The Proof Is in the Harvest
In starting this column last January, I challenged you to grow a garden and to eat a primarily plant-based diet. The goal was to make our beautiful Bay area a Blue Zone of long-lived happy people.
To start my own home vegetable garden, roughly one-seventh of an acre, I had trees brought down and stumps dug out. We tilled the ground and raked out thousands of roots. I had a soil test done and corrected the pH to about 6.5.
We tilled it several times adding amendments of lime, rock phosphate and greensand. Since we didn’t have much compost for the new garden, I ordered Leaf Gro Gold from the Maryland Environmental Service. LeafGro is like a wonder drug for soil. Our soil is sandy loam. Compost is good for sandy soil or clay soil.
We covered the area with woven black landscape fabric. Rain can go through the fabric, and it keeps the weeds out. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to keep up with weeding.
We made 27 rectangular beds each 15 feet long by four feet wide. Each planting area holds three rows opened through the fabric using a propane flame to sear the edges to keep it from unraveling. We also added drip irrigation to each of the three rows in each bed. A wonderful inexpensive water controller from Rain Bird programs the water coming from our spigot. For about, $35 we have convenient automatic watering all season. With drip irrigation, there is no water wasted to evaporation and fewer fungal problems. I have it set to water three times a week as the black landscape fabric really heats the ground in full sun.
A bed of zinnias attracts pollinators. Dragonflies and butterflies zoom over all the planting beds. The garden is fenced, but a wily groundhog found a hole in the fence and helped itself.
The productivity of this vegetable garden has overwhelmed us. Lettuces remained tender longer due to the drip irrigation. The early brassica greens, like kale, collards and Chinese cabbage grew beautifully, but broccoli and cauliflower was attacked by cabbage moth caterpillars. I sprayed BT, which is specific for caterpillars, and covered the brassicas with floating row covers. The lightweight covers act as a physical barrier to the cabbage moth to keep it from laying eggs.
We had to use a wheelbarrow to harvest squash and cucumbers. Our neighbors run the other way when they see us coming with more cucumbers and zucchini. The tomatoes, now fruiting, are secured upright by a three-inch square netting.
Thankfully we have the Crofton Farmers Market to take our produce. We might still need to buy another freezer.
Maria Price-Nowakowski runs Beaver Creek Cottage Gardens, a small native plant nursery in Severn.