What is a kitchen garden? Let’s think of it as being a low-maintenance, no-till garden of containers or raised beds. How about a handy little vegetable garden that can always offer something fresh on hand for making salads, soups and stews all year long? With a bit of planning this is easily possible. Here are a few tips:
LET THERE BE LIGHT — Vegetables, especially winter and early spring crops, need at least six hours of light each day. While most cool-season vegetables and herbs tolerate coastal frosts, they will languish if there is not sufficient light.
PROVIDE ROOT SPACE — This means choosing wide, deep pots for container gardening. Containers should be 18-inches wide minimum, and at least as deep. With raised bed gardening, 8- to 12-inch tall beds are ideal. Place hardware cloth in the bottom of beds if gophers are in the vicinity.
FEED THE SOIL — Have on hand plenty of compost, composted manures, worm castings and a good slow-release organic fertilizer such as 4-4-4. Fall-planted vegetables destined for winter harvest will do best if additional amendments and nitrogen are added to the soil.
PROTECT — Slugs and snails are active all year long because of our mild coastal weather. Use an organic slug bait on a regular basis, especially winter and early spring. Cover young spring-planted starts with a row cover to protect from green spotted cucumber beetle.
TIME YOUR CROPS FOR CONTINUED HARVEST — Consider the following time table:
April-May: Plant beets, carrots, greens, green beans, shallots and herbs.
May-July: Plant green beans, summer squashes, greens and herbs.
August-October: Plant carrots, beets, leeks, greens and garlic.
October-December: Plant broccoli, Asian greens, shallots, leeks, kale and salad greens.
December-January: Still possible to plant broccoli, kale, Asian greens, but the weather is chilly and wet. Growth slows way down. Vegetables planted at this time will not grow much, but really take off come March.
February-March: Plant Asian greens, broccoli, carrots, leeks, shallots, lettuces and greens.
Remember: Time your crops, and feed the soil at each planting. Have on hand row cover to protect plants from hard freeze in late winter and pests in spring.
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Terry Kramer is a trained horticulturist and journalist. She has been writing a garden column for the Times-Standard since 1982. If you have a question you’d like answered in this column, email it to style@times-standard.com and put “Question For Terry Kramer” in the subject line, or write to Terry Kramer/Lifestyle, Times-Standard, P.O. Box 3580, Eureka, CA, 95502.
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