How Does Your Garden Grow?

Anybody made decisions on what they'll be growing this year?

I've started my list. And, as usual, there's too many seeds and not enough land. But here's what I have in mind so far:

Greens: Arugala, Black Kale, Mesclun Mix.

Peas: One trellis each English and Snow; one of Sugar Pea (a cowpea).

Tomatoes: DePinto (a full row, to produce enough for canning); Brandt's Old German Pink; an as yet to be determined cherry for Friend Wife.

Potatoes: A new purple variety I'm trialing.

Squash: The South African white pumpkin I finally found seed for; yellow crookneck.

Peppers: Boldogi Spice; Sweet Apple; Cubanelle; Aji Colorado.

Eggplant: Round Mauve (which I'll grow in containers, hopefully deterring the flea beetles).

Cucumber: Snow's Fancy.

Leeks: Prizetaker.

Onions: No bulbing onions this year. But I'll be planting onion sets for scallions.

Beans: No hard decision, yet. I'll grow at least three or four varieties. I've been promised seed for a Cherokee variety that comes right from the reservation. If that arrives, it will be one of them for sure. And probably Red Striped Greasy, which is our usual main-crop.

Well Granny, considering that the traditional date for planting English peas in Kentucky is Valentine's Day, you're technically late.

I used to make a point of getting them in on that day. But they don't sprout until March, anyway, and you lose so many to rot and critters that I didn't see the point of it.

I understand your confusion fully, Granny.

Even here in Kentucky the ground is often frozen on Valentine's Day. But some of those old timers will be out there with pickaxes, breaking a furrow, because, by gawd! today is pea planting time. English peas, fortunately, are super hardy. They'll lay in the cold ground until conditions are right, and then germinate. Thos conditions usually are right the first or second week of March. That being the case, I just wait until then to plant.

A more realistic target date, btw, is Good Friday for onions and potatoes.

For vegetable growers, knowing the zone is the next best thing to useless information. If people would use the full name, USDA Plant Hardiness Zones, the reason becomes more apparent. All that a zone # does is identify plants that will overwinter, unprotected, in that area. Thus, if a perennial flower is identified as ok in zone 6, you can reasonably expect that it will regrow each spring. But, in practical terms, vegetables are all annuals. Even those that are technically perennials are treated as annuals by gardeners. So knowing whether one will overwinter or not is, most of the time, meaningless.

What's important to vegetable growers are the frost dates, and the total length of the growing season. And those vary tremendously even within a particular zone.

In central Kentucky, the last frost date is roughly May 5. Add a week to ten days to that for where you are. Call it the 12th. To plan your growing activities, count backwards from that date as appropriate. For instance, tomatoes are usually started, indoors, 6 weeks before last frost. So you would start them on or about March 31. A little earlier certainly won't hurt, especially as our average last frost date has moving earlier the past several years.

I'm just guessing, now. But I suspect if you had fall-planted English peas this year you would be partially successful. But this past year was far from normal. In a more typical year our ground is unfrozen more than it is. So I'd be concerned that the seed would start to germinate, then get hit by a killer frost and die.

But, what the heck. It doesn't cost anything to give it a try.

BTW, the extension agent said our last frost date is May 15, so you were pretty close.

Sometimes, Darlin', it's just hard to be humble.

Regarding the spuds. I was recently told, by someone who trials potatoes for Tom Wagner, that there is no point hilling potatoes more than ten inches, cuz that's all they'll produce at.

Don't know if that's true or not. But it's something to keep in mind. It seems to support my own, limited experience with above-ground potato growing.

My understanding is that stollens are produced by the buried stem, as well as in the root system. Darrell's point, I think, is that while this happens, it only does so in the first ten inches. And, therefore, there's no reason to hill more than that.

I would guess that if he's correct, you'd also get better production (that is, both more, and larger potatoes) because with more foliage the plant can convert that much more sunlight. And, let's face it, that's all a potato is: a plant's way of storing sunlight and water.

Traditionally, the way hilling was done (whether in-ground or above-ground) is that you let the plant grow 8 inches, and then bury the bottom 4 inches of it. Let it grow again until there is 8 inches, and bury the bottom 4. Etc.

According to the literature and other authorities, if you grow in a tower (such as the bamboo one in that video) you could fill it to the top, and would have spuds throughout the whole thing. My experience is different. Most of the potatoes were found amidst the root system, and in the first layer or two of added planting mix.

HDRA did massive experimenting with "soilless" growing. They found if you hilled just with straw the potatoes would happily grow in it. So long as you kept direct sunlight off the tubers there'd be no problems. I tried that one year, with mixed results. Again, the potatoes were primarily at the bottoms of the plants. The advantage, if you see it as such, was that all the potatoes were above ground, and clean of dirt. And, in theory at least, harvesting was easier.

Alternatively, what if you divided the shades the long way? That would give you two 2-foot towers. With the same investment in planting mix you would basicallyi double production.

There was, for awhile, I guy selling "potato towers". These were, essentially, a sheet of perforated plastic which, when bent into a cylinder, formed a tower 22 inches high. That's what I used to try the above-ground method, and it worked very well. I have friends who do the same thing by piling two automobile tires atop each other.

Another trick is to cut a 55-gallon plastic drum into rings. You get three such rings from a drum, and they work really well as general mini-beds. No reason they shouldn't work for potatoes.

I have friends who, one year, grew potatoes in a leaf-filled tower made from chicken wire. I never actually saw the set-up, but they say it worked very well.

So, it seems to me, above-ground growing is a fully established system. And the key to it is using a medium that assures the developing spuds do not get exposed to direct sunlight.

Go for it, Leniek.

Just be careful not to go overboard your first year, which can lead to discouragement. I'm thinking you're taking an awfully big bite with that list.

Also, watch the culturing requirements of the various plant types. For instance, pumpkins and butternut squash grow on rampant vines, and are not the best choice for a small area. While it's possible to grow English cucumbers outdoors they are actually designed for greenhouse growing. Peas are cold hardy plants. However, while snap peas are heat tolerant, English peas are not, so your planting times can be affected. If you're starting tomatoes from seed they must be set, indoors, six-eight weeks before last frost. As a first-timer, you might be better off waiting until bedding plants are available and go with them instead. Etc.

A good example is your specifying the long weekend in May as your planting date. More than likely that applies to when you can put tender plants in the ground (i.e, tomato plants, cucumber seed). Your hardy stuff should be planted long before that. For instance, beets and carrots go in 4-6 weeks before last frost, peas as much as 8 weeks before. Etc. 

I notice you specified organic seed. Is there a reason for that? Other than price, there is virtually no difference between organic and standard seed.

I have just been hired to run the gardens at Fort Boonesboro State Park---a living history museum based in a reproduction of the original fort. My mandate is to make the gardens as historically correct as possible; something that, until now, has not been the case.

In addition to the main vegetable garden there are flower beds under the windows at each cabin. These are in modern cultivars, now. My plan is to convert them to herbs and dye plants.

There are, too, a couple of in-the-planning-stages projects. One is to open a large cornfield outside the fort walls. I'll go with a Three-Sisters planting instead, for obvious reasons. The other is to begin an 18-century tobacco culturing demo.

Icing on the cake: Friend Wife has been brought in to demo and discuss cookery and related kitchen tasks. She and I will share a cabin as our base for this. In effect, we'll be in charge of all the historic foodways at the fort.

For me this is the culmination of 20 years studying the foodways of the period (1760-1790), and I haven't been this excited about anything in a long time. So just wanted to share.

Sounds like you're well on your way.

With the marjarine tubs, the easiest way to put drainage holes in them is to stack them, upside down. The heat a metal skewer. It'll melt right through the stacked tubs.

Don't know exactly how far it will go. With yogurt containers I stack 10-12 at a time, and burn five holes through the stack before returning the skewer to the heat. The plastic used for mushrooms and such go almost as far with each heating. I stack six of them, and put 8 holes through the stack before returning the skewer to the heat.

As to expiration dates, this is a family location so I won't tell you what I think of that explanation. If it's true then your dealer is selling you old seed.

Every vegetable seed has a viability period measured in years. F'rinstance, cucumber seed, when stored properly, will remain viable for ten years. That doesn't mean it won't grow after ten years. What it means is at the end of the period 50% or less of the seed will germinate.

This applies whether the seed is open pollinated or hybrid.

I can't speak for the rules in Canada. In the U.S. there's no such thing as an expiration date on seeds. Commercial seeds are supposed to be marked with the year the seed was grown (although, realistically, it's usually the year of packaging---which, almost always, amounts to the same thing). And it has to meet the Federal guidelines for viability. F'rinstance, with tomatoes, at least 75% of the seed should germinate. If it doesn't, they have to mark it so on the package, and increase the amount of seed to make up for it.

What I'm saying is that if you have both conventional seed and organic seed of a variety, and they were both grown last year, there should be absolutely no difference in viability and germination rates.

As a rule, and onion seed excepted, you can always get at least a second year from any commercial seed you buy.

I can't wait to hear about it as you get going with it!

Ya know, this all reminds me of the story General Joe Engles tells. He drags it out, but in brief, he tells of how, as a boy on the farm, he'd watch the planes overhead and dream of becoming a pilot. Comes a day when a man from the Air Force comes and says, "boy, we gonna teach you to fly." Which they did. Sent him to school to be a fighter pilot.

"And you know what," General Joe says, conspiratorily, "they actuall paid me to do that."

Then comes the time they told him, "boy, we gonna make you into a test pilot."

Which they did. And he spent his time putting brand new experimental aircraft to the test during the day, and wowing the girls with his exploits at night..

"And you know what? They still paid me."

Finally they tell him, "boy, we gonna send you out in space."

Which they did. General Joe was one of the few in the Air Force Man In Space program to actually go up in a rocket.

"And they still paid me," he says. Then he looks around, makes a shushing gesture against his lips, and says, "don't tell anybody, but I'd have paid them!"

That's kind of how I feel. I'm going to run an historically correct garden, making virtually all the decisions about it. And they're going to pay me to do it!

Don't tell them, but.......

Yeah, that's a great story. Was even better when General Joe told it. Just imagine taking a natural storyteller (which he is) and running him through NASA's PR school. I can listen to the result forever without getting bored.

Anyway, on expiration dates. Here in the States they are not about marketing, but about paternalistic government rules. All foodstufs require an expiration or use-by date, most of which are set fairly arbitrarily. Check out whole spices, for instance. By their very nature they do not go bad. Yet they have expiration dates.

And anyone in a non-professional environment who disposes of dairy products just because they've "expired" has more money than brains, IMO.

Leniek: If mold is, indeed, showing up, try this: Sprinkle the surface with powdered cinnamon. And try bottom watering. Mold, per se, isn't necessarily a problem except that it indicates the presence of fungal spores. And damping off is the result of a fungal infection, which is avoidable merely by keeping the seed-starting media's surface on the dry side.

Watering can be ticklish anyway, as the tendency on the part of most people is to over-water. You want the mix to be about the same moisture leel as a well wrung-out sponge.

And have patience. It takes awhile for seeds to germinate. Tomatoes, for instance, typically take a week to ten days. Peppers average 21 days and can stretch to six weeks. And so on.