Into the garden fray
Category:
Fruit and Veg Gardening | Posted:
Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:32 am
As I sat reading thru garden stew and every one is talking about gardening, some already starting to plant and some of us waiting for the ground to thaw of which I am one, I am getting ready to set up my seed-starting frame. I made a shallow box, 2 x 4 x 4 Foot Square with a Lexan bottom that is sealed so that I can water from the bottom and don't have to worry about leaking. The seed frame has four sets of shop lights with grow lights in them so I can supply the required hours of light for the plants.
I start most all of my garden seeds, brussels sprouts, corn (early and late varieties), cabbage For cole slaw and sauerkraut, cauliflower, Broccoflower, cucumbers, onions, leeks, tomatoes, kohlrabi, muskmelon, watermelon, zucchini, radishes. Over the last few years I have gotten in to some specialty varieties. Kohlrabi (Kossack), 11 lb each and never get woody. They stay succulent and sweet no matter how big the get. I am trying some radishes (German Giant), supposed to be like the kohlrabi in that they never get hot or pithy regardless of size. I am also trying a new tomato called (6 lb). Supposed to average 4-6 lbs ea. I also plant varieties that give me tomatoes from the 4th of July thru October. We make a lot of salsa and pickled green tomatoes. Muskmelon that average 16-18 lbs.
As a kid I was forced to help weed the garden that mom and dad would put in every year and I swore that when I grew up that I would never have a garden. After I was married and moved back to Indiana the first thing we did was put in a garden. I have been fortunate in that every where I have lived I have had bottom ground (muck as we call it in Indiana).
The other contributing factor is that I have always had a troy built tiller that allows me to cultivate after the garden is up which virtually eliminates hand weeding.
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