There's something about gardening that feels so...natural. A garden is so peaceful yet so dynamic and packed with life. What other activities can bring to fruition an abundance of healthy, delicious food, fun exercise, and a chance to connect with the Earth?
We roto-tilled our garden the very first year and have not tilled since (10 years). We put a lot of work into the garden that year, creating raised beds on our slightly sloping south-facing hill. We’ve found this has worked amazingly as a kind of terraced garden. In the winter, all the snow accumulates between the beds, keeping them moist. We designed the garden so that it had five sections with beds of semi-equal proportions, and the next year added one more section. We also have a portion of the garden set aside for herbs. We’ve found this is adequate for our needs. The sections were intended to help with crop rotation and move within the garden each year. They are listed in order of succession in the garden:
- Includes Butternut, Buttercup, and Acorn Squash, Cantaloupe, and Pickling Cucumbers.
- Long growing season.
- High watering needs.
- Heavy feeders - likes plenty of compost.
Section 2 - Greens/Broccoli/Cabbage/Carrots/Parsnips/Celery
- Greens include Arugula, Kale, Chard, Mustard, Lettuce, Asian greens...the list is a long one.
- Short growing season - make succession plantings of greens and carrots or start a fall garden mid summer with turnips/radishes/beets, etc.
- Heavy watering needs.
- Moderate feeders - needs a good helping of compost.
Section 3 - Tomatoes/Sweet Peppers
- Long growing season.
- High watering needs.
- Heavy feeder - likes plenty of compost.
- Can inter plant companion plants such as carrots in between tomato plants.
Section 4 - Onions/Garlic/Shallots- Plant in October - November.
- Low watering needs.
- Moderate feeders - needs a good helping of compost.
- Harvested in late July - early August.
- Plant a small Basil crop after harvesting - we've found it germinates and grows quickly at this time.
Section 5 - Potatoes and Hot Peppers
- Direct plant Potatoes in March-April.
- Hot Peppers planted later in the season. I usually have some quick growing green planted in this section until I'm ready to plant the hot pepper plants.
- Moderate watering needs.
- Plant beets/radishes or turnips after harvesting potatoes.
Section 6 - Cover Crop
- Grown in one "dormant" section each year and turned under to provide some nitrogen and organic matter.
- Short growing season.
- Low watering needs.
- We use the Summer Soil Builder Mix by Peaceful Valley of cow peas and buckwheat.
Section 7 - Herbs and More
- Variety of herbs grown including mints, yarrow, oregano, thyme, marjoram.
- Strawberries - we have had our strawberries growing in the same section for 5 years and last year made a new "home", dug up some plants and relocated to a new spot.
- Horseradish - last year was our first crop of horseradish and it did exceptionally well. I planted the roots in a small section of the garden where a compost pile had previously been.
- Marshmallow - Planted for the first time last year - not sure it will grow well here.
In the beginning we planted many different varieties of each crop and found which variety suited us and our environment the best. Take for example the squash. We have planted Acorns, Buttercups, Butternuts, and fancy flat-topped pan squash. While we really enjoy Butternuts, they just don’t seem to grow as prolifically for us as Buttercups. We’ve have volunteer Buttercup plants growing directly from our compost pile maturing into the most beautiful plant and loaded with squash. So it’s kind of a no-brainer that that is the squash we should focus on and I will begin saving the seeds next year. Our goal is to do this with each main vegetable in our garden…narrow our varieties down to the 2 best growers/producers and save seeds from those plants.
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