Have You Got Your Garden Planned and Seeds Ordered?

By Joan Airey

I’ve started planning my garden and working on my seed order. Last year I purchased Norland potato seed at our local Home Hardware and it out produced the seed I purchased from my regular source. I generally grow three varieties of potatoes Norland, Vikings and Pontiac. Last year I wasn’t able to buy multiplier onions but see they are listed in my usual supplier’s catalogue.

Last year I cut some vegetables out of my garden because I had several packages of them left in my freezer but I missed having fresh ones to eat during the summer. I’m planning to grow more varieties of vegetables this year as I like most veggies. Also I plan to talk with the grandchildren as to what they would like to grow as they are a great help harvesting and planting the garden.

Peppermint repels insects such as ants, white cabbage moth, aphids, and flea beetle. I recommend planting it in a pot so it can’t spread through you garden. Flies and mosquitoes don’t like basil so I always grow some on our patio in pots. I read today that radishes discourage stink bugs maybe I should grow some near my corn as I killed hundreds of them on it last year.

I’ve always tried to companion plant my garden but hope to read up on it more this spring before my garden goes in... Lettuce is sensitive to chemical found in residues left behind by broccoli so they shouldn’t be planted near each other. Peppers and beans are both susceptible to anthracnose so if one gets it the other does if you plant them side by side.

I also try to not plant my carrots near dill but sometimes dill germinates near the carrots. Once I planted a pepper plant to replace a plant in my cauliflower and broccoli patch and it never produced any peppers so I never plant them together. I haven’t planted cauliflower and broccoli the last couple of years but I invested in covers for them and plan to grow some this summer.

As part of my job I get to see all the new gardening books released recently and The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook arrived on my desk. It’s written by Susan Mulvihill a garden columnist and Master Gardener and author of the blog Susan’s in the Garden. The book includes natural solutions to over twenty-eight bacterial and fungal diseases. How to limit damage from plant eating animals including deer, birds, chipmunks, rabbits, groundhogs, gophers, deer, mice and numerous other critters. The book tells how to prevent problems before they occur using the many strategies detailed through out the book.

From what I’m hearing more people are gardening and enlarging their gardeners so don’t leave ordering gardening supplies till the last minute... I phoned my local hardware wanting more T-5 grow bulbs and was told they couldn’t get them so I’m searching the internet to see if I can locate some.

Another book I’m in the process of studying now is The Tiny But Mighty Farm which is geared for small to larger gardens. It includes the best tools for running a successful mini farm; a tractor isn’t on the list. Some of the topics are: Advice on whether to grow in the ground, in raised beds or indoors; how important soil health is to what you grow; whether heirlooms or hybrids bring bigger yields; how you can use structures like high tunnels and greenhouses to improve production; and the many satisfactions of growing food for others and your selves. Jill Ragan author of it shares how she started growing food for her family instead of sourcing it from the grocery store, reducing waste as much as possible and learning how to compost. She can be found on YouTube’s Whispering Willow Farm channel.

Let your children help plan the garden and they may eat more vegetables and help more with the garden. My grandchildren help plan the garden, plant it and harvest it. Last year Blake helped harvest all the carrots and potatoes and proudly informed her Grandma D she was the best carrot top cutter off, sending her a photograph text to prove it. I had to agree as she cut the tops of over hundred pounds of carrots for me.