April 25, 2016

Avalanche column

Recently the avalanche sold  and it seemed that this column looked like it would end. it looks like there was enough interest in the community that the new owners decided to continue. YEA!

My reprints of that column ran out and I do not feel I should print something that has not been in the paper yet.

So I am reprinting an earlier column that talks about getting ready to plant. Seasonably appropriate and next week will be a new column. Thank you for your patience.   mark

4/2/2015

Recently I got asked a couple of questions. Is it too early to till up my garden and how close do I space my plants?

Till to your hearts content. If you did not spread fresh manure on the garden last fall DO NOT put it on now unless you do not plan to plant for a few weeks. Fresh manure will burn germinating seeds or cook new seedlings. Compost would be a better alternative and you can plant as soon as you till it in.

 I like to use dense plantings so that the mature plants shade the soil and help choke out weeds. A good book that discuses dense plantings and this also provides higher yields on less ground is by John Jeavons “How to Grow  More Vegetables” by ten speed press.

He suggests to use the sowing instructions on the seed packet and disregard the between the row spacing and use only the in the row spacing. 

An example would be New Mexico Chili. In row spacing is 12 to 18 inches and between the row spacing is 24 to 30 inches. Plants are spaced on an 18 by 18 inch grid. My beds are 4 feet wide and there are 2 rows. 

Special attention must be given to crops where the in row spacing is 2 inches and the between row is 18 inches. Beans are frequently sown to this spacing.  A grid of a2 inch X 2 inch spacing would be too close. Jeavons changes this to a 6 inch by 6 inch grid. I have found this to work well for me.

Another special attention crop is carrots. Tap rooted carrots are hard to transplant so I try for a 2 inch in the row and 4 inches between the rows. Thinning the carrot seedlings will achieve this spacing.

Seedlings grown for latter transplant are green onions and lettuce. The transplanted green onions are planted on a 2 inch by 4 inch spacing. The lettuce is transplanted to a 1 foot by 1 foot spacing and this makes for a wonderful lettuce bouquet. If you like you can just trim lettuce leaves in their seed bed and never transplant.

I do not plant two different maturity sized plants in close proximity; the shorter veggie will lose out. An example would be carrots and eggplants.

Here are a few spacing suggestions for beds that are 4.5 feet wide. Indeterminate tomatoes single row 36” apart. Determinate tomatoes, eggplants, and chili’s 18” X 18” with two rows.  Beets 4”X 8” with four or five rows.  Sweet potatoes 4 rows on a1’ X1’ spacing.  Cucumbers two rows on a 1’ by 1’ spacing .  Garlic, I have done a 4” by 4” but was not pleased with the product, so I went to a4”X 1’ spacing but I think I can easily go with a 4” X 8” and get some very nice sized garlic.