The PNW is renowned for its evergreen forests, verdant landscapes, and abundant waterways. Environmentally, we bleed pretty green as well. Local governments provide municipal recycling programs, curbside, clean, and a collective respect for the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. But how green does your garden really grow?
Here are a few ways to ensure your productive, beautiful, relaxing garden is good for our planet too:
Build good soil. This is the best investment you can make. Everything else you do in the garden will be more successful if you've established a healthy foundation of fertile soil. Routinely incorporate compost and slow-release organic fertilizers for long-lasting soil health. Healthy soil equals healthy plants, which equals healthy people.
Conserve water. Seasonally abundant rain, countless lakes and rivers, and a heavy influence from the presence of the Pacific Ocean—the PNW and moisture are practically synonymous. But how we manage this valuable resource determines our environmental legacy. By combining smart watering practices, mulch, and appropriate plant choices, we can make the most of our water resources.
Stick with organics. Building soil, feeding crops, and dealing with pests organically work with natural systems while avoiding contamination and disruption of pollinators.
Choose sustainable building materials. Limit the use of impermeable paving and specify locally quarried stone and gravel, as well as recycled or sustainable timber, to lighten your garden's environmental load.
Good gardening involves the constant exercise of the imagination. But with optimistic visions of homegrown flavor and grocery store independence, it's easy to get carried away on a tide of enticing seed catalogs and well-stocked nursery shelves. In this chapter, we'll take a look at practical matters like assessing your available time and space (and how much you'll actually eat) to determine what to grow and where to grow it. Don't worry if that sounds limiting. I have lots of tips for garden rotation, succession planting, and organization that will keep your garden at peak production.
Choosing What to Grow
Grow what you love to eat. It sounds so simple. Not a fan of cabbage? Don't bother with it. If you have an extraordinary fondness for fava beans, do: I can't imagine not planting this easy-to-grow, delicious legume, which can be hard to find. The other simple rule is to grow food in quantities that match the needs of your household. I aim for fresh salads throughout the year, accompanied by an ever-changing calendar of healthy, seasonal food. For me, ideal planting would yield plenty for the table and spending time with friends and family, along with enough of the occasional batch of berry jam and savory tomato sauce or herbal pesto to get me through the damp, chilly weather until the warmth of next summer.
Selecting varieties for PNW success
Just like politics, all successful gardening is local. Having already discussed the reality of our maritime region, its many advantages as well as its limitations, it only makes sense to put that knowledge into practice. A key component of getting the most from your garden is selecting varieties that do well in our cool spring, hot summer, and mild fall conditions.
So, what exactly are those plants? The most accurate answer really depends on where you garden: what thrives in Bellingham may differ from what succeeds in Eugene. Seek out regional gardening resources, inquire at your local independent nursery, and become friends with experienced gardeners in your area.
You can also chat with the growers at your neighborhood farmers market to discover their tried-and-tested favorites. These small-scale producers can't afford the dewy-eyed romanticism that leads a PNW gardener to plant a beefsteak tomato. Purchase locally grown organic vegetables at independent nurseries, farmers markets, and plant sales. These plants, varieties vetted for PNW success, have a greater chance of already being acclimated to the current growing season than those that start just off the truck from sunny California. For even greater variety, grow your own starts from seed.
Where to plant?
Hand in glove with deciding what to grow is determining where to plant. As previously discussed, edible crops need plenty of sunshine to flourish, along with good soil and sufficient water. You can build good soil and deliver water, but you'll need to locate your garden where it will get good sun for at least 6 to 8 hours of the day. Once you've figured out which plants you want to grow, you can use the following chart to determine how much space you'll need to accommodate your favorite annual crops.
If your backyard is lacking space or sun and your front lawn has ample amounts of both, think outside the traditional vegetable garden model and allow edible plants to play an ornamental as well as fruitful role in the landscape. Climbing squash, garden peas, and pole beans put the space above your head into production alongside flowering vines decorating arbors, fences, and vertical structures. Select fruiting shrubs and trees when designing your garden's "bones" for a landscape that pulls double duty: appearing attractive to the eye and yielding a seasonal harvest.
Convenience may not be the first thing that springs to mind when you consider growing your own food, but trust me, sitting in your garden with easy access to water, tools, and physical comfort is almost as important as proper sun exposure and good soil. A beautiful and functional space that you enjoy working in will be much more productive than an inconvenient garden awkwardly hidden at the back of your property.
Garden Bed Design
With proper sun and soil conditions met, deciding how you want to lay out your garden is really a matter of available space, convenience, and personal aesthetics. As a general rule, planting beds can be any length or shape, but they should be narrow enough so you can reach the center from all sides to easily tend and weed plantings.
A good width for island beds is 4 feet, which means you can access everything within the bed by reaching 2 feet from any direction. Planting areas backed by a fence or building should not be wider than 3 feet, or the length of your arm.
On the other hand, most garden design rules invite creative breaking. I've seen oversized beds play a dramatic role in a garden's design when beautifully and productively planted. Picture a roughly circular bed 8 feet in diameter with a centrally planted artichoke—a striking centerpiece that also transitions into a productive growing space. And raised beds are perennially popular, being both ornamental and edible, yet easier to tend, especially for those who can't bend over comfortably.
Once you've decided the shape of your raised beds, plant with hardy Mediterranean herbs like Sage, Thyme, Winter Savory, and Oregano, and you'll be all set. Choose from a variety of materials to construct frames that complement your garden design and suit your budget. Weather-resistant wood and composite lumber are good choices. Avoid treated lumber, railway ties, and stained wood that may leach toxic chemicals into the soil. Recycled plastics and concrete chunks are also viable options, providing durability and sustainability.
Container Gardening
Plenty of sun is non-negotiable for your edible garden to flourish. Container gardening allows you to follow the sun, locating your garden where it will receive proper exposure. For gardeners without a garden, containers also provide the flexibility to cultivate plants just about anywhere. Consider every possibility: from rooftops and balconies to windowsills and parking strips. You can even transform a sunny but underutilized driveway into an attractive and productive growing space with container plantings; the reflected heat that comes off paved surfaces is especially appreciated by warm-season crops.
Most annual edibles, plants that grow and are harvested a few months later, need containers that are at least 12 inches deep and 18 inches wide. Filled with fertile potting soil that drains well, these containers provide enough space for roots to anchor small plants and provide adequate nutrition. For an arrangement that is both decorative and delicious, try planting seasonal salad greens, herbs, and edible flowers in a window box. Just keep in mind that shallow planting makes it more difficult to keep well-watered during drought-stressed periods because lettuce quickly turns bitter.
Larger containers allow more room for roots and support plants that will be in place for years, not just months; they also moderate damaging fluctuations in temperature and are much easier to keep watered. Remember: anything that holds soil and drains can be planted. I love turning galvanized agricultural troughs, whose bottoms are properly drilled to provide drainage, into containers.
How to Make a Simple Raised Bed
Raised beds need not be permanent or confined; simply mounding soil above grade provides many of the same benefits as various constructed raised beds without any additional expenditure.
1. Select a sunny location and measure an area 3 to 4 feet wide and as long as you want. Width is determined by your reach, so you can keep up with tending and harvesting your plants; length should accommodate easy movement among your finished beds.
2. Mound the area with 6 to 8 inches of compost or aged manure. Dig the material into the existing soil to a depth of 12 inches. Allow the loosened soil to sit for several days before proceeding with the next step.
3. Scatter organic amendments over the now-raised surface of the bed and rake to break up clods as you mix everything in the top 3 to 6 inches. Water well with a gentle stream.
Agricultural troughs are completely weatherproof, handsome in a sleek "urban farm" sort of way, extremely economical, and lightweight, even when quite large, which is a critical concern when planting on elevated decks and rooftops. Of course, once filled with soil, any container can become very heavy, so be sure to check weight-bearing tolerances before planting.
As soon as a crop is harvestable or when it bolts (starts flowering and goes to seed) or slows production, pull it out. Any tired plants and the remnants of early sowings can be tossed in the compost pile. Work some finished compost and a light application of organic fertilizer into the soil and immediately replant.
One approach to succession planting is repeated sowing of a single short-season crop (like radishes, lettuce, or scallions) in the same bed throughout the season to produce an ongoing harvest of cut-and-come-again salad greens, for example, thickly sow blocks of mixed lettuce.
Cultivating a variety of crops throughout all four seasons starting 1 square foot every 7 to 10 days; harvest each block for two to three cuttings before you remove the spent plants, refresh the soil, and replant. This is a more efficient way to produce a constant supply of fresh greens than planting a long row of lettuce and having it all ready for harvest at once. Another method involves planting a sequence of cool- and warm-season crops in the same bed over the course of the growing season. Placing tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and other heat-loving plants in the garden too early (before soil temperatures have warmed up enough to support active growth) is to risk permanently damaging the crop. Instead, sow cool-season crops (like radishes, peas, or spinach) in that same spot, where you will later set out summer crops. I've discovered that tomatoes, when started being planted in May or June, produce just as well, if not better, than those poor starts rushed into the garden in early April. Plus, you get an early spring bonus on cool-season crops.
No comments:
Post a Comment