“Who’s next?” merrily warbled satirical lyricist Tom Lehrer. He might have been commenting on the food revolution that is encircling the globe. Soaring food prices have in part triggered crisis from Egypt to England, China to Chad.
Even the world’s richest nation is not immune. U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama is writing a book about the vegetable and fruit garden she started at the White House.
Many an urbanite has felt the urge to join the “sons of toil covered in tons of soil,” as P.J. Wodehouse once wittily put it. But starting a vegetable garden is no casual commitment. It requires planning, basic investments, dedication and not a little plain hard work. But the results can be spectacularly worth it and, yes, it is possible to save several hundred if not thousand dollars on food bills.
Location is everything. Vegetables require at least six and preferably eight hours sun per day. A rich loam with adequate drainage is needed. Sand soils will suffice if plenty of compost is added. On heavy clay soils, consider raised beds a minimum of a foot deep. The site should be sheltered from strong winds and free from competition from the roots of nearby trees or shrubs. A reliable source of water is vital.
How much room do you need? Even if you are not as ambitious – or have the space enjoyed by Michelle Obama – a modest veggie patch is going to require perhaps 10- by 20-feet. Those 200 square feet may sound more than enough, but a single summer squash plant will occupy 10 square feet. A tomato vine tied to a stake is still going to need four or five square feet.
Thorough preparation is vital. Dig the site, incorporating as much compost as you can afford. Remove all stones, debris weeds and, especially, weed roots. Rake the site level prior to seeding or planting, then spread fertilizer.
Forget about paths between rows, which are a waste of space on the home farm. If Tiny Tim could tip toe through the tulips, you can through the veggies. Watch the spacing though – most beginners cram everything too close together.
Constant weed control is vital – weeds compete for nutrients, moisture and space while often attracting pests and diseases. Watering is equally vital. Normally an hour or so every three days will suffice but more will likely be required during hot, windy spells.
Some Useful Tips:
- Many vegetable seeds can be planted as soon as the soil is warm, well before the last frost date; these include green onions, radish, brassicas, turnips, peas, spinach, lettuce, broad beans
- Cut bottoms off large clear plastic pop bottles and use as plant covers for early transplants
- Brassicas do better if planted with a handful of dried, crushed eggshell
- Add radish seed to the packages of carrot or parsnip seed before sowing – radish germinate very quickly and mark where the rows are as well as breaking the surface soil for the more delicate carrot or parsnip foliage
- Cut up used bleach bottles to make plant markers
- ‘Royal Burgundy’ purple beans can be planted two weeks before regular beans
- Plant beans with the eye down to help then push the seed husk out of the ground
- Sow peas when daffodils begin to flower
- Peas and beans should be grown up netting suspended from by cords run between 2x2-inch stakes
- Corn is a poor crop for the home garden; three rows minimum for each variety, spaced at 2-feet with plants the same distance apart in the rows. Then race the raccoons for the first ears.
- Cucumbers and their relatives can be seeded in the Toronto area the first week of May, or planted out Victoria Day weekend
- Tomatoes and cucumbers grow best, produce more fruit which is kept clear of slugs, when grown up sturdy stakes – 2x2-inches, six to eight feet long, hammered at least a foot into the ground
- Plant ties can be made from used fabric softener sheets or discarded panty hose
- Do not plant out tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, okra or yard-long beans until the night temperature has reached at least 55ºF
- Set out pepper plants when oak leaves are fully out
- Peppers do better watered when in bloom with 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts to a gallon of water
- Prop cantaloupe, other melons and squash up on bricks or old patio slabs to prevent rotting, speed ripening and discourage slugs and snails
- Pick beans and peas regularly so they will continue to crop
- Discourage raiding raccoons, rabbits and other unwanted guests by regular dusting with cayenne pepper
- Watermelons are ripe if when tapped they sound hollow, like a man’s chest when rapped
- Cantaloupe are ripe when there are minute cracks across the stem near the fruit and, on sniffing at the junction of the stem and fruit, there is a sweet, ripe smell.
- Butternut squash to be stored should be wiped off dirt, left with 2-inch of stem, and dipped into a solution of 3 tablespoons of bleach to 4 quarts of water, dried and stored at 14º-20ºC and will keep until the following June
If none of this appeals to you, then how about perennial vegetables – plant once, harvest for years to come? Mark Diacono suggested in Britain’s
The Daily Telegraph the inevitable asparagus and rhubarb along with Egyptian onions, cardoons, globe artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes (which despite their name, originated in North America), sea kale and garlic cress as well as oca, a potato substitute.
