We are joined again by Christy Wilhelmi, the talented founder of Gardenerd.com. She helps us discover the many joys of organic gardening. Here she gets us on the way for spring vegetable planting. Hurray!
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A recent survey showed that more Americans are starting to grow their own food. People all over the country are succumbing to the joys of vegetable gardening. To these folks, there’s nothing more rewarding than walking out into the garden to pick fresh leeks, lettuce, tomatoes and basil. Then into the kitchen they go to create a culinary masterpiece with their harvest. Can you blame them for being so passionate? Surely there is something to this curious hobby.
The environmental benefits of growing your own veggies are great. Planting your own vegetables means you can ensure they are organic and healthy. And getting your food out of your own garden cuts the carbon emissions that would have been required to bring you food from the farm to the store to your table.
If you want to get in on the action, here is a quick-start guide for vegetables that grow best in spring:
+ Asparagus – start once, enjoy for a decade or so
+ Brassicas - cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, turnips, kohlrabi, rapini (Note – if it gets hot early in your area, you may want to have shade cloth handy to keep them from “bolting”, or going to seed too quickly. These veggies grow best in fall in the Southwest because they like to start in warm weather and mature in cooler weather).
+ Carrots and other root crops like parsnips and radishes
+ Cucumbers – start indoors and plant out later in the spring
+ Peppers– both sweet and spicy (start indoors and plant out later in the spring)
+ Eggplant – plant at the same time as peppers
+ Garlic – one of my favorite things to grow at home (can be grown in fall as well)
+ Herbs – basil, cilantro, chives, dill, oregano, parsley, and many others
+ Lettuces and other greens for salads like arugula, spinach and mustard greens
+ Melons – watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, casaba, etc.
+ Onion Sets, leeks, shallots and green onions
+ Peas
+ Potatoes – you haven’t lived until you’ve grown your own potatoes
+ Squash – both summer and winter squash like butternut, delicata, yellow crookneck, and zucchini
+ Tomatoes – try any of the over 300 varieties available. There are sure to be some that grow well in your zone.
When choosing seeds and plants for your area, make sure you know your hardiness zone. You can find your zone in the U.S. at the National Gardening Association website: http://garden.org/zipzone/. Not only can you find your hardiness zone, but you can look up what plants (other than vegetables) will grow well in your zone. Search by color, type and other growing conditions. Just click on Plant Finder after you’ve established your zone.
Once you know what you want to plant, take some time to sketch out where you want to plant them. Be sure to include beneficial flowers like marigolds to help keep pests at bay.
In areas where the ground freezes, you will need to do the squeeze test to see if your soil is ready to be worked. Squeeze a handful of soil into a ball in your fist. Open your hand and stick your thumb into it. It is holds its shape, it’s still too wet. If it breaks apart, it’s ready to work. If you don’t like that test, you can try the old folk lore method: drop your drawers and sit on your patch of soil. If you can sit there without freezing your buns off, the soil is ready to go. I’ll stick with the squeeze test myself.
To read Christy’s previous piece on Organic Gardening 101, please click here.
Original post by By STEPHEN MILIOTI
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