The EssentiaList

I’m planning my very first garden this year.  Last fall, I had a 4′ x 10′ raised bed built with rock-like concrete block for the walls, so I can sit on them to tend my bed (I have bad knees).  And I ordered my seeds: corn, snow peas, beans, summer and winter squash, cucumbers, greens (lettuces, spinach, broccoli rabe, kale and cabbage), and root veggies (turnips, beets, carrots, radishes).

In November I planted garlic, and some lettuce and spinach seeds for a late spring crop.    And now it’s covered in melting snow.  I’m starting some corn, peas, beans and cucumbers indoors (after learning about this at our February Gathering: Seed Starting Indoors, and Container Gardening).  Nearby are my pear and apple trees, now dormant but itching for spring.

I hadn’t planned on planting nightshade family (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplants) because I just don’t have room in my small 4×10 bed.  But now I’m rethinking the potatoes.  They are a good crop I can store in my root cellar through the winter. There won’t be room for them in the existing raised bed, but I will use special “Potato Bins” from Gardeners.com: above-ground containers made just for potatoes of sturdy fabric, providing excellent drainage.  See also Instructions for Using the Potato Bin).

Although my Dad was an avid gardener, I really don’t know much about how to garden. (When I was growing up, he made me shell the peas and trim the beans, much to my boredom). Now I’m trying to learn what I can from friends, and from researching the web.

The other day, Julian Cunningham (Swallow Crest Farm & CSA; see also Farm Hands Map) mentioned that Irish Eyes (Garden City Seeds) have good quality seed potatoes, so I went to their site to order some mid-season reds, and late season yellow potatoes.  There I found an excellent article: How to Grow Potatoes (Irish Eyes website) that I thought I’d share with you.

And I plan to try the Three Sisters Garden (Corn, Beans, Squash), also using separate raised circular beds about 24 inches in diameter.  These will be bound by wire mesh, and each will have 2-3 corn plants, 2-3 bean plants (or snow pea), and 1 cucumber plant (or squash).  Right now, I’m starting my corn indoors and will soon start the beans and the cucumbers.

I’m taking gardening advice from all corners, so if you have some for me, send it my way: use the comment field below this post, or send me an email at cat(at)essentialstuff.org [email disguised for security].

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.