|
Vegetables
Vegetables may be grown organically or not, it is your choice to make. I have added organic matter
each year and then supplemented it with a little fertilizer. I have never used anything else except Roundup to initially
remove the grass on a new garden. On the new section of my current garden, I killed the grass without any chemicals
using only water, clear plastic sheets and garden staples.
A no-chemical approach
Get the grass wet with a garden hose. Cover the area, where you wish to kill the grass, with clear
plastic sheets. Use garden staples to hold the plastic in place. You need sunshine and warm weather to make this
work. The sun will literally steam the trapped water, germinate seeds laying in the soil and kill the existing grass
leaving it ready to be tilled. Add organic matter when you till. Even good soil can benefit from additional organic
matter. And when you are starting a new garden, or want to add to your existing garden, is a a good time to get it off
to a good start. Added organic matter also attracks earthworms which are good friends to your garden. They eat
the organic matter and leave their droppings called castings. They also imrove the soil through their tunnels.
Seasons
In Zone 4, where we live, summers are somewhat short. Therefore, it helps us maximize our harvest
by planting cool-season vegetables followed by warm-season vegetables. We can sometimes, in at
least part of our garden, get an additional late fall havest by planting cool-season vegetables
that can handle light frost.
Cool-Season Vegetables (link this site)
These get your off to a quick start and extend your planting season as most of these veggies can take light frost.
Plant them early in the spring and again in the summer to early fall for an extended harvest.
Warm Season Veggies (on this site)
|