic’ tomato may not have the succulence and mouth-watering flavor of a ‘Brandywine,’ it is resistant to the dreaded late blight.

The bad seed: It turns out that some diseases actually come in on seeds! A few seed companies are now hot-water treating their seeds to kill disease spores. You’d have to ask your seed company if they do this. (Fungicide treatments keep seeds from rotting in the ground, but don’t prevent plant disease.)

The fungus among us: Most plant diseases are fungal, and nearly all require ample moisture to create infection. Air circulation and sunlight penetration are your greatest allies in the fight against fungi. For best results, orient your rows to maximize air flow, and don’t crowd the plants—always go with the recommended row and plant spacing. Stake or trellis tomatoes, and prune off sucker growth. Only water in the mornings so that plants can dry out quickly.

The dirt on disease: Since the majority of fungal diseases are soil-borne (late blight and powdery mildew are notable exceptions), keeping soil off the foliage will reduce disease. This can be done through careful watering, or better yet, with trickle or drip irrigation.

A mulch better idea: Using about 3 inches of mulch will not only reduce or eliminate soil splash, it will conserve water and keep the weeds down. Mulch can be leaves, straw, hay or just about any other kind of organic matter. In addition, mulching will help eliminate blossom-end rot, not actually a disease, but a disorder caused by drastic fluctuations in soil moisture.

Cleanliness is next to impossibleness: But try anyway. Garden sanitation is critical in the war on disease. If the common but pesky early blight starts in on your tomatoes, cut off and destroy lower leaves that become infected. After the season is over, remove all stalks/ stems/ vines from the garden ASAP. Any which are diseased should be kept out of the compost pile.

Soil amendment: Remember that the best thing you can add to any garden is your shadow.

If by some chance you do find the disease-free garden—or the Fountain of Youth—please let me know. In the meantime, enjoy your gardening!

Paul Hetzler is a forester and a horticulture and natural resources educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County.