Getting Started
1. Put each entry on a new page and write the entry date. Begin with the weather: temperature, cloudy or sunny, rainy or dry, and short term forecast.
2. Do you know the final frost date? For Johnson County, the date is May 11-20. When you sow seeds or put out seedlings will depend on this date. However, many people here who are long-time gardeners don’t plant their summer garden until June 1. Nobody wants to go out one May morning and find frozen tomato plants. The best solution is to check the back of seed packets or a gardening book for when to plant.
3. Make a list of things you are interested in planting. If you’re not sure, get out a catalog and see what interests you.
4. Talk to people who are master gardeners. Then write down some of their ideas in your journal.
That’s it for a beginning. It’s important to not overdo your initial entries, or you won’t keep up with the journal. Keep them short and to the point.
Example Entry:
February 15, 2011—35º, cloudy, dry, snow by Friday
Final frost is May 11-20
Maybe plant—tomatoes (heirloom and hybrid?), bush cukes, snap beans (pole or bush?), cauliflower, beets, radishes, eggplant (?), melons (?), pumpkin, greens, potatoes (red, white, both?)
John told me to use old plastic milk jugs or empty gallon vinegar jugs to make a mini-greenhouse for cold sensitive plants. Cut off the bottom. Put lid on at night or when cold and remove during the day. Good idea!
Larry says he has a bunch of tomato stakes that we can use this summer. He’s a helpful neighbor.
Decisions, Decisions
You have to decide how large or small a garden, what to plant, and how much to plant. Most gardens are heavy on beans, corn, tomatoes, and potatoes. They are often light on other choices like broccoli, greens, peppers, cauliflower, and root vegetables. The following three considerations may be several entries. It’s all about thinking through each step.
1. Be honest with yourself: what vegetables do YOU really like to eat? Take that list and use it to help plan your garden.
2. Now you have to think about how much space a vegetable plant needs. Again, seed packets are helpful. Remember this point, plants need enough room to grow and for air circulation. Plants need soil loose enough for root expansion as well as for both water and nutrients to be absorbed by those roots.
3. Some plants need support: tomatoes, pole beans, and cucumbers. Even peppers and eggplants can use some help. Having fencing around the outside can serve two purposes: one is to keep animals out; a second purpose is to use the fencing for supporting climbing vegetables. Just be sure support fencing is strong enough to bear the weight of the vegetables.
You have a good start on a garden. You know the size and what types of vegetables you want. You have a grasp of spacing.
Example Entry:
February 22, 2011—28 º, snow, blahhhhhhhhhh, ready for spring
Beets should end up being three inches apart. That means after you sow the seeds and they start sprouting, you will need to thin them out. Feels like a waste, but will get bigger beets. Yummy!
Beans are recommended to be three inches apart, but they actually do better if they are five inches apart.
Tomatoes need lots of room, two feet between each plant.
Peppers need some support. How about short stakes and twine around the outside to keep them upright?
Map It!
You wouldn’t take a trip without a map or GPS, so why would you try to build a garden without a map?
A garden map helps you decide on the size you will need, where to place rows or beds, spacing between rows or beds, and how many plants your garden will accommodate.
Gardens can be square, rectangular, oblong, round; it’s up to you. You might want several garden spaces: a round strawberry space, long rows for beans and tomatoes, square or rectangular beds for greens.
Mapping is an ongoing process. You could start out with one garden plan then realize it won’t work. Maybe you don’t want that big a garden or that many types of vegetables. Perhaps you need another garden space because you just really want some home grown potatoes.
Your garden map should be as individual as you are. Just because you always have done it one way doesn’t mean you can’t try something different. As the old saying goes, “Variety is the spice of life”.
A garden that is used for spring, summer and fall takes planning. Where do I plant vegetables that are harvested in a month? How about those plants like tomatoes that take a long time to mature? What plants do well planted near each other? What about plants that should never be planted near each other? A garden plan helps you keep from having problems with these issues.
Example Entry:
March 3, 2011—40 º, heat wave :), snow isn’t melting very quickly, will it never end?
Don’t forget: short plants on south, tall plants on north.
How about planting cool, spring plants on east side of garden?
You’re on Your Way
Your initial journal entries for the year should contain: garden size, what vegetables you are considering, how much of each vegetable you want and need, how much room is needed for each plant, and a map of what your garden will look like.
Example Entry:
March 10, 2011—46 º, no more snow I hope, ground still pretty wet from the snow melt. SIGH!
Cauliflower takes a lot more work. Have to blanch it by bringing up the bottom leaves and tying them to protect from the sun. Do we like it enough and eat a lot of it? Is it worth it? There is a farmers market in Johnson County.
Want to can or freeze some snap beans so will need more room for them.
Everything discussed in this article should take you between two weeks and a month to do. It is very important to think through what you plan to do. After your entries, think some more and make changes as needed.
And you haven’t tilled or turned any dirt yet!
© 2011, Katherine Hegemann
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