For now it’s been typical spring in Albuquerque: snow, rain, wind, sunshine, heat, more wind. I hope you already have peas in the ground. Pea seeds love to be snowed on at least once this time of year. And get those potatoes going–in bags, boxes, tires!
I recently facilitated a short workshop on “Taking Your Garden to the Next Level” for the Albuquerque Backyard Farms priming attendees to get their garden ideas out of their heads and into action. It’s important to think about not one or two but three seasons when you start laying all those seed packets on the kitchen table. You’ll want to get on the ABF email list because this group of talented, feisty gardening and farming addicts has pulled together a non-stop list of workshops, garden tours and resources to help everyone realize their desire for self-sufficiency.
At the March workshop, the first of the Albuquerque Backyard Farms series for 2010, I introduced folks to two zippy little on-line planting programs to help in setting up your schedule for the coming season–especially if you’re behind in your planning!
The first one can be found at the Gardeners Supply website. Kitchen Garden Custom Planting Map makes it easy to design simple 3 X 6 ft. garden beds indicating how much to plant, when to start seeds and set them out, when to harvest. You can design your own garden based on plants you prefer or use the pre-planned garden schemes on the website.
The second one I suggest you explore is found at a lovely blog called “Skippy’s Vegetable Garden.” The author shared her methods for keeping track of just about everything for her garden as well as this handy dandy planting calendar.
And of course, don’t overlook the Old Farmers Almanac for best planting dates and moon sign dates.
Here are some photos (thank you, Michael!) from that workshop hosted by The Source in southeast Albuquerque–a windy, infrequently rainy day that ended with sunshine and warm breezes. We cleaned the beds of last season’s debris, extended the worm bed, turned the compost in the tire composter, (ah it looks so good!) created a higher raised bed around one of the lasagna beds with stone, and cleaned and planted the old worm bed with peas and greens–15 volunteers in 30 minutes! Now that’s organization.
All hands on deck getting the gardens ready for spring.
Wally and crew designing the stone raised bed.
Extending the worm bed with Brian, resident worm farmer.
From Lasagna Gardens to Grow Boxes there are as many ways to garden as there are starfish in the sea. I’ve used many different resources for growing food and prefer gardens that are placed above-ground for their efficiency, simplicity and the ability to control the growing medium. In raised beds, the growing medium becomes the compost for the next season’s garden; the ultimate in recycling! They are also faster to set up, easier to maintain, and don’t come with ready-made problems like toxic soil, soil-borne pests or diseases, too much clay or sand, too little of this or not enough that. You have your most immediate success as a novice gardener, a person of fixed income or because of your climate or location–with a raised bed or container. I strongly urge every gardener, even those with lots of land, to benefit from no-till garden designs.
Garden planning requires four considerations (outside of the required soil/sun or shade/water needs) you should factor into your vision each year. They are: frost-free and first-frost dates for your area; succession planting– say 2 weeks apart–so you will have a steady harvest of your favorites yet not too much at once; rotation of beds for health and fertility and; multiple season gardens for maximum food-growing capacity.
Here’s a short list of common vegetables to consider if you need suggestions:
Early Spring
Plant as soon as ground can be worked in spring:
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Mid-Spring
Plant these at time of the average last killing spring frost (approximately 4/15 in Albuquerque):
- Carrots
- Cauliflower plants
- Beets
- Onion seeds
- Parsnips
- Swiss Chard
Plant 2 Weeks Later:
- Beans
- Corn
- Early Tomato Seeds
Best Gardening Days for March and April according to the Farmer’s Almanac:
26th-29th. A Most Barren Period, Best For Killing Plant Pests Or Doing Chores Around The Farm. 30th-31st. Favorable Days For Planting Root, Fine For Sowing Hay, Fodder Crops, And Grains. Plant Flowers.
April 2010
1st-3rd. Good Days For Planting Beets, Carrots, Radishes, Turnips, Peanuts, And Other Root Crops. Also Good For Cabbage, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Kale, Celery, And Other Leafy Vegetables. Start Seedbeds. 4th-5th. Barren Days. Do No Planting. 6th-8th. Favorable Days For Planting Beets, Carrots, Turnips, Radishes, Onions, And Other Root Crops. 9th-10th. Excellent Time To Kill Weeds, Briars, Poison Ivy, And Other Plant Pests. 11th-13th. Favorable Days For Planting Root Crops, Extra Good For Vine Crops. Set Strawberry Plants. 14th-15th. Poor Planting Days. Break Ground Or Cultivate
Enjoy this Full Moon Monday and happy planting this week!
