Last season's vegetable fared especially poorly. My tomatoes stayed leafy with little fruit. Staking them upright, both with plastic stakes and later with metal cages, did not keep them upright. Fruits gave way mostly to pests and to blights. Peppers grown from nursery plants went nowhere. Seeds planted into the ground mostly disappointed. I generated a cucumber vine but only one cucumber. Pretty much a dud all around. My pots did not fare a lot better. I wonder whether lawn care extended their herbicides to my vegetables and herbs. Or maybe my seeds had passed their expiration dates. Perhaps my soil needs selective enrichment. Even weeds did not grow making me a little suspicious of my lawn care service. Some plants grew green. The beans did not generate beans but stalks rose.
The agricultural division of my state university offers a soil analysis for a nominal fee. They have kits, but will also accept samples placed in a one-quart freezer bag, like the TSA does for screening liquids. I've been reading their collection requirements. Cumbersome, but within my level of skill. I will need to wash, maybe sterilize, the garden trowel that collects the sample. I'll follow the collection procedure that they require. Fill the sample bag, label it with my identification and the intent of a vegetable garden, and enclose a check for $22.50. Mail in a secure envelope that I can get from the post office. Enrich the soil in the way the agricultural chemists advise.
I would like to harvest some vegetables this season.
To make space more efficient, I've used a Square Foot Gardening approach. Mine never produces nearly as bountifully as Mel's who wrote the book, nor as well as the many online sites that guide amateurs through that method. Considering the magnitude of last year's gardening failure, maybe it's time to return to row planting. And new seeds would likely enhance yield. A couple of layers of organic compost from a gardening center or hardware store could also contribute to success. I don't have a good defense from pests, though.
I will need to reconsider what to plant. Every amateur looks forward to tomatoes. Either exotic heirlooms or beefy globe tomatoes. Cucumbers have been successful. To minimize weeds, I have a layer of cloth weed block. While successful, it also makes root vegetables unrealistic. I've not done well with leaf lettuce, nor do I particularly like eating a lot of it. Bell peppers never produced. I would consider chili peppers.
But first, collect soil and do what the chemists report.
No comments:
Post a Comment