GCC193 (H1600) Gardening Delights for All: Nontraditional, Money-saving, Sustainable Gardening Ron Smith and Todd Weinmann NDSU Horticulturists Reviewed and Reprinted February 2013 ardening is for everyone: the young, old and everyone in between. Gardening has evolved significantly since Gthe “Victory Gardens” of World War I and World War II. Not that continuing to use conventional gardening methods (planting in rows with ample space to till in between) is wrong; you’ll always So, let’s get started. get good results with this approach. All Here is what you’ll find you need to do is follow the directions on in this publication: nearly every packet of vegetable seeds. Getting Started: Planning What to Grow ................... 3 However, in this publication, we Raised bed, container, square foot gardening .................. 3 are encouraging more “convenient” Herbs ......................................................................... 3 gardening, such as raised bed, container Grow what you like ...................................................... 4 and square foot styles, for the following Cool- and warm-season crops ....................................... 4 reasons: Growing Media: Test Soil Fertility Levels ................... 5 D We have yet to run into anyone who Tilth ........................................................................... 5 enjoys spending hours weeding. Designer soil ............................................................... 6 These newer methods essentially will Check for herbicide residue ........................................... 6 eliminate weeding or certainly reduce Starting Seed and Purchasing Transplants ................. 7 it significantly. Don’t transplant too early .............................................. 8 D These gardening methods will make Frost-free dates in North Dakota: don’t count on it! .......... 8 more efficient use of space, resources Hardening off seedlings ................................................ 9 and time. Direct seeding ............................................................. 9 D Other than weed problems, poor soil Perennial vegetables .................................................. 10 drainage often is a major problem in Fall plantings in the garden ......................................... 11 the typical Victory Garden-style site. Season extenders ....................................................... 11 The raised bed, container and square Gardening nemeses .................................................... 12 foot gardening methods eliminate this Chemical-free vegetable gardening practices ................. 13 problem because they use a “designer Herbs ....................................................................... 13 soil.” Garden Favorites................................................... 14 D These newer gardening methods Harvesting, Storing and Preserving ......................... 15 typically produce greater harvests per To-Do Lists for Fall, Winter and Spring .................... 16 unit of space. Fall ......................................................................... 16 D The new gardening methods will allow Double crops in the fall ........................................... 16 you to plant earlier and have better Annuals ................................................................. 16 control of Mother Nature’s capricious Perennials ............................................................. 17 ways, as well as result in an earlier, Soil amendments ................................................... 17 cleaner harvest. Raised beds also Winter ..................................................................... 18 warm the soil. Spring ..................................................................... 19 Amendments and raised beds .................................. 19 Rotation ................................................................ 19 2 Getting Started: We all have our vegetable Planning likes and dislikes. So the natural tendency is to grow lots of just those vegetables What to Grow you know you like. But don’t pass up the opportunity to try something outside of the “traditional” vegetables, Raised bed, such as peas, beans, carrots, container, cabbage, corn, tomatoes and square foot Herbs peppers. Give crops such If you are a gourmet cook, you as okra, parsnip, rutabaga gardening may be interested in growing or brussels sprouts at least Your planning largely will depend the easiest garden delight: one chance to see if you like on the type of garden you want to herbs. Chives are completely them when they come from have. perennial in North Dakota your garden. and can be grown indoors Square foot gardening (SFG) through the winter as well. maximizes space use, resulting Or try one or more of a dozen in fewer weeds and an abundant different cultivars of basil, harvest. which enhances the flavor and Raised-bed gardening, which aroma of food and adds mouth- as a variation of SFG, will yield watering scents when a hand or generously and allow you to be gentle summer breeze brushes creative with unique or practical the plants. designs. Mint, another perennial, can be Container gardening is ideal for grown anywhere in the garden apartment dwellers or folks who with only a half day of direct just want a few tomatoes or Todd Weinmann, NDSU Extension Service sunlight, and you can grow it peppers to enjoy during North indoors to garnish winter meals. Dakota’s short growing season. You also can grow parsley, a It offers the advantage of being biennial herb, indoors during the moveable to allow plants to winter. get maximum sunlight, escape violent weather or be sheltered when frost threatens. 3 Grow what you like What vegetables make up the Cool- and warm-season crops bulk of your diet? Are they Broadly speaking, vegetables can be divided into “cool season” and carrots, tomatoes, peppers, “warm season” crops. Those designations can help you make the sweet corn or peas? Then right decision on when to plant seeds indoors or outdoors (see table make those favorites a major listing of cool and warm season vegetables). part of your garden plan. You can sow carrots and sweet corn directly into the garden Table 1: Cool- and warm-season vegetables as seed, while you generally (those that will and will not tolerate light need to start tomatoes and frosty temperatures). peppers at home under lights or buy them from local garden Cool: Sow when broccoli onions radish centers, then transplant them in your garden. soil is free of frost cabbage parsnip rutabagas and easily worked: carrots peas Swiss chard Part of planning is getting the mid to late April. dates right for sowing seeds lettuce potatoes indoors for transplanting or directly outdoors. The Warm: Sow around beans eggplant pumpkins tendency is to start sowing the time lilacs corn melons squash seeds indoors too early, which come into bloom. cucumbers pepper tomatoes results in seedlings that are watermelon too weak and spindly to become established properly when moved outdoors. Direct seeding too early outdoors also can be a problem for a crop such as sweet corn. The initial warm days of April or May often give way to colder temperatures that could include spring frosts, which would be detrimental to emerging corn seedlings. Some vegetables such as Swiss chard, lettuce, kale, spinach, arugula and cabbage can tolerate occasional bouts of cold temperatures without any measurable setback in growth. 4 Growing Media: The initial step for first- time vegetable gardeners Test Soil is to have the soil tested. This would include any soil Fertility Levels mixes you concoct for use in container or square foot gardening. Even if you are experienced at gardening but disappointed with the Tilth results, get the soil tested. The major hallmark of a successful vegetable garden is the tilth, or NDSU’s soil testing lab workability of the soil. Good tilth equals good drainage, and good provides that service for drainage increases the chances of crop success. Adding organic a nominal fee. Lab staff matter such as unmilled sphagnum moss always helps improve soil suggest doing an initial, conditions. Working it into the soil profile every year assures good basic test for pH (acidity or drainage, provides a buffering action against temperature extremes alkalinity), organic matter and results in more efficient water use. content, phosphorus, Ideally, you should turn the soil over in the fall after removing the potassium and soluble crop. That would make the soil subject to the freezing and thawing salts. Although these action in the spring, which would help break up any clods. Turning tests often do not check the soil over in the fall with square foot or container gardening would for nitrogen because it make it ready for planting the following spring. Then all you need is a is readily mobile in the little touch-up leveling with a garden rake. If you can’t condition the soil, the soil should be soil this way in the fall and you must put it off until spring, take care tested for nitrogen because not to work the soil when it is too wet. Doing so could destroy the high nitrogen levels structure of the soil, eliminating any good from excessive fertilizer drainage characteristics. applications often cause poor crop performance. Visit www.soilsci.ndsu. nodak.edu/soiltesting. html and go to the section labeled “For Homeowners: Lawn and Garden” for a form to complete and send with the sample. You’ll also be able to review the price structure for this and other soil tests. 5 Designer soil