Turning the Soil
Here’s where you can get some exercise, if you sit at a desk all week. And you can renew a New England Memorial Day weekend tradition: planting your vegetable garden!
OK after my last post you’ve either built and filled a new raised bed, or, if you’ve got an existing bed, you’ve pulled any spring weeds. You’ve also removed any pine needles and other debris from the winter.
Now it’s time to turn the soil. I use a standard four tined spading fork. I just saw them at Lowe’s for $24.98. Starting in one corner of the garden, turn the soil down to a depth of 8-10 inches. I only loosen the soil as much as necessary. Break up any big chunks. You’ll undoubtedly find a good crop of New England potatoes — rocks pushed up by frost over the winter. Remove them. Small stones are OK, and inevitable in most New England soil.
Organic Fertilizers, Limes
Fertilizer
There are all sorts of ways you can go. If you’re a beginner, you can take a soil sample to your county extension service for analysis. It’s inexpensive but it takes a couple of weeks for results. It really needs to be done earlier than now. Or you can ask at your local garden store about the general characteristics of local soil, and about fertilizer. Where I live, the soil is acidic due to the prevalence of pine trees. This is very common in New England. So every year, I put lime on my garden, according to the package directions. You can use granular or pelletized lime. I’ve used both. I spread it right out of the bag.
Spreading Fertilizer
I generally use Plant Tone or another organic fertilizer, again according to the directions. This year I found an an old clay pot base, poured some fertilizer in, and just shook the thing, spread it around as evenly as I could. Back to our theme: this is not rocket science. Just do your best in spreading it evenly. If it’s windy, spread the stuff downwind, and warn those in the vicinity to get out of the way first. Use a rake, fork or shovel to work this into the top 4–8 inches of soil. Just work it to the depth your plants will be.
The Fun Part: Planting!
Young kids especially enjoy this. When my children were younger, I always gave them a few seeds or a tomato plant to put in the ground. With a garden this small, I didn’t draw a chart or make a plan beforehand. A quick sketch IS best, if you’re new to gardening. But I knew what I wanted to plant and just went for it. This year I am planting five tomato plants, all purchased at the Lake Street Garden Center in Salem, NH. I have been shopping there for years. Every spring they feature about two dozen varieties of tomatoes, including some hard to find heirlooms. Plus they have many, many other vegetables, flowering plants, supplies and more. This isn’t a paid ad for them. I just like the place! This year I got Russian Krims. I’ve grown them before. They are a purplish black when mature, and are out of this world. I also got “New Hampshire Sure Crop,” which are specially bred (bio-engineered?) to flourish in the climate and soil of NH. We’ll see how they do. I also got an early variety, a new Roma variety, and a grape tomato. Can you tell I love tomatoes? I bought individual plants, which are a little more expensive but I find them worth the extra cost. Six packs are fine, too, especially if you will be putting in a large number of plants.
Planting Tomatoes
Tomatoes are simple to plant. The most important thing is to plant them far enough apart — at least three feet away from other plants, four feet if you have the space. (photo of yardstick) I also chose as a location the “back” edge of my garden. For most of the day, the sun will be hitting the “front.” This way the tomatoes, the biggest plants later in the season, won’t be shadowing the smaller plants in front. Then I just dug a hole with my hand, removed the tomato plant from its temporary pot, stuck it in the soil, and filled around it so the plant is upright and stable. Again, not rocket science.
Planting cuke seeds in hill
THE CUKES
I then planted two hills of cucumbers near the front. Planting cukes in hills is a common technique. Each hill is a small, flattened, circular mound of soil you make with your hands. About 12–16 inches in diameter. In one hill, I planted a regular sized (about 8 inches) variety. In the other hill, smaller pickling cukes. I used seeds. You can start these from plants as well, but I never have. Don’t ask my why. I’m not sure. I’ve always had good luck with plenty of early (and late) cucumbers. I just stick the seeds in about a quarter inch to half an inch, all around the hill. About 15 seeds or more per hill. I will later thin to about 3 or 4 plants per hill.
In the middle of my garden, I planted a three foot row of collard greens, and a parallel row of swiss chard, also three feet long. I planted seeds, barely covering them with soil. There’s always planting info on the package.
Seeds
And in the front of the greens, a small patch of oregano from seeds, and one Thai hot pepper plant. Oregano is a perennial, and I’m not sure how well it’s going to do. I’ve never planted it before so this is an experiment. The seeds were tiny. We’ll see. More on using all of these vegetables in cooking in later posts.
Whew. Planting’s all done. Last thing? Water it. Make sure not to water too long or too hard, so as not to wash away any of your carefully planted seeds. And water every day for the first week or so. You can do by hand or with a gentle sprinkler. Common sense. It’s not rocket science!
All done for now!
Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!
Still to come — fencing, weeding, mulching.
