Pittsfield Garden Forum
Warsaw School, Pittsfield
21-Apr-2012, 10am-1pm

Waking up with your garden:
Getting (re-)acquainted with your soil and planning your plantings
presented by Tom Roberts, Snakeroot Organic Farm

You really can’t step into your spring garden without being reminded of your final activities the previous fall.

The way you put your garden to bed each fall determines how easy it will be to begin again in the spring.

  • Leaving weeds, mulch, crop residue in place, or . . .
  • Fall tilling?
  • Winter cover crops
  • Fall bed prep for early spring planting—you can then start planting in your garden before your neighbors have even begun to till.
  • Overwintering crops in garden – no protection: parsnips, sunchokes, scallions,
  • Overwintering crops in garden – under cover: spinach, chard, parsley, leeks,
  • Plant garlic in the fall, not in the spring, for best size.

Why doing your indoor “homework” helps keep your garden organized.

  • Do you have a sketch of your garden layout from last year? From the year before?
  • Keep track of varieties: not all varieties perform the same.
  • Know when to start which seedlings for transplanting.
  • Study seed catalogs starting when they first arrive in December. Make notes in them about what varieties sound good. Order your seeds early; that’s one less thing to do once gardening time arrives.

When (and when not) to begin working in your garden.

  • Know your wet spots and dry spots.
  • Working wet soil damages it structurally and biologically.
  • You can plant or transplant even when soil is too wet to work.
  • Most gardeners waste their first gardening month by not gardening.
  • Know which veggies can take freezing temps; those can be planted or transplanted in early April. Examples: Spinach, peas, carrots, onions, leeks, scallions, napa, bok choi,
  • Extend your season with row covers; plant two weeks early, then cover.

How planning ahead pays off.

  • Make a sketch of what to plant where in your garden. Keep previous year’s sketches. Make notes on them.
  • Succession plantings: same or similar short-season crops after one another.
  • Rotations: annually change the locations of veggie families.
  • Group short season crops together and long season crops together.
  • Use floating row covers on crops for flea beetles, cucumber beetles, squash bugs, and potato beetles.

Buying vs. growing your own seedlings.

  • Not every veggie does well with seedlings, some are better to direct seed.
  • Seedlings can gain you three to six weeks of growing season.
  • Growing is cheaper, but it takes time, space, and almost daily attention.
  • Needs a sunny location, like a greenhouse or sun room for more than just a dozen plants.
  • Six hours of sun a day, minimum. Can be grow lights.
  • Know how long before planting in the garden to start your seeds; it’s different for each veggie.
  • Buying: buy by the roots, not by the tops. Root bound, synthetic feeding,
  • Inspect your plants closely insects and diseases.
  • Get locally adapted varieties, not ones that do great in Georgia.

Possible succession planting schemes: Note: These successions below apply to any one piece of your garden. You can also plan on planting many short season crops somewhere in your garden every few weeks. Examples: lettuce, radish, dill, basil, scallions, spicy greens, arugula, napa, bok choi, broccoli, summer cabbage, daikon, carrots, beet greens, spinach, and peas.

  1. April: radishes, lettuce, scallions, spinach -> June: radish lettuce, scallions, basil, dill, cilantro -> August: radish lettuce, scallions, spinach
  2. April: Broccoli, peas, beet greens, carrots -> July: broccoli, beet greens, carrots,
  3. October: Garlic -> August: broccoli napa, cabbage, bok choi, lettuce.
  4. April: Onions -> Late August: napa, bok choi, lettuce, scallions.

Nifty Garden Tools: wire weeder, stirrup hoe, digging fork, Cape Cod hand weeder, Earthway seeder, Agribon and anchoring pins, slitted row cover and hoops, compost.

We’ll be bringing some tomato, echinacea and lupine seeds we grew ourselves; these we are willing to give away.
We would bring some seedlings (broccoli, onions, leeks, shallots, etc.) for sale, promote our markets, and offer CSA’s.