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A Plot of One's OwnBy Nichole Dupont
Special to iBerkshires
05:03PM / Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The small veggie garden from the ground up
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| Jodi Cahillane demonstrates how to put together a simple garden tipi. |
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For the first-time gardener, getting your toes in the dirt can be an exciting and daunting task. Knowing where to start is just as important as knowing where to go and how to get there. According to Jodi Cahillane, longtime gardener and publicity coordinator at Ward's Nursery and Garden Center in Great Barrington, the very first step to creating a vegetable garden is to have a plan and a space.
"The garden really needs eight hours of sunlight a day," she said. "It should be in a place where it will get that much light through the summer."
Once the proper space has been selected (it could even be a small 10-by-10-foot plot to start) removing the sod is the next step.
"Cut the sod and peel it back, and you can use that sod to fill in holes in your yard," Cahillane said. "Then dig down about 10 inches so that you're loosening up that topsoil."
The topsoil will need to be amended with a rich compost in order to give seedlings the best start possible. Cahillane suggests filling a wheelbarrow half full with the topsoil and then dumping the compost into the wheelbarrow to fill it, mixing the two together and then returning it to the garden.
"It's just like the dry ingredients to a cake," she said. "And it takes time, even if it's a 10-by-10, it's a day's worth of work."
After the soil has been amended, the plot needs to rest (this means avoid over-tilling) for a few days in order to allow beneficial insects and microbes to "take up residence" again.
"By being there, they take up room that diseases and funguses would take otherwise," she said.
Now it is time to start the actual planting process, but don't get too eager. According to Cahillane, a garden, no matter how small, "takes time in a very specific time."
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| Leafy vegetables can be planted early and often. |
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Several considerations need to be made when planting, beginning with temperature hardiness. Leafy greens (lettuce, spinach, chard) are cool crops and should be seeded in the shade of taller plants, such as between tomato plants. Additionally, leafy greens can be seeded every few weeks so that they are always at the ready for salads. As with the greens, bean seeds can be planted early. The best beans to plant in a small space are pole beans. According to Cahillane, the trick to planting pole beans is first building a six-pole (or stick) "tipi" that will allow you to train the beans as they grow up.
"Plant six beans around each pole and cover the beans with Reemay [a white, spun polyester]. This will allow them to sprout and prevent bean beetles from getting in and eating the tips off," she said.
Planting the carrots and beets in between the beans is also a good example of space management. Because it takes a long time for them to grow, by the time the beans are done (harvested) the carrots and beets can have the sunlight in order to grow. In addition to beans, carrots and beets, onion sets can be planted early in the season, preferably around the edges of the garden beds.
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| Tomatoes can provide shade for delicate plants. |
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"They are a smelly barrier to the critters and they help you edge your garden," Cahillane said.
Lastly, but certainly not least are the tomatoes, eggplants, all varieties of squash, cucumbers and peppers. These veggies require hot sun, so don't plant them too early. This means waiting until there has been a full week of warm weather before seeding.
"If you want, you can have them get big and sassy inside," Cahillane said. "But don't put the seeds in the ground before May 30."
Continue to observe the garden, maybe 15 minutes a day, bring your coffee out in the morning and water. Also, do include flowers in your veggie garden, especially marigold to keep pests away, put straw (not hay) on garden paths and in between beds to keep the weeds down, and do not be afraid to side dress the rows every month with compost. This will provide the vegetables with all the nutrients they need to boost themselves for the harvest.
Oh, and have fun!
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Don't forget to add the nutritional component for growing gardens. |
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