Pathways - Spring 2011

After transplanting new plants, create a berm of soil around their base with a slight depression in the center. This directs water down toward the central root zone, and reduces the amount of water lost to runoff.

Arrange your plants in “tiers” facing the sun. Watch how the sun travels in your garden. Plant your garden with the shortest plants at the southern end, and build up to the tallest plants at the northern end. Make sure your taller plants don’t block the sunlight for the smaller plants. Plants which are supported by a trellis, like squash, peas or pole beans, should be placed toward the northern and eastern edges of the garden plot, so as not to shade other plants.

Plant successively. Rather than plant a crop, such as lettuce or broccoli, all at once, it’s better to plant several crops spaced two weeks apart. This will prevent a windfall of one crop all at one time, and will extend the harvest over the full length of the growing season.

Protect your seedlings. A small, clear shelter will protect seedlings from pests, warm the soil, and provide more favorable conditions for delicate seedlings. Use a cloche or cold frame for the job. However, be sure that the soil is kept watered, as the cloche will prevent rain from wetting the soil.

Tuck plants into bare spots. Bare spots invite weeds. Fill in any bare spots with small annuals like lettuce, celery, mint, nasturtium or parsley.

Don’t add nitrogen once plants are established. Manure, bloodmeal, canola meal and other high-nitrogen sources are essential for vigorous plant and leaf growth, but should be withheld once the plant is established or shows any signs of flowering. Too much nitrogen will promote more plant growth when the plant should be producing fruit. Large, leggy plants with little fruit yield are an indicator of too much nitrogen.

Keep a planting record. Make a note of which plants are planted in each bed. At the end of the season you can note any problems or improvements for subsequent crops. Also, this record makes it easy to decide which beds to rotate crops into the next spring.

Rotate crops each year. Rotation will often prevent reinfection of vegetables from disease spores from last years’ crops. Tomatoes, for instance, are susceptible to verticillium wilt, which remains in the soil over the winter and can attack a new crop.

Greg Seaman is the founder and editor of Eartheasy.com, an online guide to sustainable living. Greg and his family have 30 years of organic gardening experience, having lived off-grid and maintained two vegetable gardens and an orchard since 1980. This article is the second in a three-part series on backyard vegetable gardening. To see all three articles, visit: eartheasy.com/grow_backyard_vegetable_garden.html. View article resources and author information here: pathwaystofamilywellness .org/ references.html.

The basic soil requirements for plants to grow and produce fruit are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). The relative amounts of these elements is listed on most bags of fertilizer and soil amendments.

Nitrogen is essential for vigorous stem and leaf growth.
Sources of nitrogen include manure, bloodmeal, bonemeal,
canola meal and cottonseed meal.
Phosphorous is essential for strong root systems and
flowering. It can increase fruit development and seed yield.
Sources of phosphorous are rock phosphate, blood meal,
bone meal, cottonseed meal and urine.

Potassium is essential for cell division and strong stems.
It helps fight disease, improve the quality of fruit, and de-
crease the water requirement of plants. Sources of potas-
sium are wood ashes, greensand, manure and compost.
You’ll need to schedule your planting according to the
seasonal temperature range in your region. Early-season
plants like peas, Swiss chard, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cau-
liflower, turnips and onions grow best at temperatures be-
tween 50 and 70°F ( 10–20°C). These plants prefer a cooler
time of the year to grow, and will usually tolerate frost.
Vegetables like lettuce, celery, cabbage, carrots, radishes,
parsnips and leeks have intermediate temperature require-
ments. They grow best in temperatures between 60 and
80°F ( 15–25°C). Set these out after the early-season plants
are established.

Warm-season vegetables grow best in temperatures above 70°F ( 20°C) and will die if exposed to frost. These include corn, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, beans and all the vine crops. So make sure the majority of their growing season is in the warmer months.