Remember to cut Greens for a second and third Harvest

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 »

Beans have been the most important vegetable crop through the ages. They are the best vegetable source of life-giving protein, and today in many societies, beans are still the staple of life. Beans are also the one protein source you can keep for a long time without processing. And you can get a heavy harvest from a small amount of work.

Our family relied on dry beans when Iwas young. Every Saturday night (if not more often), the heart of our family meal, like the traditional New England Saturday supper, was baked beans. Read the rest of this entry »

I plant them early, at least 3 or 4 weeks before the last spring frost date, and also later in the season so they can mature in the cool weather of fall.

A couple of years ago, Jan and I picked our first heads of broccoli a few days before Memorial Day, and cut the last ones from our fall planting on Thanksgiving Day. If you live south of my homestead, you can easily get a longer season of cabbage family crops—especially in the fall. Read the rest of this entry »

“When I realized I could grow broccoli without ever worrying about worms again, I wanted to get up and dance!

No More Worms!

For a long time I didn’t eat much broccoli. I planted a lot of it but each spring when my broccoli was starting to head, a flockof small white butterflies appeared over the rows of broccoli and the other cabbage family crops. Read the rest of this entry »

I blanch it with its own leaves

A thriving row of cauliflower is a spectacular sight in the vegetable garden, but few people think they can have great success with it. I think it’s as easy to grow as any cabbage family crop. Cauliflower is less tolerant to hot weather than its relatives, though, so it’s important to set your plants out very early or plan on a fall crop. If the heads mature in the heat, they’re apt to have a bitter taste or go by very quickly.

For your first crop, set out some plants 3 or 4 weeks before the average date of the last spring frost. Pinch off a couple of the lower leaves.

As cauliflower heads get to be 4 to 5 inches across, they should be blanched by preventing sunlight from reaching the heads. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s exciting to discover the first thumb-sized broccoli heads in the row and watch them grow. Sometimes they’ll get to be 6 or 8 inches wide at the top. Other times the heads will be quite small when it’s time to pick them.

The center head must be cut before it blossoms, even if it’s on the small side. How do you tell when the head is ready to blossom? A head of broccoli is a cluster of flower buds. When the head is young, its individual buds are packed very tightly. Rub your thumb over them and you will feel that tightness. As long as the buds stay tight, let the head grow. But when the buds loosen up and spread out, they are about to pop up and produce little yellow flowers. Again, pass your thumb across the top of the head—if the buds are loose, you’d better harvest. Read the rest of this entry »

Greens are the greatest. I doubt that any other group of vegetables provides so much good eating for so little effort. From small sections of wide rows, you’ll be able to create salads of all kinds, from early spring to late fall. The long harvest is a big reason I like greens so much. They keep my garden going long after frost has nipped my last tomatoes, beans, and corn.

Greens fit in everywhere. More and more people are growing them in their flower beds, along walks and driveways, and in all sorts of containers. Read the rest of this entry »

Too many people think head lettuce or Iceberg lettuce has to be bought at the market.

I grow wonderful crops of head lettuce and yet every year some new visitor looks at my bright green rows and says, “Hmmmm. I didn’t know you could grow that here.” Well, you can and it’s easy.

All you need is some cool weather in spring or fall. Get started early; head lettuce needs as much time as possible developing in cool weather, so the earlier you can set out some plants, the better. They will have the best chance to head up before the scorching days of summer.

Great Lakes, Iceberg, and Ithacavarieties have all done well in my garden. I start them indoors in shallow flats or pyramid planters about 6 to 8 weeks before the last expected frost date.

The most important step in early planting is to harden off the plants very well before setting them into the garden. After they are about 4 weeks old, I start giving them some time outdoors. That way they can handle unexpected cold snaps and even a light frost. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve ever grown spinach, you know it doesn’t take many leaves to fill a basket. But when you cook them, a lot turns to a little.

To get an abundance of spinach from a small space, I plant in wide rows. If you harvest 6 pounds of spinach from a single row, you can get 20 pounds from a wide row the same length. That’s important when it’s time to freeze spinach.

Because spinach thrives in cool weather, I often plant it on the first day I can work the soil in spring, and again in late summer for a fall harvest. Spinach takes about 10 days to germinate when the soil is still cool. Read the rest of this entry »

Okra likes hot weather, so plant it after the last frost when the ground is warm. I cheat a little in Vermont and plant it early under a grow tunnel to catch extra heat. (I shape my tunnels so they are quite tall and I can leave them on for 2 or 3 weeks.)

To help the seeds sprout, soak them in water for a few hours before planting or put them in the freezer overnight. Either step will help soften or crack the seed coat. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s easy to grow a lot of them in wide rows. And their flavors— from the strong yellow keeping onions to the subtle shallots—go with almost everything. How can you cook without them?

Onions, garlic, and shallots will store for many months, and you don’t need a root cellar either. Leeks won’t hold out like the others but they can be kept in my “perennial patch” in the garden or for a week or two in the refrigerator. The onion family is with us 12 months a year. Jan and I never have to buy any.

There are lots of fun ways to grow these crops in the garden. How about a multiplying shallot patch so you never have to buy expensive shallots again? Or a no-work “Eternal Yield” square of bunching onions to get the earliest scallions every spring? Or a big row of giant sweet onions? Read the rest of this entry »

Garlic: Break into doves to plant

I can’t imagine spaghetti sauce without garlic, and I can’t imagine my garden without it either. There’s nothing better than fresh garlic from the garden—it’s a must for our pickles.

Buy a few garlic bulbs from a garden store or supermarket and break each one into individual cloves.

Plant each clove 3 or 4 inches from the next one in a wide row. Push them in to their full depth, pointed end up. Plant them as early as you can, like onion sets, and give them two or three side- dressings during the season. Keep the soil loose around them, and don’t let them get dry. Read the rest of this entry »

Plant Slips on Raised Beds for big Potatoes

To grow sweet potatoes, start with “slips,” which are tiny plants sprouted from sweet potatoes. Here’s how I grow the slips I need each spring.

About 7 to 8 weeks before the average last frost date I get some sweet potatoes from the market. I cut them in half lengthwise and lay the pieces cut-side-down in aluminum cake plates filled with moist peat moss. I put a shallow covering of moist peat moss over the potato pieces and wrap the works in a plastic bag.

As soon as the slips appear, I take off the plastic and put the plants in a sunny window. After our last frost date, I pull each slip and plant it separately. It will grow to a full-sized sweet potato plant.

You can also get slips by sprouting a section of sweet potato in a jar of water. Like sprouting an avocado pit, most of each piece should be submerged in water on the kitchen windowsill. Read the rest of this entry »

Down-to-earth storage

It’s easy to keep root crops from the fall garden for months in your root cellar. Keep these points in mind:

Your late crop should be as late as possible. The later you can harvest and store them, the longer they’ll keep.

Pull or dig your storage crop after 2 or 3 days of dry weather. Leave the crop out in the sun for an hour. The vegetables will dry quickly and the soil on them will fall off easily.

Don’t wash or brush the vegetables. As soon as you dig them, “top” them right in the garden, but don’t cut the tail roots of your carrots or beets. Leave about an inch of stem on beets so they don’t bleed. Cut the tops close on other root crops. Wash the roots when you’re going to use them, not before. Read the rest of this entry »

Three plantings for an avalanche ofcukes

I’m the most impatient man in the world when the first cucumber harvest is getting close. I just can’t wait. As soon as I find a cucumber 2 or 3 inches long I pick it, brush it off, and eat it.

Because I like cukes so much and because Jan is always trying out new pickle recipes, we grow a lot. I make three plantings: 3 or 4 weeks before the average last spring frost date, using grow tunnels or hot caps; about the time of the last expected frost; and 3 or 4 weeks later. This way we get a long harvest of cukes lasting into the fall. Read the rest of this entry »

The best way to grow an asparagus bed is to plant 2-year-old roots which you can order from a seed catalog or pick up at a garden store. One-year-old roots may be cheaper, but the savings are not worth waiting an extra year for your first harvest. I think the 2-year-old roots are more reliable in transplanting.

If you live in the North, set out asparagus roots in the early spring. In the South, set them out in the fall because it can be so dry and hot in the summer that the plants may not make it through.

Asparagus will grow in most types of soil, but since it must have dry feet, it does best in soil that drains well. Place the plants about 2 feet apart with 5 feet between rows. Twenty-five to 30 crowns will produce enough asparagus for a family of four once the bed is established, which takes three seasons. Read the rest of this entry »