High-Octane Veggie Gardening

May 3rd, 2012

You might as well max out your production if you're going to dig up the ground.

If you’re going to go to the trouble of digging up ground to grow your own food, you might as well make the most of it.

I’ve been aiming to get the most food out of the least space with the least work for 30 years. Here are my top 10 ways:

   1.) Raised Beds

Hardly anyone has good soil, so forget just stripping off the grass and planting.

Pick a sunny spot and mark off the areas you want to plant. Then loosen the soil (at least 6 inches) and add enough compost or similar organic matter so the beds end up 4 to 6 inches above grade.

Most people build boxes to contain the soil. Stone, blocks, brick, recycled plastic timbers and rot-resistant wood are options. Or you can just mound up the beds without any edging.

The loose, raised beds give you good drainage and allow veggie roots to spread with impunity.

   2.) Improve the Soil

Vegetables yield best in quality soil – not the compacted clay, shale or rocky subsoil that’s likely lurking in your yard.

Work at least 1 to 2 inches of compost, peat moss, rotted leaves, mushroom soil or similar organic matter into your loosened “soil.”

Then buy a do-it-yourself, mail-in Penn State soil test kit (available for $9-$10 at county Extension offices, most garden centers or online at www.aasl.psu.edu/SSFT.HTM) to see what kind of fertilizer to add.

The test also will tell whether to add sulfur or lime to correct the soil’s acid level (pH) for optimal production.

   3.) Best Paybackers

Some veggies are worth more than others or yield best for the time and effort. Lean toward ones that give you the most bang for your buck (assuming you like to eat them).

Tops on my list for best value: tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, asparagus, the whole onion family (including leeks, shallots and garlic), lettuce, squash, rhubarb, beans and snow peas.

   4.) Best Varieties

Some particular varieties of each crop yield better, taste better or fight off bugs and disease better than others.

Skip inferior, cheapie types and keep experimenting until you find the ones that do best in your garden. Variety matters. Pay attention to those names.

A recommended list from Cornell University and my own experience is posted at https://georgeweigel.net/favorite-past-garden-columns/edibles/variety-matters.

Planting the vegetable garden isn’t just a May thing. You can milk out weeks and even months of extra production by planting cool-season crops (peas, onions, lettuce, etc.) as early as March and by replanting a fall cool-season crop.

Plant protectors such as floating row covers, clear plastic domes and even milk jugs can help on those really cold nights.

A highly productive vegetable garden has no empty space during the growing season. Plant continuously. As one crop is harvested, fill the space with something seasonally appropriate.

Example: plant radishes in March, then peppers in May when the radishes are pulled, then leaf lettuce when the first frost kills the peppers.

   6.) Plant Closely

That loose, rich soil will let you space plants closer than the packs say.

More importantly, plant in blocks instead of rows. Raised beds don’t waste space because you’ll be picking, working and walking around the perimeter – especially when you keep the bed widths to 4 feet wide.

No need to allow for wasted row space. Plant a block of peppers 15 inches apart from one another or beans 3 inches apart in all directions.

A good spacing guide is Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening system and book. See http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ or “The All New Square Foot Gardening” (Cool Springs Press, 2006, $19.99).

No reason why you shouldn’t grow vining and climbing plants up a trellis, cage or similar support.

You’ll get way more cucumbers and melons this way instead of letting them sprawl along the ground. Pole beans, pole peas, pumpkins, gourds and malabar spinach are other vertical options.

I eked out an extra crop of peas and beans by erecting a bamboo tripod (actually a quadripod) over top of my rhubarb patch. I picked beans while the rhubarb grew happily below.

   8.) Consistent Water

Water is the magic ingredient. Keep the soil consistently damp (but never soggy) to keep those roots growing and the plants producing at maximum level.

   9.) Control Weeds

Weeds compete for nutrients and moisture in the garden. Yank them as soon as any emerge.

Better yet, put down a light layer of chopped leaves or straw between the plants to discourage weeds as well as conserve moisture.

   10.) Control Animals

Assorted animals (especially deer, rabbits, groundhogs and voles) love your vegetables as much as you do. Deer and groundhogs especially can decimate an entire garden in just one night.

Figure on fencing the garden right off the bat. What’s worked best for me is sinking a 6-inch board the whole way around to discourage burrowing, then erecting a 3-foot, narrow-opening fence that’s left unsecured at the top (so groundhogs lack support to climb over).

Whole books have been written on keeping animals out of the garden with options including repellents, electric fencing, traps, scare devices, ill-tempered pets and more.

For ideas, see my Pennlive blog at http://blog.pennlive.com/gardening/index.html and select the “Animal Problems” button in the menu at left.