Brooklyn Queens Land Trust

Common Sense Gardening

Beginning Gardeners - Farmer's Almanac Suggestions

A Beginner's Garden

IF YOU'RE THINKING about wading into vegetable or herb gardening for the first time, take courage. With a little reading and research, you can be successful!

Okay, if you think you're ready to think about beginning, remember this: It's better to be proud of a small garden, than frustrated by a big one.

One of the common errors for beginners is planting too much too soon and way more than anybody could eat or want. Unless you want to have zucchini taking up residence in your attic or enough broccoli to feed the state of Ohio, plan carefully. It's best to start small and expand with the years and experience. For example, one tomato plant per person is really sufficient, unless you plan to be the supplier of your neighborhood or want to sell them at the Saturday Farmer's Market.



Here are some very basic concepts on topics you'll want to explore further as you become a vegetable gardener extraordinaire:

Vegetables love the sun. They require six hours (continuous, if possible) of sunlight each day, at least.

Vegetables must have good, loamy, well-drained soil. Most backyard soil is not perfect and needs a helping hand. Check with your local nursery or county extension office about soil testing, soil types, and soil enrichments.

Placement is everything. Like humans, vegetables need proper nutrition. A vegetable garden too near a tree will lose its nutrients to the tree's greedy root system. On the other hand, a garden close to the house will help discourage rabbits, raccoons, deer, mice, and opossums from nibbling away your potential harvest.

Vegetables need lots of water. At least one inch of water a week. In the early spring, walk around your property to see where the snow melts first, when the sun catches in warm pockets. This will make a difference in how well your vegetables grow.

Study those seed catalogs and order early.


A good-sized beginner vegetable garden is 10 x 16 feet, and features crops that are easy to grow. A plot this size, planted as suggested below, can feed a family of four for one summer, with a little extra for canning and freezing (or giving away). Adjust proportionately to your family size, don't be afraid to do less than prescribed here, and feel free to adjust quantities to what your family and you are likely to enjoy eating!

If you think you can manage more than what's listed here, consider a couple of barrels or wooden containers with some extras that will be easy to maintain. Cherry tomatoes are a great choice for a container and are very easy.

Vegetables that may yield more than one crop per season are beans, beets, carrots, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, radishes, rutabagas, spinach, turnips. To plan for a second crop, check the days to maturity in the seed catalogs or on seed packets. For the plan below, your rows should run north and south to take full advantage of the sun.

Make your garden eleven rows of 10-feet each of the following:


Tomatoes -- 5 plants staked

Zucchini squash -- 4 plants

Peppers -- 6 plants

Cabbage

Bush Beans

Lettuce, leaf and/or Bibb

Beets

Carrots

Chard

Radish

Marigolds to discourage rabbits!


Leave two feet between bush beans, one half foot between bush beans and lettuce, and one foot between all the rest.

If you are truly a beginner, we'd love to hear about your successes and failures, your modifications and surprises if you tried this plan or something similar. Just e-mail us at gardening@yankeepub.com with your reports.

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BREAKING NEW GROUND

IF THE PLACE where you want to see a garden is now covered with grass, take the high road and conquer the sod once and for all. It's possible to turn over the grassy sod with a spading fork or dig it in with a spade, but that's not a good expense of your time and energy; no matter how hard you try, you are bound to leave bits of severed roots in the soil. Then after you've improved the chemistry and organic content of the soil, those bits of root (especially the ones within two or three inches of the surface) will take hold with renewed vigor, and next spring, you'll have a great new crop of healthy grass. (Do not go after sod with a rototiller, even if you've just bought the most powerful machine on the market. The stress and strain on you and your machine will make the job very unpleasant.)


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ORDERING SEEDS

Obtain catalogs from companies located in your part of the world as well as from distant businesses, and compare their offerings and prices. Some of the small regional seed sources carry heirlooms and special varieties best suited to your area.

Before you order, contact your local country cooperative extension service office and ask about varieties that are known to do well in your area. Discuss any specific problems you've had with pests or disease.

Make a list of what you'd like to grow, but check it twice before you order. A pause or two will give you a chance to change your mind. Remember that the garden is actually one-quarter the size you think it is.

Plan to buy enough seeds to sow them thickly. Inevitably, you'll suffer some losses (bugs, birds, weather), and you can always thin later if you end up with an excess.

Pay careful attention to the number of days to maturity included in every catalog description. If your growing season has 85 predictable frost-free days, chances are you won't harvest a watermelon that needs 120 days to ripen.
ORDERING SEEDS
ORDERING SEEDS

Avoid discounted seeds sold at chain stores. They probably haven't been stored under ideal conditions, and you may find germination to be spotty.
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AFTER BUYING SEEDS, WHAT TO DO?

STARTING SEEDS INDOORS

DON'T BE IN a rush to start your tomato seeds. Delay until early April in the Northeast and Midwest, and start them in a sunny spot at about 70°F. Keep the soil barely moist, watering in the morning and letting it dry throughout the day to prevent damping-off disease.

Peppers have the highest germination rate when the soil temperature is 70° to 80°F. Pamper them by watering from the top with warm water.

Get an early cucumber crop going by starting seeds indoors, giving them bottom heat of about 70°F. If you don't have a heat mat, put the seed flats on top of the refrigerator, or perch a few four-packs on top of the water heater.

SUPPLIES:

PICK UP A GOOD name brand of soilless potting mix. Beware of bargain brands, because they may contain disease organisms that could wipe out your seedlings soon after they germinate. Add a layer of vermiculite (sterile, heat-expanded mica) to cover the seeds -- it cuts down on the chance of seedling diseases. A small bag is adequate; you need a layer only about 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep. Most mail-order seed catalogs offer seedling flats, peat pots, and other growing containers, but tin cans and Styrofoam cups make good containers, too. A recycled plastic butter tub makes an excellent seed flat -- it even has a cover to keep the seeds moist until they germinate.

Be sure to poke holes in the sides near the bottom of the containers you use. To make the holes, use a large nail with something solid inside the container -- such as a small piece of wood -- for punch-through backing, if necessary. Space three to four holes evenly around the circumference. An electric heating mat would be a nice accessory for growing, but it is a relatively expensive item. Usually, you can find a place in the kitchen where there is natural bottom heat -- on top of the refrigerator or near the oven. Just be certain there's no open flame that could cause a fire.

Label everything. There's nothing more frustrating than to realize you have a great new variety in the garden but you can't remember its name. Styrofoam cups are nice because you can write on them and the impression stays in the foam. Since you'll discard the cups when you plant the seedlings, be sure to have big, easy-to-find labels to place in the garden.
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Home Gardening For Beginners

Planting-Time Tips

Minimum Soil Temperature for Seeds to Germinate:

Beans 48
Beets 39
Cabbage 38
Carrots 39
Corn 46
Melon 55
Onions 34
Peas 34
Radishes 39
Squash 55
Tomatoes 50

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Fingertip Planting

WONDERING HOW deep to plant your seeds? Try the "fingertip method" by poking a hole . . .

the depth of the fingernail on your index finger for lettuce, Spanish onions, and radishes.

the depth of your first knuckle for cabbage, carrots, beets, cucumbers, and squash.

the depth of your second knuckle for bush or pole beans and corn.

-- courtesy Lois Hole
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Shade Definitions

THERE ARE AS many different interpretations of shade types as there are books written about shade. For the sake of consistency, we are using shade definitions from the American Horticultural Society in its book Gardening in Shade (DK Publishing, 1999).

LIGHT

Light shade is a permanent shade cast by the shadow of a building, wall, hedge, or tree on a site otherwise exposed to the sky and open to light. It offers the most opportunity for blooming plants that otherwise like the sun.

PARTIAL

After light shade, partial shade provides the next best opportunity for flowers in shade. Under these conditions, an area receives up to six hours of direct sun, with four or more of those hours being in the morning, and the rest of the day being in shadow. It is the most beneficial for a variety of plants. (Note that if four or more of the six hours of sun are in the afternoon, it is considered to be full sun.)

DAPPLED OR FILTERED

Dappled, or filtered, shade is created by sunlight filtering through the canopy of open tree branches or through latticework structures, with the pattern of light shifting all day. This is probably the most common shade in suburban backyards and is also the most common woodland shade-garden environment.

DEEP OR FULL

Deep, or full, shade is the dense kind of shade found under evergreens or closely spaced shrubs and trees that do not allow any direct light to penetrate. This is the most cooling kind of shade but is also the most difficult; it takes effort to find plants that will bloom here. But it also can be the most interesting, because the plants suited to it tend to have the best leaf structure.
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TRANSPLANTING TIPS



Block out seedlings in flats about a week before transplanting by cutting through the soil with a sharp knife in a grid pattern across the flat, leaving a cube of soil around each plant. This breaks the roots that would be damaged during transplanting, thus stimulating the healing process while the plants are still living in protected surroundings.

Be gentle with plant roots. "When transplanting, preserve as much root surface area as possible," Wells suggests. "Ideally, start or purchase seedlings in individual pots or containers that can be set directly into the garden without disturbing their roots. Thin seedlings growing in flats by scissoring or pinching them off at soil level, so as not to disturb the roots of neighboring seedlings."
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Information came from the Old Farmers's Almanac Gardener's Companion Website,
http://www.almanac.com

Common Sense Gardening Part 1: Crop Rotation and Green Manures

Sara Williams


Some people call it natural or organic gardening; a more trendy term for it is "sustainable agriculture." It might more simply be called "common sense gardening. It involves returning to the soil what is taken from to restore its structure and nutritional content. This can be achieved, for example, by adding organic matter, often referred to as "green manuring." Common sense gardening also involves avoiding or reducing the use of toxic or persistent pesticides by such approaches as: the use of resistant varieties of plants; mechanical barriers and other cultural methods of insect and disease control; and crop rotation to reduce the prevalence of insects and diseases.

If you practice common sense gardening, you may have to tolerate some imperfection in your produce - a flea beetle bite here, a scab mark there. Since the home gardener does not have to meet government grading standards or make a profit, a pinch of imperfection is a small price to pay for a reduction in pesticide use.

Crop Rotation

Crop rotation is a regular schedule of planting in which different crops are planted in different parts of the garden each year. Put more simply, the rule of thumb might state: "Don't plant the same veggies in the same spot two years running."

What are the benefits of crop rotation? Rotating crops will prevent the continued depletion of certain nutrients in particular areas of the garden which would occur if the same crops were planted there year after year.

Vegetables differ in their nutrient or fertilizer requirements. Corn and members of the cabbage family (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts) require a great deal of nitrogen. If these are planted in the same area of the garden year after year, they will soon use up the available nitrogen. By grouping together crops which have similar nutritional needs and planting them in a different area of the garden each year, you allow the the soil to replenish lost minerals.

Plants also differ in the extent and distribution of their root systems. Some are shallow rooted (lettuce and radishes), while others (potatoes, tomatoes, parsnips, carrots, turnips, and beets) are deeper rooted. Those with shallow roots will absorb nutrients from the upper layers of the soil; those with more extensive root systems will absorb minerals from the lower depths of the soil. These types of plants should also be rotated.

If some vegetables are "depleters" and use a lot of minerals, others are "replenishers". Peas and beans are members of the legume family. Due to a unique relationship with certain soil bacteria called rhizobium, legumes are able to "fix" nitrogen from the air, utilize it for their own growth, and still produce some in excess for the crops to follow. If your garden is new or if legume crops have never before been grown there, it may be necessary to "inoculate" or introduce the rhizobium. Inoculants are available commercially in granular form and are usually sprinkled in the furrow along with the seed as it is being sowed. Once peas or beans have been grown in a garden, the rhizobium will be present naturally in the soil and it will no longer be necessary to apply the granular inoculum.

Green Manures

If your space permits, green manures can also be part of the crop rotation. Green manures are crops such as fall rye, oats, alfalfa, peas, lentils, wheat, millet, or buckwheat which are seeded but then plowed into the garden while still green rather than harvested. (Alfalfa is a deep-rooted perennial and will take considerable more effort to plow under than the other crops.) Plowing should be done prior to the crop setting seeds, or weed problems will result. Green manure crops improve soil fertility and structure. Buckwheat and alfalfa have vigorous and far-reaching root systems which penetrate the soil deeply. and take up nutrients. These nutrients become part of their plant body and are subsequently released into the soil for the next crop (your veggie garden) upon decay of the cover crop.

Under Saskatchewan conditions, the use of green manures usually means taking a section of the garden out of production for a season, or alternating between two garden areas. Our growing season is simply not long enough to permit the growth of a green manure in the fall or spring, and then have six weeks of warm weather for the cover crop to decay prior to planting the garden.

Green manure crops may be left to stand for an entire year. In this way they may act as cover crops, securing the soil against erosion and penetrating into the soil to bring up nutrients which might be inaccessible to most vegetables.

Fall rye should be seeded from Sept. 1 to 20 (at the rate of 2-3 lbs/1000 sq. ft.) It will germinate in the fall, remain dormant over winter, and resume growth early the following spring. It should be plowed down a few weeks prior to seeding the garden. At that time it may be necessary to add some nitrogen fertilizer.


Part 2: Crop Rotation and Green Manures

The last article focussed on crop rotation as a means of preventing the continued depletion of certain nutrients in the soil of the vegetable garden. Another major benefit of crop rotation is insect and disease control. The basic approach is to grow plants susceptible to a particular disease or pest only once in a period of 4 or more years. Rotation is more effective in controlling insects than disease and then only when the organisms causing the problem live in the soil for only one or two years. In the absence of their host plants, most root-dwelling fungi (such as fusarium of tomato, potato, and strawberry) tend to die out. But crop rotation is ineffective against potato scab fungi, which may live in the soil for many years.

Crop rotation is especially effective in controlling insects which feed on only one type of vegetable (such as the Colorado potato beetle) and do not move very far or very fast. These insects will die soon after they emerge in the spring if their food plants are absent. Conversely, insect populations tend to build up in soils repeatedly planted with the same crops. It is like providing a guaranteed annual grocery basket for the pests.

In a smaller garden, crop rotation is less effective in controlling insects simply because some pests (like cabbage butterflies or flea beetles) are far ranging. As discussed last week, however, there are other advantages in rotating vegetable crops. Members of the cabbage family tend to deplete nitrogen. Crops such as peas or beans add nitrogen to the soil. Hence it is beneficial to plant cabbages one year, followed by peas or beans the next. The larvae of cabbage butterflies can be controlled more effectively if all members of the cabbage family are planted together in the same area; it is then easier to observe the larvae and to dust them with rotenone.

More orthodox organic gardeners might argue that if members of the cabbage family are scattered throughout the vegetable garden, the insects work harder to find them; thus damage will be less likely to occur. But in a small garden the scattering technique is not effective.

Managing the Rotation >/C>

Depending on the size of your garden, vegetables may be divided into either four or six major groupings. If your garden is small, try the following four groupings: (1) the cabbage family, (2) legumes which fix nitrogen such as peas and beans, (3) corn, carrots, beets, onions, and (4) vine crops (squash, cucumber, pumpkin, melon). Divide your garden into 4 areas and plant a different group in each area every year, beginning the rotation again at the end of four years.

If your garden is larger, it may be divided into six areas, and rotated on a six-year basis, with the following groupings: (1) the cabbage family, (2) vine crops, (3) legumes, (4) corn, (5) onions (including garlic and leeks), and (6) the potato family. Carrots, celery, parsnips, and herbs may be added to whichever group is most convenient. Perennial vegetables such as rhubarb, asparagus, and horse radish are not usually included in a rotation


PART 3: Organic and inorganic
fertilizers

Sara Williams

Some definitions - Fertilizers are added to the soil to supply elements essential to the growth of plants. These elements include the major nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur, as well as the trace elements such as iron, zinc, and magnesium. Organic fertlizers are made from materials derived from living things. Animal manures, compost, bonemeal and blood meal are organic fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers are manufactured from non-living materials. Rock phosphate for example, is a common source of phosphorus in chemical fertilizers.

Organic fertilizers are not immediately available to plants. Before the plants can use them, they must be broken down by soil micro-organisms into simpler, inorganic molecules and ions. In contrast, the nutrients in chemical fertilizers are already in inorganic form and so can be immediately used by the plants. It is important to understand that there is no fundamental difference in nutritional quality between organic and inorganic fertilizers. It makes no difference to the beet root if the atoms of potassium it absorbs are from an organic fertilizer such as wood ash or an inorganic one such as muriate of potash.

Inorganic fertilizers - Although they are immediately available to plants, inorganic fertilizers have three main disadvantages. They are subject to leaching, which occurs when the fertilizers are washed by rain or irrigation water down below the level of the plant roots. Nitrogen is particularly susceptible to leaching. As well, a heavy application of chemical fertilizers can "burn" seedlings and young plants. This is actually a process of drying out, or desiccation, due to the presence of chemical salts within the commercial fertilizers. A third problem associated with the use of commercial fertilizers is that overly heavy applications can build up toxic concentrations of salts in the soil and create chemical imbalances.

Organic Fertilizers - Unlike chemical fertilizers, organic material does more than provide organic nutrients. It also improves the soil structure, or tilth, and increases its ability to hold both water and nutrients.

As microorganisms in the soil break down the organic material into an inorganic soluble form, a slow release of nutrients is provided over a longer period of time. This is probably a healthier situation for plant growth in that an over-supply of a nutrient such as nitrogen can lead to lush, succulent tissue growth which is more vulnerable to fungal and bacterial entry, more appealing to some insects, and more prone to stress injury from heat, cold, or drought.

With organic fertilizers a buildup of toxicity in the soil is unlikely, as long as the amount of organic material incorporated into the soil is fully decomposed.

On the other side of the coin, there are some disadvantages to the use of organic fertilizers. As noted above, they are not immediately available to the plants. The manure which is applied to a vegetable garden in the spring may not be broken down into organic form by soil bacteria (and therefore available to plants) until mid-summer. If organic nutrients have been added to soils continually on an on-going basis, this may not be a problem. However, if you are just beginning to rely solely on organic material as a nutrient source, your garden may experience an initial nutrient deficiency until the system is in place.

The amount of nutrients and the exact type of elements available from a given amount of manure, compost or other inorganic fertilizer can only be guessed at. It is dependent on such factors as: the age of the manure or compost; its origin (chicken, cow, horse, sawdust, garden residue, grass clippings); and weather conditions such as temperature and rainfall. It is therefore a less exact way of providing for a plant's nutritional needs.. With inorganic fertilizers, the type and amount of any given element in the fertilizer formulation are known.

Organic fertilixers can be more expensive and less accessible than inorganic fertilizers. Bloodmeal, bonemeal, and fresh and dried manures were at one time inexpensive by-products of slaughter houses and farms. Many abattoirs are no longer producing blood and bonemeal; shipping costs and demand have caused their prices to increase dramatically.


FERTILIZER: APPLICATION (ORGANIC VS INORGANIC)
By Sara Williams
Sara was a graduate student with the Department of Horticulture Science. This column is offered as a service of the Division of Extension and Community Relations and the Department of Horticulture Science, University of Saskatchewan.

When and When Not to Fertilize

Lawns should be fertilized on approximately May 15 with 2 to 2.5 kg of 27-14-0 or 26-13-0 per 100 m2. Six weeks later apply 2.0 kg of 34-0-0 per 100 m2. Six weeks later apply 2 kg of 34-0-0 per 100 m2.

Trees and shrubs generally do quite well on Saskatchewan soils without the addition of chemical fertilizers. Most problems associated with trees and shrubs are due to lack of proper watering or insect problems and are seldom attributed to lack of nutrition. Excess fertility in the soil promotes excess succulent foliage which is more susceptible to winter injury.

Vegetable and flower beds usually require 11-48-0 or 16-20- 0 applied in spring at the rate of 2 lb per 100 m2.

Do NOT apply fertilizer in late summer or fall. It will cause lush, succulent growth which may not "harden off" in time for winter and therefore be more susceptible to winter kill or fungal or bacterial problems.

Never put granular fertilizer or fresh manure in the planting hole. The chemical salts within the fertilizer may desiccate or "burn" plant roots.

How to Apply Commercial Fertilizer

On lawns, to apply granular fertilizer, first divide the total amount needed in half. With a fertilizer spreader adjusted to the lowest possible setting, walk north-south over the lawn area with half the amount, and then east-west with the other half. This will give an even distribution and reduce the possibility of "burning." If you are hand-broadcasting, follow the same procedure.

In vegetable gardens and annual flower beds, fertilizer may be applied in several ways: (1) fertilizer can be broadcast and thoroughly incorporated into the upper 7 to 8 cm of soil in spring prior to planting; (2) or it can be side-banded that is, incorporated along the sides of each row and about 5 cm deep. This involves more work but is more efficient because less fertilizer is used; or (3) fertilizer can be placed around each plant, 5 cm away and 5 cm deep. This last method is even more "labor intensive" than side- banding but it is also more efficient, in that all of the fertilizer is placed where it can be used by the plants. In perennial borders or other permanent plantings, fertilizer should be incorporated around each plant, 5 cm deep and 5 cm beyond the roots.

Organic vs. Inorganic

There has been much controversy over organic versus inorganic fertilizers. It is important to realize that plants do not recognize the difference between organic and inorganic fertilizers. Their tiny root hairs can absorb only nutrients that have been broken down into inorganic, water-soluble forms. It makes no difference to your tomato plant if the atom of nitrogen it is absorbing has come from a compost pile or a fertilizer factory. There are, however, advantages and disadvantages to each form of fertilizer, organic and inorganic.

Organic Fertilizer

Advantages - Organic nutrients include such things as cow, sheep, poultry and horse manure. (One should avoid using pig, dog or cat feces because of the problems involved with internal parasitic worms which may be transferred to humans.) Bonemeal, bloodmeal, compost, and green manures will also provide nutrients for your plants.

There is less danger of over-fertilization by adding decomposed organic material to a garden. It provides a slow release of nutrients as micro-organisms in the soil break the organic material down into an inorganic, water soluble soluble form which the plants can use. The addition of organic material improves soil structure or "workability" immensely. It also vastly improves the water-holding capacities of sandy soils, a distinct advantage in arid climates such as ours.

Disadvantages - For the most part, organic fertilizer is not immediately available to the plants. As noted above, this "slow- release" feature can be an advantage. However, if there is an immediate need for nutrients, organic fertilizer cannot supply them in a hurry. Furthermore, information on the amount of nutrients and the exact elements in an organic fertilizer such as manure is not readily available to the home gardener. In contrast, when you apply manufactured inorganic ferilizer you know the kinds and amounts of the elements it contains, and this allows you to be more precise in meeting a plant's nutritional needs.

The possibility of nitrogen depletion is another drawback of organic fertilizers. Because of complex bacterial action, the addition of a large amount of organic material can cause a temporary nitrogen depletion in the soil and therefore in the plants.

Inorganic Commercial Fertilizer

Advantages - The primary advantage of using packaged commercial fertilizer is that nutrients are immediately available to the plants. As well, the exact amounts of a given element can be calculated and given to plants.

Disadvantages - Commercial fertilizer, especially nitrogen, is easily washed below the level of the plant's root system through the leaching of rain or irrigation. An application which is too heavy or too close to the roots of the plants may cause "burning" (actually a process of desiccation by the chemical salts in the fertilizer). As well, overly heavy applications of commercial fertilizers can build up toxic concentrations of salts in the soil, thus creating chemical imbalances. If organic materials are readily available and cheap, the expense of the commercial fertilizer should also be considered.

Whether a gardener chooses to use organic, inorganic or a combination of both types of fertilizers, it's important to follow the guidelines regarding timing of application, placement of the fertilizer, and the proper amount of fertilizer to be used.



Sara Williams was a graduate student with the Department of Horticulture Science. This column is provided as an extension service by the Division of Extension and Community Relations and the Department of Horticulture Science, University of Saskatchewan.