I like to use compost before it is totally broken down. I’d much rather have a coarser compost with a lot of small, loose bits of organic matter than a fine compost, because a coarser compost still has the ability to hold plenty of moisture once it’s worked into the soil. I like that.
I have three basic ways to use compost. Read the rest of this entry »
For large quantities of organic matter, such as leaves, grass clippings, and garden residues, don’t go to the trouble of making a compost pile if you have a good roto-tiller.
Scatter the material to be composted over your garden area and till it into the soil. This is known as sheet composting.
It’s the simplest way to compost organic matter. The leaves and plant wastes will rot quickly, since tilling chops them into fine pieces which are easy for soil life to work on. Read the rest of this entry »
I force many of my greens to give me a second and third harvest. I never pick only the outside leaves of my lettuce, spinach, chard, or mustard. They’re the oldest and toughest on a plant. Instead, I give the row a clean cut, slicing the plants about 1 inch above the ground. This encourages the plants to send up new tender growth and to try again to develop seedpods. For the harvest, I have a pleasing combination of young, tender leaves from the center of the plant mixed with the older ones. Read the rest of this entry »
A few summers ago I taught a short course on gardening for the University of Vermont. The classes were held at my test gardens. During a discussion about root crops, Willie, one of the students, said, “Dick, I grow real nice carrots, but I don’t like them too much. I can hardly eat them; they seem so woody.”
“How big do you grow them?” I asked.
Willie smiled, “Oh, they get real good size. I’ve got nice loose soil for them.” Read the rest of this entry »
The only things I worry about with succession crops are getting seeds to germinate in hot, dry weather and keeping transplants watered so they’ll root quickly with no moisture stress.
When it’s hot and dry and the soil doesn’t have much moisture, seeds can start to germinate only to run out of moisture. That kills them.
To avoid this, plant seeds a little bit deeper, an extra 1/4 to 1/2 inch for small seeds, an extra 1/2 to 3 inch for larger seeds. The very top of the soil may be dry, but you’d be amazed at how well seeds use the small amounts of moisture beneath the soil surface. Also, I time my succession crops so that they’re sown just before or just after a rain. With clay soil it’s wise to plant before a rain. Read the rest of this entry »
Three or four weeks before the planting dates for cabbage, broccoli, head lettuce, and cauliflower, I sprinkle their seeds in short wide rows out in the garden. It’s an easy (and cheap) way to grow a lot of transplants in a very small space.
For my fall garden, I choose the best-looking plants, dig them out of the short wide rows, and put them in another row with more room around them. Read the rest of this entry »
How to turn heavy, hard clay and lifeless sandy soils into a garden like mine with green manure crops
My garden soil didn’t start out the way it looks in pictures. It was poor and gravelly and didn’t have much organic matter in it. Rain and fertilizer just washed down through it and seedbeds dried out very quickly. The soil needed lots and lots of organic matter. And I provided it by growing green manure crops and turning them under. Read the rest of this entry »
If you’ve harvested peas and turned under the plants while they were still green and tender, you have put green manure in your soil. Any green plant spaded or tilled back into the soil can be called green manure. Some green manure crops are grown just to be plowed back into the soil while they are still green and rich in organic matter. Alfalfa, buckwheat, and annual ryegrass are a few examples. There are many others.
You might hear green manure crops being called “cover crops” or “catch crops.” These names indicate two of the jobs of a green manure crop:
1. To cover bare soil at the end of the season. This protects it from erosion over the winter. Read the rest of this entry »
Amount needed per 1,000 sq. ft. … 10 lbs. Approximate cost/lb. … $1.40-$1.70 Varieties: Little Marvel, Wando, Progress No. 9 Best time to plant: early spring or early fall.
I like garden peas as a green manure crop because I can plant them very early and because they produce so much food for so little work. I call them an
“edible” green manure crop because I don’t till them in until after Jan and I harvest bushels of peas for freezing and eating, and to give to friends and neighbors. Read the rest of this entry »
Amount per 1,000 sq. ft….2-3 lbs.
Approximate cost/lb….$0.55 ($23.50 for 50-pound bag.)
Varieties: very important to buy only annual ryegrass. Don’t be confused by similar crops or names.
Best time to plant: midsummer through early fall.
I plant annual ryegrass up to about 3 weeks before our first hard frost. It grows fast, but it needs time to put on some lush top growth before the cold weather hits. Like buckwheat, it can be planted in all regions and in all soils with good success. Read the rest of this entry »
Amount per 1,000 sq. ft. … 10 lbs. Approximate cost/lb. … $1-$2.
Varieties: your favorite green or yellow bush varieties, such as Contender, Eastern Butterwax, etc. Or shell beans such as French Horticultural, or lima beans (seeds are slightly more expensive). In South: plant favorite Southern peas.
Best time to plant: anytime after last spring frost and up to 8 weeks before expected first fall frost. Read the rest of this entry »
I have not put an ounce of commercial fertilizer or manure on these test gardens in 10 years.
For the past 10 years I’ve been conducting a home garden experiment on eight 24 by 24-foot gardens. I started after a discussion with a soil scientist and agricultural researcher at our state university. Part of his job was to analyze trends in the food and dairy industries and to predict what was coming next. What he forecast scared me. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m using my top green manure rotation scheme in another test plot to see if a typical garden can be nourished by green manure crops alone. So far I’m excited by the results. This may be the garden of the future. Here’s what I do:
In half of the test plot (12 by 24 feet), I grow peas and follow them with snap beans and a final crop of annual ryegrass at the end of the season. We get 75 pounds of shelled peas and more than 125 pounds of beans from these crops before tilling them in. Read the rest of this entry »
Everyone wants the harvest to last as long as possible. In a good root cellar, many vegetables easily will keep 5 or 6 months. You don’t have to process vegetables going into the root cellar. It’s a true low-energy food preservation system. A steady cool temperature (35°-45° F.) is the main requirement. Read the rest of this entry »
Many of these seeds are chewed up and destroyed by animals and hers are broken down in the alimentary canal of birds, particularly of chickens, pigeons and seed eaters with strong beaks such as most the finches. A great number, however, have hard enough coats to remain intact while the fleshy parts are digested and are finally voided by the birds, sometimes after being carried for long distances. Birds which do not have the powerful beaks of true seed eaters do least damage; Read the rest of this entry »
Almost every plant produces many thousands or even millions of seeds during its lifetime, but to ensure the survival of the species it is necessary for just one of these to reach maturity. This vast wastage is in reality a form of insurance as at least some should survive to pass the seedling stage. Generally the smaller (and therefore the more vulnerable) the seeds, the greater is the number produced. Read the rest of this entry »
Once fertilization has taken place, the energies of the plant are directed to the successful development of the next generation. The fertilized egg cells are safely protected from the vagaries of climate, or damage by passing insects, by the surrounding mass of the ovary which lies at the base of the now fading flower.
Each part of the ovary has its own role to play in the growth and development of the new seed. Despite a few basic differences, the pattern followed by the growing embryo is characteristic of all plants. At fertilization the egg is made up of a single cell, but this soon begins its growth by dividing into two identical cells. Read the rest of this entry »
The temperature in a root cellar is always a compromise. It’s never equal in all parts of the cellar. Most vegetables never get the perfect temperature.
The temperature near the ceiling of many root cellars can sometimes be 10° F. or so higher than near the floor. This variance creates temperature zones in the root cellar. Your vegetables will keep better if you understand the temperature zones of your root cellar and store crops accordingly. Read the rest of this entry »
No two home root cellars function the same. You’ll have to learn about yours through trial and error. You’ll know better than anyone else which crops will keep a long time in your root cellar and which ones won’t.
Never put anything directly on the floor because vegetables need air circulation from all sides. If you set them on the floor, they will become moist underneath and start to rot much sooner. Set your boxes, barrels, and baskets on boards on the floor so air can circulate under them. Read the rest of this entry »
