HOW TO GET YOUR GARDEN STARTED

HOW TO GET YOUR GARDEN STARTED:
PUTTING THE THEORIES TO WORK
Up to this point, most of your garden planning has
been theoretical. You've given thought to the
vegetables you want to grow, what you're going to
do with them, and how much you need to grow.
You've got an idea of how the climate in your area
will influence your final choice of vegetables.
You're beginning to understand your microclimate —
how growing conditions in your own yard may
differ from the general climate of your area. Now
you're ready to start getting your plans on paper,
but as soon as you open the seed catalog, confusion
strikes again. You want to grow your own corn,
tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots — but what kind?
Finding the varieties suited to your area. Because
there are so many varieties, it can be very difficult to
choose the right one. Part 2 of this book describes
the individual vegetables and their cultural
requirements and lists some of the best and most
widely used varieties. But in many cases the varieties
listed represent only the tip of the iceberg. Where a
large number of varieties are available (as with corn or
tomatoes) or where success depends as much on
growing conditions as on variety (as with onions), your
best bet is to get in touch with your local
Cooperative Extension Service. The service's experts
will be able to tell you exactly which varieties will do
best in the growing conditions that exist in your part of
the country. A complete list of Cooperative
Extension Services is given in Part 4, together with
detailed information on how to get your gardening
questions expertly answered by their qualified
horticulturalists.
Guaranteed varieties: The All-America Selection.
Another way to find the most reliable varieties for your
area is through the All-America Selections. This is a
nonprofit organization of seedsmen who develop
and promote new varieties of vegetables and
flowers. The organization awards gold, silver, or
bronze medals to vegetable varieties that have been
proven to produce reliable results in most areas of the
United States. If a vegetable is listed in your seed
catalog as an All-America Selection, you can be sure
that it has been tested by growers all over the
country and that it's a good bet for your own garden.
The organization does not bestow its seal of
approval lightly — only one or two vegetable varieties
win a gold medal in any year.
Experiment with different varieties. Remember,
too, that you don't always have to play by the rules.
You can plant more than one variety of a vegetable
and decide for yourself which one is best suited to
your palate and your garden. You can also extend
your harvest by planting varieties that mature at
different times. Experimenting is a good part of the
fun of growing a vegetable garden.
Dates: When to plant and when to harvest
Selecting the varieties you're going to grow gives
you some hard information with which to work. You
now know when to plant your vegetables. The
hardiness chart in "Planting Your Garden" will tell you
to which category — very hardy, hardy, tender,
very tender — a vegetable belongs and when to plant
it. Now is the time to decide whether to use seeds or
transplants. Transplants are young plants started from
seed indoors or in a warm place (like a hot frame)
and planted in the garden when the weather's warm
enough. By planting transplants you can often get a
head start on your growing season and avoid some of
the limitations placed on you by your area climate.
Not all vegetables, however, take kindly to being
transplanted. Full information about growing
vegetables from transplants — including what to plant
and when — is given in "Planting Your Garden."
It's important to plan your planting dates
accurately. It's also important to know when your crop
will be ready for harvest. The number of days it
takes a plant to reach maturity varies according to type
and to varieties within a type.
Each vegetable variety has its "days to maturity"
listed in the seed catalog. Take a calendar, and see
how the dates fall for the crops you're thinking of
growing. For instance, "jade Cross Hybrid" Brussels
sprouts take 95 days to maturity. They're very hardy,
so you can plant them six weeks before your last
spring frost. If your area expects its last frost at the
end of April, you can plant your Brussels sprouts in the
garden in mid-March, and they'll mature in mid-
June. They're a cool-season vegetable, so as long as
the weather in your area won't be sizzling hot by
mid-June, you should do well with them. In this way,
work out all the dates on which you can expect to
harvest your vegetables, and make a list of them. This
will give you a chance to make changes if, despite all
your planning, you've got too large a crop maturing at
the same time. It will also give you some ideas about
"pacing" your crop.
Pacing your harvest for best yield
Deciding when to plant involves more than
avoiding killing frosts. It also means pacing your •
planting so you get maximum yields from limited
space. You can harvest some crops gradually,
enjoying them for a long period of time; others
mature all at once. This takes careful planning. You
have to have a good idea of how long it will take
your vegetables to mature and how long the harvest
will last. It will also take some self-control. The
temptation to plant rows of everything at once is great.
Planting short rows. A simple way to pace your
harvest is to plant only short rows or partial rows.
Planting short rows is probably easier; you may feel
more comfortable with a complete row, even if it is
short. A 10-foot row looks short, but 10 feet of
radishes ready to eat at once is more than most
people can handle. Ten feet of parsley or garlic may
be more than enough for the whole neighborhood.
You can freeze parsley and dry the garlic, but what
can you do with all those radishes? Unwanted
excesses of crops can be avoided if you divide your
seeds into groups before going out to plant. Put them
in "budget" envelopes to be planted on definite
dates later on in the season but before the early crops
are harvested. For instance, plant lettuce every two
weeks. This way you can have vegetables all season,
rather than glut followed by famine.
Using several varieties. Another way to pace your
harvest is to plant several varieties of the same
vegetable that mature at different rates. For
instance, on the average date of last frost plant three
different tomato varieties: an early variety that will
mature in about 60 to 70 days; a midseason variety that
will mature in about 75 to 80 days; and a late variety
that will mature in about 80 to 90 days. By planting
these three varieties on the same day you have
spread your harvest over a 30- to 50-day period,
instead of a 10- to 20-day period.
Succession planting. With careful planning you
may also be able to save garden space and get two or
more harvests from the same spot by succession
planting. After early-maturing crops are harvested,
you clear a portion of the garden and replant it with
a new crop. Plant so that cool-season crops grow in the
cooler part of the season, and warm-season crops
can take advantage of warmer weather.
One example of succession planting is to start off
with a fast-growing, cool-season crop that can be
planted early—lettuce, spinach, and cabbage
(cole) family vegetables are good examples. Replace
these by warm-weather crops like New Zealand
spinach, chard, corn, okra, and squash. Then in fall
make another planting of cole crops, or put in root
crops like turnips or beets.
In a small area, one simple plan is to start off with
spinach, which is very hardy but hates hot weather,
and replace it with heat-tolerant New Zealand
spinach. Despite their different temperature
requirements, the two can double for each other in
taste, and you get spinach all season long.
You can also make double use of trellis space — a
big plus in a small garden. Plant early peas, replace
them with cucumbers, and after harvesting your
cucumbers, plant peas again for a fall crop.
Companion planting. This is another way to
double up on planting space. This you do by planting
short-term crops between plants that will take a
longer time to mature. The short-term crops are
harvested by the time the longer-season crops need
the extra room. A good example of this is to plant
radishes between rows of tomatoes; by the time the
tomatoes need the space, the radishes will be gone.
GETTING YOUR GARDEN ON PAPER
By this time you've put a lot of thought into your
garden plan, and you've got some vital information
and dates on paper — the names of the varieties
you're going to plant and your planting and harvest
dates. Now comes the real paperwork. The size of
your garden depends on your interest in gardening
and how much time you're going to be able to give
to the garden. Some gardeners use every available
inch of space; others use a small corner of their
property — some, of course, don't have much choice,
and this may be your case if you have a small garden
to begin with or if you're gardening on a patio or
balcony. The larger your garden, the more time and
work it's going to need, so unless you're already
hooked on gardening, it's probably better to start
small and let your garden size increase as your
interest in gardening and confidence in your ability
develops.
Before you decide the exact dimensions, look at
the list of the vegetables you've chosen and the
amount you're going to grow of each one, and
figure out if they're going to fit into the allotted space.
You may see at once that you've overestimated
what you can grow in the available space, so you'll
have to do a little compromising between fantasy
and reality. If your projected crops look as though
they'll fit, you can now start drawing an actual plan.