Part 5 (1/2)

Stokes Seeds Inc. Box 548, Buffalo, NY 14240 _(STK)_

Territorial Seed Company: P.O. Box 20, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 _(TSC)_

*Throughout the growing directions that follow in this chapter, the reader will be referred to a specific company only for varieties that are not widely available.

I have again come to appreciate the older style of vegetable--sprawling, large framed, later maturing, longer yielding, vigorously rooting. However, many of these old-timers have not seen the attentions of a professional plant breeder for many years and throw a fair percentage of bizarre, misshapen, nonproductive plants.

These ”off types” can be compensated for by growing a somewhat larger garden and allowing for some waste. Dr. Alan Kapuler, who runs Peace Seeds, has brilliantly pointed out to me why heirloom varieties are likely to be more nutritious. Propagated by centuries of isolated homesteaders, heirlooms that survived did so because these superior varieties helped the gardeners' better-nourished babies pa.s.s through the gauntlet of childhood illnesses.

Plant s.p.a.cing: The Key to Water-Wise Gardening

Reduced plant density is the essence of dry gardening. The recommended s.p.a.cings in this section are those I have found workable at Elkton, Oregon. My dry garden is generally laid out in single rows, the row centers 4 feet apart. Some larger crops, like potatoes, tomatoes, beans, and cucurbits (squash, cuc.u.mbers, and melons) are allocated more elbow room. Those few requiring intensive irrigation are grown on a raised bed, tightly s.p.a.ced. I cannot prescribe what would be the perfect, most efficient s.p.a.cing for your garden. Are your temperatures lower than mine and evaporation less?

Or is your weather hotter? Does your soil hold more, than less than, or just as much available moisture as mine? Is it as deep and open and moisture retentive?

To help you compare your site with mine, I give you the following data. My homestead is only 25 miles inland and is always several degrees cooler in summer than the Willamette Valley. Was.h.i.+ngtonians and British Columbians have cooler days and a greater likelihood of significant summertime rain and so may plant a little closer together. Inland gardeners farther south or in the Willamette Valley may want to spread their plants out a little farther.

Living on 16 acres, I have virtually unlimited s.p.a.ce to garden in.

The focus of my recent research has been to eliminate irrigation as much as possible while maintaining food quality. Those with thinner soil who are going to depend more on fertigation may plant closer, how close depending on the amount of water available. More irrigation will also give higher per-square-foot yields.

_Whatever your combination of conditions, your results can only be determined by trial._ I'd suggest you become water-wise by testing a range of s.p.a.cings.

When to Plant

If you've already been growing an irrigated year-round garden, this book's suggested planting dates may surprise you. And as with s.p.a.cing, sowing dates must also be wisely adjusted to your location.

The planting dates in this chapter are what I follow in my own garden. It is impractical to include specific dates for all the microclimatic areas of the maritime Northwest and for every vegetable species. Readers are asked to make adjustments by understanding their weather relative to mine.

Gardeners to the north of me and at higher elevations should make their spring sowings a week or two later than the dates I use. In the Garden Valley of Roseburg and south along I-5, start spring plantings a week or two earlier. Along the southern Oregon coast and in northern California, start three or four weeks sooner than I do.

Fall comes earlier to the north of me and to higher-elevation gardens; end-of-season growth rates there also slow more profoundly than they do at Elkton. Summers are cooler along the coast; that has the same effect of slowing late-summer growth. Items started after midsummer should be given one or two extra growing weeks by coastal, high-elevation, and northern gardeners. Gardeners to the south should sow their late crops a week or two later than I do; along the south Oregon coast and in northern California, two to four weeks later than I do.

Arugula (Rocket)

The tender, peppery little leaves make winter salads much more interesting.

_Sowing date:_ I delay sowing until late August or early September so my crowded patch of arugula lasts all winter and doesn't make seed until March. Pregerminated seeds emerge fast and strong.

Sprouted in early October, arugula still may reach eating size in midwinter.

_s.p.a.cing:_ Thinly seed a row into any vacant niche. The seedlings will be insignificantly small until late summer.

_Irrigation:_ If the seedlings suffer a bit from moisture stress they'll catch up rapidly when the fall rains begin.

_Varieties:_ None.

Beans of All Sorts

Heirloom pole beans once climbed over considerable compet.i.tion while vigorously struggling for water, nutrition, and light. Modern bush varieties tend to have puny root systems.

_Sowing date:_ Mid-April is the usual time on the Umpqua, elsewhere, sow after the danger of frost is over and soil stays over 60[de]F.