I have had a few emails over the last couple of weeks looking for advice on starting a vegetable garden from scratch so I thought we would have a good look at it today, I hope that some of it will be helpful. Read about ways to get in touch here.No doubt most of you have your gardens all beautifully prepared for the Spring and are raring to go but there may be some of you who are looking at expanding your garden or starting a brand new vegetable plot. Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or get in touch by tweeting us closed our comments. Hear All Things Gardening during Weekend Edition Sunday with VPR host Mary Engisch, Sunday mornings at 9:35. You can also leave a voicemail with your gardening question by calling VPR at (802) 655-9451. Next week, we’ll answer your questions about planting raised beds! What’s worked for you in the past and what hasn’t? Send your questions for Charlie to answer.Īll Things Gardening is powered by you, the listener! Send your gardening questions and conundrums and Charlie may answer them in upcoming episodes. Aim for a five-gallon pail of wood ashes to cover a thousand square feet. The ashes are fine to use around asparagus, though. Knowing that wood ash is high in potassium, keep it away from evergreens and blueberries bushes. Because wood ashes are high in potassium and can also affect PH levels, knowing which nutrients your soil is lacking (or has too much of) will help guide you. Which plants would benefit from the ashes and which ones should we avoid? - James, in Wolcottįirst, you might want to test your soil. Q: We heat our house partially with wood and empty the wood stove ashes every week or two. This ensures your garden or raised bed produces continually throughout the growing season. Succession planting is just what it sounds like you'll be planting, harvesting and planting again in succession.įor example, if you've got a small plot of arugula, every couple of weeks or so, harvest what’s grown and then plant more arugula seed. The nutrients that your growing plants embue into the soil will be used to feed nearby veggie plants. For example, you could plant lettuces, Swiss chard and such in between your taller, sun-loving tomatoes.Īlso, take advantage of nutrient-sharing amongst your plants. Interplanting involves growing a warm season and a cool season crop of veggies next to each other. You can take advantage of this technique in your raised beds with great success using the polyculture methods known as interplanting and succession planting. This garden scheme imitates how plants, flowers and herbs grow in nature. Polyculture is defined as growing more than one plant at the same time in the same space. This technique works well for root crops, like carrots, beets and radishes, and for all kinds of leafy greens. Once the seeds are broadcast, cover with a light layer of potting soil or compost and watch them grow. The method is as simple as sprinkling your seeds in blocks or grids that you’ve sectioned off in your garden soil or raised bed. Instead, try blocks or broadcast seeding. But in a home garden, especially in a raised bed, planting in straight rows actually minimizes your planting space. Straight rows work best when you’re tilling, weeding and harvesting using a horse-drawn plow or tractor. This method of planting in rows is most commonly seen on large farms and enormous gardens. So, while there is still snow on the ground and chill in the air, get your garden plot and raised bed plans on paper with these new planting methods to try! We'll learn about planting in straight rows, broadcasting seed, block planting and polyculture planting, and which techniques to use to boost production in raised beds and gardens. And now is a good time to start planning out your vegetable, flower and herb gardens. Though “planting schemes'' may sound like a devious plot hatched by your zucchini, it is actually just planning how you want your garden to look in terms of what gets planted where.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |