Ultimate garden planning guide
It’s time to plan this year’s garden and we’re all in this together, so here are indispensable tips to consider. Take what you need and leave the rest.
Step 1: What seeds do you have? Are they old? Maybe you want to try new varieties. A gentleman named William Woys Weaver has grown more than 280 varieties of beans. He might not need my advice. I have grown at least 40 tomato varieties and a new one every year, but I rely mainly on the same two lettuces for 15 years because I continue their lineage by saving seeds. I recently saw in a seed catalog, however, a middle European butterhead lettuce that will grow to 12 inches across. Maybe it’s time to explore.
Regarding seeds, once you have assessed your own inventory, browse several seed catalogs and order purple things, Croatian things, the oldest known beet variety, orange okra, cardoon, carrots two-feet long and big, fat Ozark-bred tomatoes. For a gardener who entertains easily, seed catalogs are a float down a river in Wonderland.
Step 2 would be to assess your garden because all those fantasy items you just ordered will need a place to grow. What will go where? Save a couple spots in the tomato bed for basil and marigolds. Plant shade-lovers in the shadow of a trellis or a tree. Write down these carefully devised plans for future reference and keep them in a well-protected place.
Part of that plan will be to figure out how long each crop will occupy a space so you can adjust the soil accordingly and create a succession plan. There is probably a trained agronomist living near you, so, if you need to, make a list of questions, introduce yourself and hope for the best. Plants also will tell you about your soil by turning colors or refusing to flourish like the picture on the seed packet… or by flourishing.
Consider a period of rest and relaxation for the soil after a heavy feeder is gone. Fluff it up with the good stuff and choose an appropriate follow-up crop. Gardens age like the rest of us, and everybody need a nap sometimes.
Write down on your plan when you should add follow-up soil amendments. Take care of the soil and the soil will take care of the plants. Long-season crops like tomatoes, peppers, some brassicas will need additional pick-me-ups along the way. Write it down.
Also, part of the plan is accounting for the moon and the cosmos. Tradition holds that the best time for planting above-ground crops is during the light of the moon, which is the period between the new moon and the full moon. The dark of the moon is best for root crops. Some gardeners maintain planting during a full moon is extra special, but then all of this is anecdotal.
Add to the cosmic mix the astrology of it all. Some folks strictly adhere to gardening by Zodiac signs. Astrologists hold that gardeners should plant during Earth and Water signs but perform weeding, cultivating and other chores during Fire and Air signs. Almanacs lay out for the entire year the cycle of the 12 Zodiac signs.
As you might expect, there are subtleties and exceptions to any belief system such as the notion that although Aries is a Fire sign, it helps brassica seeds sprout. Write it down.
I pay attention to both the moon phases and Zodiac signs, but sometimes there’s a reason to transplant Thursday instead of Saturday because a storm is on the way, for example. I’m only human doing the best I can.
The almanac predicts our last frost will be April 14, so figure early March is the time to start seedlings. That’s when you should try to find those elaborate plans you made.