I like this part:
" Even if you don't have a place
indoors to start seedlings, it can be helpful to start the seeds
in flats or pots at first. That way, you don't have to wait
until you get the whole vegetable bed prepared--all you need are
flats or pots and some potting mix (or soil and compost.) You
can prepare the bed while the little seedlings are growing. You
can control the spacing of your plants when
you transplant them, instead of sowing lots of seed too thickly,
and having to thin them later--which is time-consuming, fiddly
work, besides wasting seed. You can put the flats where they can
get the most sun. And you can keep
them safe from cats, birds, slugs, wind, and other
hazards of the open garden just by slipping chicken wire, clear
plastic or other cover over them."
Sounds like they've been spying on me .... :-)
-------- Original Message --------
   
Welcome to the
Bountiful Gardens Spring Newsletter
For the best view, click
on the option to "view in a browser". It could be
at the top or bottom of your email window.
This
newsletter is heavy on how-to information, rather than
products. We have lots of links, tools, and info on
spring planting, why and how to rotate crops, garden
planning, soil prep, and coping with drought, floods,
cold, and generally weird weather.
One little note: Lentils somehow got left out of the
catalog. We still carry them! click
here for lentils.
And our Rainbow Carrot Mix is missing from the catalog
Carrot section. Here's the link: Carrot
Mix
Let's Get Some Food on
the Table: Crops to Plant Outdoors First
These are the crops
you can plant first:
Spinach, Peas, Lettuce, Radish
Mizuna and Tatsoi (mild Asian
Greens--often used in salad mix)
Chervil (a fresh herb for
salads and cooking)
You can plant the
above seeds or plants outdoors if the soil
temperature is above 45. Generally that's when
ground itself is no longer frozen, and is
well-drained enough to crumble when handled (light
frosts are OK). Trees are usually breaking dormancy
at that time, with their buds swelling and just
starting to get tiny leaves.
These crops
can go in about 2 weeks later, when soil temps are
around 50:
Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Lettuce, Turnips, Pak Choi, Chard
Even if you don't have a
place indoors to start seedlings, it can be helpful
to start the seeds in flats or pots at first. That
way, you don't have to wait until you get the whole
vegetable bed prepared--all you need are flats or
pots and some potting mix (or soil and compost.) You
can prepare the bed while the little seedlings are
growing. You can control the
spacing of your plants when you
transplant them, instead of sowing lots of seed too
thickly, and having to thin them later--which is
time-consuming, fiddly work, besides wasting seed.
You can put the flats where they can get
the most sun. And you can keep
them safe from cats, birds, slugs, wind,
and other hazards of the open garden just by
slipping chicken wire, clear plastic or other cover
over them. Sow seeds in loose, well-drained
soil that has had compost worked in.
Plant each seed twice as deep as the seed is wide. For fastest growth, and
resistance to disease and drought, we like to use fungal inoculants at
planting time.
A good habit is
to sow only part of your seed at first, saving the
rest to plant a week or two later.That way, if the
seeds come to harm, you still have some. And when
harvest time comes, you won't have all your produce
at once, but can pick over a long period. This is
what books and catalogs mean by
"succession-sowing."
Click here to see seeds to plant
now for spring.
Click here for fungal inoculants.
For simple directions
on how to start seeds, please see the bottom of this
page.
Aaargh! too many
choices?
Don't have time to agonize over what to plant? These
collections are a solution:
Spring
Salad Collection- Colorful assorted
salad that grow fast in cool weather.
Easy
Heirloom Collection-Ten packets of
heirloom vegetables everyone loves
Edible
Flower Collection-Shown at right.
Five beautiful, edible flowers. Info sheet has
projects, recipes.
Salsa
Collection-Seeds for the
ingredients, and recipes on the info sheet.
We have lots of pre-chosen theme collections,
including beneficial insect attractors and both
medicinal and culinary herbs. Some come with a book
to get you (or the person you are gifting) started
on a new kind of garden. To
see them all, click here.
Preparing
the Soil: a Step that Can Make or Break your
Garden
We'll keep it
short--good soil preparation gives you a better
garden, and can make all the difference. Here are
the things we like best for getting ready:
Forged
forks and spades are lifetime tools
that we use constantly. We especially love the
fork--easier to lift and dig with than a shovel.
Forged
hand tools--We just found these a
short time ago. We love them for weeding and
cultivating in the beds all summer. the cuttlefish
hoe is for digging out deep-rooted weeds or breaking
up the soil to plant. the Gama
The
how-to book that started the
biointensive garden revolution--full directions and
charts on how to feed and take care of your soil so
it feeds you.
Click here for How
to grow More Vegetables by John
Jeavons
Luscious Crops of
Summer: Start These Now for Summer Harvest
Hot-weather crops
like tomatoes need lots of time in a warm place
before planting out. Many gardeners sow tomato seeds, along with peppers,
onions,
and eggplants
in Feb-Marchfor planting outside in
May or June.
Garden crops need much brighter light than
houseplants. Plants
that are tall and thin, with lots of stem
between leaves, need more light. A
sunny window will work, if all
the seedlings can get light--you may have to turn
the flat often. If the window "almost
works," consider hanging a light just over the
plants. A compact florescent (larger size) in a
cheap plug-in "droplight" could be just the boost
they need. If it is placed to the on the opposite
side of the flats from the window, it can balance
the light, so they don't grow at a slant.
Many gardeners will need to use mostly
artificial light. A florescent "shop
light" or "grow light" fixture is not very
expensive, uses little power, and works well as
long as it is close to the plants--light loses
strength quickly with distance. Hang your light on
adjustable chain or cord so that it can start 4-6"
from the soil, and raise it as the plants grow
(or, start by putting the plants on blocks and
lower them.) If a plant gets bleached leaves, the
light is too close.
Click here for seeds to start now for summer
Click here for a booklet on growing extra-early tomatoes using
no added heat
What Goes
Where/When/How/Why?
Figuring out what to put
where, and when to do it, can be a puzzle. Here
are some sources for help:
Where are
you? The way
to know when to plant is your last frost date. To
find out, check with a local garden center, your
Cooperative Extension Service, County Ag Dept,
Public Library, or check the map here: http://www.weather.com/maps/activity/garden/usnationalnormallastfreeze_large.html
When/how to
plant: our Garden
Planning Poster has planting
times, spacing, possible companions,soil temps,
fertility needs, and advice. Dark green print on a
cream background, 3'x2'.
What uses
less water? If you want to plan
for lower water needs, we have sources for
you:
Free tips on how
to cope. See the bottom of the page.
We stock several books
that are detailed and helpful, at the bottom
of this page also.
We have a new
page on our website that is all
drought-tolerant crops.
Drought-tolerant
crops.
Planning for
saving seed: You will need to
know which crops cross with each other and how far
they need to be separated from other varieties. We
recommend Seed
to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth,
the best reference for organic vegetable
gardeners. For less detail about more crops: Saving
Seed by Marc Rogers
Rotate Plant
Families: There are lots of
ways to rotate crops, based on when they start and
finish, their fertility requirements, and so on. But
here's the bottom line: Garden
crops have families, and many pests target only
one family. If they are planted in the same place
over and over, they get more diseases and pests, so move them as
a group. The plant families are:
Pea family--peas,
beans, clover, vetch, favas, lentils. These build the soil by
pulling nitrogen out of the air.
Cabbage family--cabbage,
kale, cauliflower, broccoli, mustards, Asian
greens. These need
lots of compost.
Potato (nightshade)
family--tomatoes, peppers, potatoes,
tobacco, nicotiana flowers.Try to keep foliage dry
Carrot family--parsley,
carrot, parsnip, celery, cilantro, dill. Scatter these around the
garden to control pests.
Spinach (goosefoot)
family--spinach, chard, beets, quinoa,
beetberry, magentaspreen, Good King Henry.
Cucumber family--squash,
cucumbers, melons. Mix
in some some strong-smelling herbs to deter
squash-family pests.
Daisy family--lettuce,
endive, chickory, sunflowers, cardoon, salsify. These can be mixed in
among the others.
Luscious Crops of
Summer: These Get Started a Bit Later
Squash, melons, basil, okra and cucumbers can be sown a month before planting
out, or direct in the garden once soil is warm. Beans and corn can be sown 2 weeks before planting
out, or direct in the garden. All of these crops
need warm soil and can't stand any frost. They grow
faster than tomatoes or peppers do, love heat, and
only need a short time in the pot. Squash, beans,
and flour corn store easily for winter, too.
Water:
Lifeblood of your Garden
Now is the time to plan for a
low-water-use garden. Even in the desert, folks
like Brad Lancaster have turned their homes into
oases without using any water but the rain (10" at
his house) that falls on site. Often you can trap
enough water just in the soil itself. Photos and
instructions for inspiring, low-cost solutions.
Click
here to see Rainwater Harvesting by Brad
Lancaster
Gary Paul Nabhan is often called "The father of
the local foods movement" He has worked for
decades to discover and preserve the varieties and
techniques that allowed Native peoples to grow
food in areas considered too dry for agriculture.
This, his new book, goes around the world and then
into your back yard to show how you can grow food
in a time of increasing heat and drought.
Inspiring!
Click
here for Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier, Land
Drought isn't the only weird weather going on.
Floods, storms, and all manner of havoc are on the
increase. The Weather-Resilient Garden goes
through all the different climate extremes that
can affect your garden and tells how to avoid,
minimize, repair and recover. Concentrates
primarily on more permanent plantings, which are
harder to replace, like trees and shrubbery, and
not necessarily organic. More focussed on the East
than the West--cfor example, covers what to do
about increasing levels of humidity than are
bringing more plant diseases to some areas.
Click
here for the Weather-Resilient Garden
Our own Ecology Action also has a pamphlet
covering strategies for low water use, including
different ways of diging and planning your beds to
trap all water that falls on them. Charts and
table compare yields, water needs, and
requirements of various crops. text explains
various strategies in use in Africa, the
Southwest, and elsewhere.
Click
here for Growing More food with less water.
Gardening
tips for drought areas:
- All vegetables need more water than
drought-adapted plants like herbs and desert
natives. However, some have lower water needs than
others. We have put a new section on our website
for these. To
see drought-tolerant vegtables, grains, and
other crops, click here.
- Use a fungal inoculant. This creates an underground
network that actually extends
the roots by up to 300%. Soluable inoculant can
be disolved in water and used to water existing
plants, so you aren't limited to just using it
at planting time
- Mulch prevents water loss, cools the
soil, and increases biological activity in the
top layers of soil. You can use plant-based
mulch, like straw or even dead weeds (avoid
bark, which is full of strong acids). Or, we have had good results with a
mulch of stones, from golf-ball
to fist size or larger. They
allow dew to condense at night and trickle down to the
roots.
- Water in the evening just
before dusk, so it goes into the soil instead of
evaporating. Water the soil, not the plants. If
you are using sprinklers, you will save a lot by
switching to hand watering,or drip irrigation.
- Use shadecloth. Plants will use less water, the
soil will be cooler, and there will be much less
stress on plants. Shade cloth is light, so you
can just drive a stick in each corner of the
bed, tilting outward a bit, and drape the cloth
on it. Shadecloth helps
with heat-related problems like
sunscald, poor pollination, and blossom drop.
- We have excellent books on capturing rainwater,
setting up greywater systems, and other water-saving
projects. But today, with no expense, you can do
this: set a bucket near each
sink in the house. When you are running water to
get it cool (or hot), run it into a bowl in the
sink and dump it in the bucket. Same with
rinsing dishes, brushing teeth, etc. Many folks
will find that, without using
actual graywater (like bathwater), there's
enough clean, unused water for a whole bed by
the end of the day.
- Make a windbreak. A
fence, branches stuck in the ground, a sheet or
tarp, even cardboard boxes to the windward side
of a plant will keep moisture from being lost to
the breeze.
- It is
better to have a few plants producing
food than lots of plants barely alive. If
plants are wilted or not growing, try taking out every other
plant, (giving them twice the root zone) and
see if they can then make do with the water
available. If that doesn't work, or if the
plants are already very stressed, choose
small areas (with plants in the best shape)
to water thoroughly, letting the rest of the
garden go dry. Use dead plants as mulch.
Don't wait until all your plants are too
stressed to produce--one plant pumping out
food is better than ten that are just
hanging on.
We
almost forgot to tell you that now is the time
to plant wildflowers, like these California
Poppies.
For Wildflower
mixes, click here.
Whew! That is a lot of
information, so maybe you'll want to save it
somewhere for  future reference.
We also have information archived here.
We are also on facebook.
Here is our Facebook
page
Soon we will all be out in
the garden again--and we wish you the very best
for this gardening season
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Bountiful Gardens
18001 Shafer Ranch Rd
Willits, California 95490
US
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