When growing vegetable gardens I find that small is better than big. A small plot well maintained will provide more than a large garden. My garden is a fenced in area 20x40 and I often think about making it smaller. Some crops, like tomatoes, do not need to be fenced as the animals do not usually bother them. Scallions and herbs I grow in my perennial gardens. After all they are perennials.
Seed Planting
I am often asked how I get my plantings so straight. The secret is using a planting board. First I lime the area to be planted and then turn the soil to one shovels depth. I rake off and grade the area so it is smooth and lay a board with one edge where I want the planting to be. With the handle of a hoe I create a shallow depression by the side of the board. I then sprinkle my package of seed on the board. This allows me to check the distribution of the seed and adjust as necessary. When I am satisfied that the seed is evenly distributed for the full row I tip the board up on edge and the seed falls in the depression. I lay the board down and then put some vermiculite on the board which I use to cover the seed. The vermiculite encourages germination and also acts as a row marker so I know where the seed was planted.
This is a listing of some of the vegetables I grow and some thoughts on each:
Peas
My garden is fenced in to prevent the intrusion of animals. These fences provide an ideal place to grow peas. I try to plant peas as soon as I can after St. Patrick’s day. I like to grow the climbing varieties as they are so much easier to pick for an old man. Peas are not very cooperative at climbing so I put the fiber glass covers over the emerging crop forcing them to grow through my wire fencing.
I grow the edible pod variety “Sugar Snap” which provides a larger harvest and less work as they do not have to be “shucked”. This pea is as sweet as apples and I always look forward to June and early July when I eat peas every day.
It is interesting to note that each year some of the peas get by me and I let them mature and dry on the vine. I harvest these and they can be used in soups and stews. Also these dried peas can be used for the next years planting. I have now planted from my own seed for eleven generations. About the tenth of June I push bean seeds in the ground between the pea plants and this provides a fall harvest getting two crops from one piece of ground.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are a problem in our area due to the short growing season. I find it is worth the extra effort to grow as many tomatoes as I can because the price of tomatoes in recent years has been astronomical. I start by buying plants early in May. To put plants in the ground at that time would be a disaster as we have many hard freezes in May. There is another factor with tomatoes that must be understood and that is soil temperature. Tomatoes will not set blossoms until the soil temperature becomes quite warm. For this reason putting plants in the ground even if you could protect them from frost yields little advantage. For this reason I take my newly purchased plants and repot them in 6” pots. I grow them on in these pots until well into June when the soil becomes warmer and they have already set blossoms.
I am good at growing things in pots and with the advantage of being able to feed with 20-20-20 fertilyzer I can have substantial plants when they go in the ground. I like the variety Jet Star as it produces relatively early a well shaped fruit of medium size and it does this over a long season unlike Early Girls for example. When Labor day comes around I must think about protecting my tomatoes on nights when there is frost. I cover with blankets or plastic and can extend my growing season usually well into October. When the season is coming to a close I pick all the green tomatoes wrap them in newspaper and store in a box in a cool dry location. Many years I served tomatoes in the salad for Christmas dinner.
Winter Squash
Winter squash is one of my favorites. Delicious as a vegetable or made into pies it can be stored and used all winter. I have had stored winter squash that I had to use up as the new crop was ready for picking. I start winter squash plants from seed planted in the later part of May. I usually place 5 seeds around the rim of a 6” azalea pan. Each pot will become a single planting that I place on 3-4’ centers. There are many types of winter squash some of the common varieties are:
Hubbard – Large fruit, keeps well, nutty flavor
Acorn – Small fruit, must be consumed early does not keep well
Butternut – Good flavor, keeps well, good for pie
Butter Cup – Keeps well, nice for stuffing, my favorite
When harvesting winter squash I use a set of brush nippers and harvest a piece of the stem with each fruit. This seems to allow them to keep better. I store these is a cool dry location that is frost free. Winter Squash is real survivor food. It can be stored in a dry location for over one year
Cranberry Beans
This is another vegetable that is food for survivors. The seed is a line bred variety and therefore you can harvest seed each year for next years planting. The young pods are a good vegetable but the primary use of this bean is for shelling and drying. Makes excellent chili and baked beans or can just be stewed with some pork. It is a climbing variety and therefore requires a 6’ trellis to grow on.
Scarlet Runner Beans
This is another line bred bean that you can harvest your own seed for planting from year to year. In fact this is the bean that was raised and eaten by the American Indians. It has very pretty scarlet red flowers and grows on a trellis to height of 6’. Dried and shelled it makes a nice addition to stews and soups.
