Even though it is Farm Show Week, it is NOT TOO EARLY to start thinking about your garden and what you will plant when the gardens open (hopefully) in March. They opened on March 17th last year, and considering that date, we could have only about 68-70 days until the gardens open once more. In terms of weeks, that’s about 11 weeks—not a long time at all. That isn’t very long, and so you need to be thinking about what you will plant and when.
It is certain that the seed catalog companies are thinking about you and your garden. I am simply inundated with catalogs. Just to see if anyone is paying attention to this blog, I intend to leave a generous supply of seed catalogs on the Picnic Table over in the gardens on Saturday next, weather permitting. The catalogs will be in a plastic bag. Some will be 2012 catalogs, but there will be a few very nice 2013 ones there as well, including a Baker Creek Seeds Heirloom catalog. Some fortunate person will have interesting reading over the winter. . .
In a past issue of this blog I mentioned the need to PLAN YOUR GARDEN. Planning is absolutely essential to having a good harvest. Planning is especially necessary if you only have one or two plots to work with. A garden plan will save time, space and money. You will get much more out of your garden and you will be able to increase the length of the harvest season, at least well into the fall of 2013. You will make proper and complete use of your space, which alleviates crowding of vegetables or encroachment on areas where you should not encroach.
There are two ways to make up a garden plan. First, you can do it manually. Start by making a scale drawing of your available garden area on graph paper. You can get graph paper at any office supply store—you will find it in among the school supplies. Divide the drawing into cool-season and warm-season vegetable planting areas.
Cool-season vegetables Warm-Season vegetables
Onions Corn
Cabbage Tomatoes
Sweet Peas Green Beans and Dry Beans
Radishes Peppers
Collards Okra
Kale Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes
Mustard Greens Summer Squash
Lettuces Winter Squash
Spinach Cucumbers
Broccoli Eggplant
Cool-season vegetables can generally be planted as soon as the garden can be worked. These plants LOVE the cool early spring weather, and generally do better early in the season. They can withstand some frost. They also flourish then because there are LESS BUGS to disturb them. But the veggies on the Warm-season list cannot be planted until AFTER the last frost date for our area, which is ON OR ABOUT MAY 5. White potatoes are an exception, as they can generally be planted by mid-April. In the case of corn, it should not be planted until the soil has warmed up to about 55-60 degrees. Also, both the NIGHTS and the days must be warm (temperatures at or above 55 degrees) if corn is to be successful.
Anyway, you plant your Cool-Season veggies early and harvest them before the summer heat begins, so that that area of your garden can then be used for the Warm-Season veggies. This allows you to use your space to best advantage.
The Other Way that you can easily plan your garden is to use the Grow Veg Garden Planner mentioned in the blog post: found here:
There is a free trial period, but after 30 days you must buy a subscription. It is well worth it because of all of the beneficial helps this planner provides. This is the planner I use.
Some of the Cool-Season veggies can be sown directly from seed as soon as you have worked your garden after it opens, but generally broccoli, cabbage and onions will do better if planted as PLANTS. This can be done two ways. You can wait until the Home Centers stock veggie plants and buy them (poor selection) or you can start them from seed (great selection). Did you know that last year the ONLY veggie that was planted as a purchased plant in my garden was Eggplant. All of the other plants that I set out were from seed that I started at home, or from seed that was directly sown. Starting your own plants from seed saves an enormous amount of money and it allows you to plant favorite, heirloom or unusual varieties that are not found in the Home Centers.
Cool-season vegetables
Onions Set out plants in March
Cabbage Start seed indoors by March 1; set out April 1
Sweet Peas Direct Sow in March
Radishes Direct Sow in March
Collards Direct Sow April 1
Kale Direct Sow April 1
Mustard Greens Direct Sow April 1
Lettuces Direct Sow in March
Spinach Direct Sow April 1
Broccoli Start seed indoors by March 1; set out by April 15
Warm-Season vegetables
Corn Direct sow between May 6 and June 15; Avoid corn plants!
Tomatoes Start seed indoors by March 1; plant out May 15
Green Beans Direct Sow May 1
Dry Beans Direct Sow May 1
Peppers Start Indoors Feb 28; plant out May 15
Okra Direct Sow May 15
Potatoes Plant by April 15
Sweet Potatoes Plant slips after May 15
Summer Squash Direct sow between May 15 and May 31
Winter Squash Direct sow between May 15 and May 31
Cucumbers Direct sow May 1
Eggplant Set out plants May 15
As far as the proper technique for starting seeds indoors is concerned, I had given complete instructions in a previous blog. Three of the most important instructions are: (1) CLEANLINESS! Everything must be very clean; (2) Do not use any fertilizers on seedlings, and; (3) Do not use seed starters based on peat moss or peat pots of any type. If these reminders bring forth questions, then you will have to re-read the blog in question.
Not Too Early to Talk About Preserving the Harvest. . .
In my last post, which was (shamefully) back at the end of July, I promised to talk about Preserving the Harvest by dehydrating vegetables.
This is my Vegi Kiln food dehydrator. This device is used to dry vegetables and meats for storage.
Although you can dry food by placing it out in the sun, or by using the oven (if the oven on your stove can be turned down to at least 140 degrees), the most efficient and least expensive way to dry food is by using a dehydrator designed for the purpose. The reason why is because if you intend to dry food in the sun, you must build or buy special trays for that purpose and you must observe the food at all times to make sure that bugs or birds haven’t gotten into it. Also, kitchen stoves are not generally equipped with fans to keep the air circulating about the food and so it takes a much longer time to dry things in the oven and the energy cost is higher. Initially, a food dehydrator will cost somewhere between $50 and $400 (the one I own is closer to the upper end in price), but it is well worth the cost to have an easy way to preserve your food that does not require the use of a freezer or canning supplies.
This illustration shows eggplant, green peppers and summer squash that has been dried and sealed into jars. The Half-Gallon jars in the background contain the equivalent of about 20 pounds each of eggplant and green peppers, and the quart jar in from contains the equivalent of about 10 pounds of dried summer squash. To prepare these dried vegetables for cooking all you have to do is soak them in some water. You can also simply add them to a soup and they will be fine. I have also dried celery, collards, kale, okra, hot peppers and onions. The really nice thing about storing food as dried goods is that it is lightweight and takes up far less space than traditionally canned or frozen foods. For example, 20 pounds of tomatoes can be dried down to a pile that weighs only about 18 ounces. Drying is ideal for limited-space situations, such as apartment or small home living. The actual process of drying veggies and fruits is fairly simple. Veggies are washed and cut into serving-sized pieces and blanched and drained, as if preparing them for the freezer. The cut pieces are laid out in the dehydrator and the dehydrator is set for the specific temperature. The drying veggies are then left for the appropriate amount of time until they are dry and brittle in texture. Fruits can be washed, cut and dried as serving sized pieces or they can be made into fruit leathers and dried that way. There are easy to follow instructions and recipes here:
http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/uga_dry_fruit.pdf
Next time, I’ll talk a little bit about prepping the garden for another season, and give some neighborly reminders. I’ll also talk about the reason why you should care where your garden plants and seeds come from.
gardengal
The Dusty Hoe 