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The Tucson Gardener |
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Vegetables If you have a friend that has a vegetable garden and you only see the produce from it you may get the misconception that vegetable gardening is easy. It sure looks simple on television when you watch The Victory Garden or Mel Bartholmew's Square Foot Gardening. And it can be. But before anyone decides to go head over heals over home grown vegetables one needs to consider a couple of things.
First, think about cost. You will have to prepare the soil so it's rich enough to grow strong healthy plants. That may mean buying organic matter like composted steer manure or it may mean buying a good quality supply of potting soil. You may have to buy containers or building materials to construct raised beds. You'll have to buy plants and/or seeds. You'll have to hook up an irrigation system or water by hand and then pay for the water you use. Once your plants are growing you may have to defend them from insects, diseases or other pests which means chicken wire, netting and possibly some sort of pesticide. It all adds up and quickly. There may come a time when your spouse asks, "How much did you spend on gardening this year?" and if you give an honest answer your spouse may not understand how anyone could spend that much money for a few home grown vegetables. The next thing to consider is time. Your time. If you enjoy gardening then it's no problem. But if you'd rather spend Saturdays and Sundays sitting in front of the television or shopping you might want to make sure you're really willing to allot the necessary time for good gardening results. If you've got the money and time and still have the urge to grow vegetables then start small. Maybe try a few containers or one small bed no larger than 4 feet by 4 feet. If you have success with that, then you can expand your growing area. The Tucson Gardener has three basic vegetable growing seasons. Spring/summer which begins after the last frost date which is about March 15. Next is the late summer/early fall garden and then the late fall/winter garden.
The spring/summer time allows you to grow squash, tomatoes, peppers, melons, corn, bush beans, tomatillos, Armenian cucumbers and eggplant. The late summer/early fall garden will allow you to get another crop of bush beans, squash, peppers, corn and tomatoes if you plan just right. The late fall/winter garden should be the Tucson Gardener's favorite time to grow vegetables. There are fewer insects, it takes less water because of the cooler temperatures and the vegetables take less care. However, the crops are different. Winter crops include lettuce, Swiss chard, cabbage, radishes, beets, kohlrabi, broccoli, bunching onions, kale, turnips, cauliflower and carrots. Don't forget the herbs. A variety of herbs can be grown in containers and many are perennials. (See the basic Crop Selection guide.) Once you've decided on the right crop, right season and the right size for your starter garden whether a small plot or a few containers you'll need to make sure you've got a good planting medium. Containers should be filled with a good sterilized potting soil that will hold moisture. Not all potting soils are alike. Some work much better than others and their cost per bag varies considerably. A new planting bed may need some organic matter to help improve its moisture and nutrient holding ability. You can use peat moss, or composted steer manure both of which need to be well worked into the soil. If you use a shovel or spading fork you'll get an idea how much labor is involved in preparing a large vegetable garden. But then we can all use a little more exercise.
Next you're going to want to make sure there's plenty of nutrients to keep those vegetables growing. For containers the easiest route is time release fertilizer which work for three or four months. Plenty of time to grow many of your container grown vegetables. Osmocote® sells a vegetable and bedding plant food rated at 14 -14 -14. You add it to the container by teaspoons full following the instructions supplied with the product. It can also be used in your planting beds as well, but that might get a little costly. A better bet might be granules of ammonium phosphate or ammonium sulfate which is purchased in bags from your garden center. If you plan on using organic fertilizers such as bone meal, blood meal, steer manure, fish emulsion, sea weed extract, compost tea, and a variety of other sources you'll have to read the label of the product to see how much of what your plants will need. If still in doubt check with your nursery person and be ready to tell them what you're growing, give a description of your soil and know the area to be covered. A 4 by 4 foot bed would be 16 square feet Finally, it's easy to get caught up in the if a little will do this then a whole lot more will do better attitude. You don't need an acre of vegetable garden to supplement your family of four. How many zucchini do you really want to eat and are your friends and neighbors really that anxious to get the extra? Fertilizer is the same way. Extra fertilizer is not going to make your plants grow any faster or larger. If anything it can be detrimental to the plant's well being by burning tender roots. One final caveat. There are no guarantees your vegetable garden will produce fantastic amounts of produce. You could plant the wrong variety. An unexpected freeze or warming trend could destroy the crop or insects or animals could get to the crop before you do. That's part of the Tucson gardening experience. And with every failure there's always knowledge gained and the next growing season to try again. (1998) |
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