Gardening for Fun

Growing vegetables take minerals and other nutrients out of the soil and they need to be replaced eventually. So the first thing I do in Spring is till the garden. I spread a few bags of leaves in the garden, and then I distribute a bag of clay buster and 2 bags of Alfalfa pellets. I till everything under. The clay buster loosens hard packed soil and the clay. The Alfalfa pellets are a good fertilizer. Leaves are always good for the soil.

In the Fall, after all the vegetables have been harvested, I remove all the stakes, the labels, the tomato cages, and the trellises, then I spread a thick carpet of leaves over the soil and till everything under. It has time to disintegrate during the winter months.

I used to till the garden again the day before I planted and seeded. Not anymore. I till a few weeks before I plant and that’s it. When I transfer my small seedlings and seed the beds I don’t disturb the soil by tilling. The only disturbing of the soil I do is to rake and add dried manure.

The work doesn’t begin with the tilling. It begins already beginning of March. That’s when I seed my peppers in containers. A month later I usually seed my tomatoes. However, I buy most of my plants from garden centers in the last week of May for planting in the first week of June. We have a short growing season where I live and I’m always amazed that we get good crops in such a short time. By September most of the vegetables have been harvested. Sometimes we get already frost in the middle of September, which means either covering everything that is still in the garden with tarps or pick it before the first frost comes.

Before I start planting and seeding, I make a plan. I have a blank master plan which I print out. Then I compare it with the plan from the previous year and start marking in which beds I want to plant and seed what. It is important not to put the same plants in the same location in the garden to avoid transferring diseases that stay in the soil over the winter.

I seed a ring of Marigolds around my garden every year. They help to keep out aphids and other harmful critters. Actually, my wife seeds the Marigolds. In Fall we collect enough seeds from the plants and keep them in a container to be used the following year. That way we never have to buy any seeds for the Marigolds.

I use wide beds. Between each bed a have a walkway. I make the walkways by shoveling a bit of soil off the top and then I walk it a few times to pack the soil. Then I cover the walkway with the first cutting of grass. That way I can walk in my garden even after a rain. The grass also keeps down the weeds on the walkways.

I use cages for my tomatoes. Before I plant my tomatoes, I make a trench in the soil and sprinkle some fertilizer into the trench. I cover the fertilizer with soil. I line up the cages beside the trench to make sure I leave enough room between each plant for the cage. Then I remove each plant from its container and pinch off the bottom leaves. I lay the plant into the trench and cover the root ball and part of the stem with soil, making sure I don’t break the stem of the plant. The part of the stem that is under the surface will eventually grow roots, giving the plant a better hold in the soil. Before I put the cages over the plants I mulch everything with grass. I do this to keep down the weeds, but also to prevent the tomato leaves from touching the soil. It is important to keep soil from splashing up when I water the plants. This helps to keep away diseases that might be in the soil, like yellowing of the leaves that in the end kill the plant. I’ll write more about that later.

One note about watering: I always water my tomato plants from the bottom, never from the top.

Once all the tomatoes have been planted, I pound in stakes at 5 foot intervals all around the row of cages. Then I wrap everything with plastic. This keeps out the wind and helps to collect the heat of the sun. It is important to keep the plants warm, especially in the first two weeks. Later on I will remove the plastic. (Some people put milk cartons over their seedlings, but that seems like a lot of trouble. I find my method easier.)

After I’ve planted my peppers, I also wrap them with a sheet of plastic. Again, to keep the winds out and the plants warm. Peppers need plenty of warmth.

 

This is what my preliminary plan looks like for 2013 Once the garden is finished it will be more detailed

You may notice there is no mention of Dill weed. Like the name says it is a weed and it grows all over the garden. I seeded it a few years ago and it comes back every year. You can't get rid of it, but that's okay. We love it and use it in Borscht and salads. Once it is about 3 inches high I start pulling it out, but I save it, wash it and freeze it. We have dill all winter. It thaws very quickly, so I just take out as much as I need and put the rest back into the freezer as quickly as possible.