A Cooperative Learning Project
Our lettuce plot has been producing well. We've had some prolonged hot weather recently, but have managed to maintain a continuous supply (see our Perpetual Lettuce post).
This year's new heat-tolerant green leaf variety – Nevada (lower left in photo) is a keeper. We began with Black Seeded Simpson in the spring, but transitioned to Nevada as the season progressed.
We began planting many of our garden beds according to drafted plans this year. The planting plans were developed from our 5 years of cooperative gardening wisdom. They are primarily for 6’ by 9’ beds.
The layouts express our interest in maximizing the number of crops that we grow, along with maximizing our limited garden space. They represent our current best guess at the ideal plant and/or row spacing for most of the crops we grow. They also represent our increasing interest in companion plantings.
Some of the layouts are works in progress. The Three Sisters bed is a great example. We have had a Three Sisters plot in the garden since 2011, and we have experimented with it every year.
This first set of planting plans was possible only because of the extensive photos and other records that we've kept. I am grateful to everyone for contributing to the process.
The complete set of scale bed planting plans for 2015 is available on the 2015 Garden Plan page. We hope they will be of use to other gardeners. They have been quite helpful for us.
With only a foot of the over 8 feet of snow that fell this year still with us, the seeds we planted indoors on March 7th have begun to sprout. (Reasons to be cheerful, parts 1 and 2.)
The broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbages are solidly up. The leeks, lettuce, spinach and onions are beginning to sprout and we await signs of life from the celery.
The photo shows green and red cabbage in the foreground, broccoli and Brussels sprouts in the middle, and leeks and onions in the background.
We will hold our annual Seed Selection Meeting on Saturday, January 31 in the second floor meeting room of the Community Safety Building (112 mystic Street) from 9:30 AM to noon. Everyone interested in the crops & varieties we will grow in the garden this season is welcome. Prospective new members of the garden group are especially encouraged to attend and join the discussion. Bring your seed catalogs and great expectations for the coming growing season!
You may have noticed a curious addition to our tomato beds this week: compact discs. They are an experiment to try to deter the birds from eating our tomatoes.
The trouble started when our first full-size tomatoes ripened. We showed up at the garden expecting to pick ripe tomatoes, only to find all the ripe ones already partially eaten.
We suspected squirrels, raccoons or bunnies. Then we began to wonder if the ever-present birds might be the culprits.
The presence of birds is generally a delight in the garden. Yet, we definitely draw the line at deeding them our tomato crop.
We're not the first to keep birds from their garden with CDs dangling from strings. It's generally acknowledged that their movement in the breeze and reflectivity can make birds uncomfortable enough to stay away from adjacent food crops.
At the very least, they should make for interesting conversation.
Update 8/28: The CDs have made a noticeable difference. A few additional tomatoes have been damaged, but the remainder of the crop has been beautiful!
For years, we’ve put up with uneven lettuce harvests — too much some weeks and none at all on others. We knew that the key to a continuous harvest was to plant more regularly throughout the season, so we decided to schedule our lettuce space.
We divided the space in 4 beds (based on an 8 week seed-to-harvest schedule). The first plantings were sown indoors in March. In April, we began transplanting the indoor seedlings and planting seed in the garden. The plan is to harvest from each bed for 2 weeks, then immediately replant the bed and begin harvesting from the next bed.
Our first lettuce harvest was on May 24th and it’s looking like we’re on track to keep the plan going for the rest of the season. Voila, perpetual lettuce!
Special thanks to Dick for providing the post title.
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