Planning the Vegetable Garden, Part I

Now is the time to start imaging the garden for next year. What worked in the garden this year, and what didn't? Did you learn that no one in your house really likes turnips? Then either leave them out of the garden altogether, or perhaps try one of those new Japanese hybrids that promise to be as sweet as a melon. Didn't grow enough broccoli? Give it more room in next year's plan. Ran out of lettuce? Plan to plant successively, and intercrop with other things.

Then there are the longer term design issues. Maybe you'd like to create a shady sitting area from which to contemplate the garden while sipping a lemonade (I recommend it!). A potting area outside of the greenhouse, with a trellis for shade, could serve to harden off the seedlings you intend to start indoors in late winter. Now you can think bout what you want, and soon you can pull out some graph paper and start designing and mapping the garden.

The vegetable garden differs fundamentally from perennial, ornamental gardens, and requires an annual planning process. How you want your garden to function will determine what kind of layout you'll have. A well-laid-out garden means that everything is visible and easy to access.

Dahlia, the dedicated vegetable gardener at LQ, runs a tight ship. She and I were comparing notes one day about how we thought one should lay out the beds in the veggie garden. We'd already worked together for a couple of years at that point, and found we got along well. "Of course the beds should be permanent, so you don't have to redo them every year. And of course the beds should be double dug to work the soil deeply, but then never stepped on so that they don't get compacted. And they should be straight, so it's easy to use row covers and trellis systems. And so of course the paths should be wide and straight; four foot wide beds are exactly right." Several more "of courses" followed; we were in agreement on everything!

"You know," said I, "I learned vegetable gardening in Santa Cruz, where I lived on a small, 5 acre farm in town, which was owned by a disciple of Alan Chadwick (you can google him)." "The Farm on Ivy Lane??" asked Dahlia in disbelief. "So did I!" It turned out we had lived in the very same room at the Farm ten years apart. No wonder we agree so well! This little oasis was also where I met my husband, Steve. But his approach to planning a veggie garden is very different from mine, as you'll see in the next blog. Perhaps this is because at LQ we are trying to make a garden which works for the owner, the other residents, and for tours. That's what I meant when I said above "how you want your garden to function will determine the layout".

The beds in the LQ veggie garden are permanent, with established paths. They are carefully prepared each spring. Cover crops, sheet compost, and/or finished compost is dug in, then the beds are raked smooth. The beds are slightly raised, but because they are never stepped upon, the soil remains loose and friable, allowing easy penetration of rainwater running off the more compacted paths into the tiny air pockets in the soil of the beds.

At the entry of the veggie garden is an especially formal section we call the "potager" (POH-tah-zhay, which is just French for vegetable garden). In this area cut stone defines raised beds which form a symmetrical pattern in front of the greenhouse. Each bed is carefully planned for maximum of aesthetic delight, as well as for crop rotation and most desired crops.

As the plants grow, the two foot wide beds allow access to all parts of the garden. With the bed width set at four feet, it is easy to reach into the center of any bed from one side or the other. Mulch on the paths eliminates mud as a problem.

By contrast, the veggie garden at TP grows rather by topsy. There is a nice wide path down the center, but some beds become inaccessible as the season progresses and the plants grow. I find that sometimes I can't avoid stepping in a planting area to get to the plants behind it. Still, it's productive!

One of Mrs. B's delights is to always add a touch of whimsy to her gardens. Here a sculptural plant stand forms the centerpiece in a potager bed. Note the many edible flowers, such as Tagetes minuta, or "Tangerine Gem" marigold, which tastes like orange peel in a salad and adds color.

The LQ vegetable garden in high summer, with the corn tasseling, and flowers blooming all around. Flowers are not "just for pretty" in the veggie garden. They serve as alternate food sources for a wide range of predatory insects and pollinators.

Take some time to dream about the garden now. It's good to keep a journal throughout the growing season, tracking how the various varieties did, what problems you encounter, how the weather was. I'm not as good at this as I should be; I try to keep it in my head, which definitely has its limitations! Next year I hope to keep the garden journal as a part of this blog, which should help all of us!

Bringing In Potted Plants For The Winter

When the leaves start to turn gold in the fall, we keep a sharp eye on the weather reports. Of course there are tomatoes and other tender veggies to harvest, but at LQ there are also many potted plants which have spent the warm months outside, and now must go back inside before the first hard frost.

Every pot must be dealt with in one way or another. Indoor space is limited. Some plants are destined to be treated as annuals (some are!), others are separated into individual pots to be re-grouped in the spring. The plant stand in the foreground is a temporary washing station.

Note the blue post-it on this pot. It has my detailed instructions to the gardening crew on how to deal with this pot. It will let them know if they need to wash the plant, spray it with neem oil and/or BT (bacillus thuringiensis), and put it in the cool alcove, the greenhouse, the laundry room, or the sun room. Each space has its own winter "climate", and it makes a big difference where the plants go.

It is important to wash and spray the plants before bringing them in, to ensure that we aren't introducing any pests or disease organisms which tend to proliferate indoors. Note tiny insects on underside of this leaf. Washing and spraying must be thorough, and prune to reduce size, remove any dead or damaged leaves at this point. Wait until spring to fertilize.

A pot like this will have its plants potted up separately. By spring they will all need larger containers.

Some plants never make it outside. These orchids aren't particularly happy in our dry climate, but a daily misting and setting them on top of a grate over standing water helps.

When the plants come inside the sunroom becomes a wonderful tropical paradise. In this picture you can see fuschias, pelargoniums (commonly called geraniums), begonias, amaryllis, hibiscus, and thunbergia (black-eyed susan vine). Other plants are added specifically for fragrance. Besides local nurseries, a favorite source for potted plants is Loggee's Nursery, which has a wonderfully enticing list of tropicals.

This geranium (pelargonium) has absolutely delicious bicolored blossoms!

An unusual fuschia with orange flowers which contrast fetchingly with its burgundy stems and foliage.

This hanging streptocarpus is one of Mrs. B's favorite pass-along plants. It is almost always in bloom, and its velvety leaves hang down on stems at least three feet long...a real show-stopper!

Here's an amaryllis I missed in the last blog. This is one of the shorties I said I felt were out of proportion, but now that I look at it, it's kind of cute!

This delicate begonia looks as good out of bloom as it does while blooming. A gift from some visitors, it always gets pride of place.

Plants which don't attain the show place of the sunroom may be relegated to the greenhouse. This building was retrofitted from the old duck house, and has a low ceiling fitted with skylights and large windows on the south side. I call it "the cave", as it is rather dark for a real production greenhouse. Nevertheless, plants love it, as you can see! It is really ideal for overwintering, as it never freezes and stays cool and moist. A fan helps circulate the air to reduce insect and disease problems, and when it gets really cold we turn on an oil-filled space heater. On sunny days we open the door so it doesn't overheat. Simple.

A gorgeous salvia, which is tender in our zone 5b, is well worth keeping in the greenhouse for another year.

Geranium bud about to burst. Plants are rotated into and out of the house as they go in and out of bloom. Geraniums (pelargoniums) are one of the plants pestered by cabbage loopers, and it is important to spray them with BT.

At my home the prize for fragrance goes to the sansevieria (sword plant, mother-in-law's tounge) a plant which blooms rarely but when it does, it perfumes the entire house! It sits on my bathroom counter year round, and was propagated from my mother's plant. I have it planted in the old green glass steamer I used to hang over when I was congested as a child, so the whole thing is really very nostalgic!

I bring in tender perennials as well, but really don't have much room for them. They crowd my studio all winter. Someday we plan to add a greenhouse outside these doors, and then, watch out! Plant heaven!