Pick a well-drained site, preferably with sunlight for 8 hours or more per day. If the site is covered with grass use a shovel to peel back the lawn to a depth of 4-6 inches. Bang the clumps of turf together to loosen up soil trapped by the roots. Compost the clumps of turf.
Using a long-handled spade, turn the soil over in big clumps and let dry for a week or more. Never work the soil when it is wet, because any clay in the soil will turn your soil into clods that will take years to break down.
Determine which additives-typically manure and/or compost-will best help your soil. Apply these additives to a thickness of up to 4 inches on top of the soil you’ve broken up earlier. Use a rototiller to churn the soil and amendments together running once, say, east to west and again north to south.
When doing this, let the rototiller do the work. Hold the tiller stationary and let the tines chew into the earth. Remain stationary until the tines are completely submerged and then edge forward a few inches at a time. This will give you friable soil to a depth of at least a foot, maybe more.
Using a stiff steel rake, rake up all the larger clumps and discard them. Then rake the soil into raised beds, 3-4 feet wide and as long as the plot allows. When creating raised beds the object is to dedicate the absolute minimum space to footpaths, typically 18 inches wide.
Succession Planting
The concept of succession planting is simple: you use every square inch of your vegetable beds throughout the growing season. Take an area that is two feet on a side-four square feet. Plant with early-season greens such as kale, chard or spinach in March. Harvest as needed, taking plants from the center first. This will open up a hole that by mid-May can be occupied by a tomato plant. Once the weather turns warm, the greens will bolt and the tomato plant can occupy the entire area. Once the frost hits and kills the tomato plant, replant the area with cool weather greens, radishes or scallions. Using this method and a cold frame it’s possible that you can be growing something at least ten months of the year.
Sporophobia
Sporophobia translates to “fear of seeds.” Many people are reluctant to plant seeds, preferring instead to use starts. But plants have been growing from seeds for 140 million years. Eggplants, tomatoes and peppers should be planted as starts, but for everything else, grow it from seeds. You’ll save money and get better plants.
There are three typical reasons that seeds fail. The first is inadequate water. Once a seed germinates and the seed coat is broken, seeds need to be kept consistently damp to thrive. On hot days you may need to water twice a day to meet the plant’s needs. Once the second set of leaves appear you can water less frequently, because the plant’s root system will have developed.
The second reason seeds fail is planting too deep. Most seeds should be plated no deeper than twice the diameter of the seed. A lettuce seed, no larger than the period at the end of this sentence, should only be planted ¼” deep. Most seeds should be planted ½” or less.
The final reason for seed failure is planting them too early in the year. While salad greens, radishes, peas, broccoli and onions can tolerate some cold weather, many plants cannot. Cucumbers, melons, squash, sunflowers and morning glories need warm soil to germinate and will probably fail if planted anytime before the last week in May. Nighttime temperatures consistently above 50 degrees are a good indicator that you can plant warm-weather seeds. Unused seeds can be stored in black plastic film canisters placed in a cool dark place. Properly stored seeds can last for years.
To read all of Todd’s Avant Gardening posts, see the Avant Gardening Series category.
