Tag: Ozark gardening

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Garden Planning Exercise

Spring fever hit early this year as weather vacillates between winter and spring. One way I cope is doing a garden planning exercise.

Such an activity seems essential. It often ends up being busy work.

Beginning

My garden is a mishmash of beds, raised beds, permanent plantings, unwanted plantings, outside influences and an eternal weed invasion. It helps to walk around to refresh my memory about the number and placements of the beds. I get to make a side list of things to do and prioritize them at the same time.

The walk around lets me remember how and what was planted last year, how it did and plan changes. Much of my planting is locked in now due to a couple of large black walnut trees.

schematic for garden planning exercise
A garden schematic doesn’t have to be to scale. All it needs to be is complete for all the planting areas. I have several permanent plantings: the flower section, garlic, walking onions, hollyhocks, Jerusalem artichokes and garlic chives. The bamboo thinks it’s permanent. The others are planting areas. The big question is how much I can squash into each area trying to remember the plants can get big.

Paperwork

Doing a schematic of my garden has turned out to be important. Somehow I keep miscounting the number of garden beds when it isn’t written down. Planting a nonexistent bed or ending up with an empty one makes a mess of any plans.

There are five beds down one side of the garden. These get leaves, walnuts etc. on them so no tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, sunflowers or other sensitive plants can grow there. I can grow beans, squash and okra.

Three beds are in the back along with narrow beds along the shade house. This year tomatoes will be in the beds. Lima beans, butternut squash and sugar pie pumpkins will grow over the shade house providing shade for snow peas, Napa cabbage, Chinese celery, bok choi, beets, greens and leeks. In the fall rutabaga and winter radishes will move in.

The raised beds are listed for greens and carrots. One side garden will smother under monster squash, favorite of the goats. The other, away from the black walnut tree, will have sunflowers, tomatoes and peppers.

Undecided Places

Three beds are not assigned yet. I have another monster squash, watermelon, extra peppers, bush limas and mung beans going somewhere. Perhaps I will have winter melon too.

So much for my garden planning exercise. Now reality can take over.

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Monster Squash Attack

Winter squash does put out long vines. But my Yuxi Jiang Bing Gua squash and Tahitian Melons are monster squash.

I’ve grown them for several years so I know they tend to get big. This year I planned for that. At least, I thought I did.

Yuxi Monster Squash
Those leaves really are huge, nearly 18 inches across. This Yuxi winter squash can be eaten young like summer squash or allowed to shell and kept as winter squash. These have a scallopped edge with a shape much like patty pans.

The Yuxi went into a plot about twenty feet square. It has deer fence eight feet tall on two sides, chick fence six feet tall on another and the four foot tall garden fence behind it. I expected to keep the vines growing around the area.

This monster squash had other plans. It stayed small for a week or so gathering root power. Then the vines shot off in all directions. I tried to curve them around. They sent out branches. They climbed the fences. They invaded the garden.

How fast does this monster squash grow? I’m not sure, but a foot a night might be a low estimate.

Tahitian Melon Monster Squash
Although called Tahitian Melon, this is a winter squash allowed to shell with huge keeping times, a year and more. They are large with a long curved neck. The vines are huge and refuse any efforts to contain them. The male flowers with their single fused stamen are large. The female flowers with their four sided pistil are the size of dinner plates. The baby melons grow fast.

The Tahitian melons, actually a winter squash, had no intention of letting the Yuxi have all the fun. These had a thirty foot run to the far fence. This had deer fence along the side and at one end. The other two sides are against the garden.

Ten tomato plants are unfortunate enough to be against the garden fence side. Picking is done by leaning over the garden fence. The melon vines are climbing over them and up the side deer fence.

Tahitian monster squash has huge leaves, bigger than the Yuxi which is no slouch. These are bigger than dinner plates. It too grows at least a foot a night. That is every vine tip doing this.

The Yuxi finally opened a few male flowers. It is behind the Tahitian melons. And those have the biggest flowers I’ve ever seen on a squash plant. The melons are over two feet with a strong hook.

Will these monster squash ripen any fruit before frost? My goats hope so. They love these almost as much as they love pumpkins now buried under the Yuxi.

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Fall Gardening

Hot, dry days are a memory now. Summer crops are bountiful. Still, it’s time for fall gardening to begin.

Timing is everything when planning for fall crops. Killing frost (dreadful thought) is not that far away. These plants need to be nearing maturity before it arrives.

Ozark weather has become increasingly erratic over the past five years or so. The average frost date may be the beginning of October, but cold snaps start in September.

Fall Crops

Good fall crops for me include spinach, winter radishes, lettuces, bok choi, Chinese cabbage, turnips, beets, rutabaga (I like these, but rarely grow them successfully.) and cabbage. There are other good crops available like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, Swiss chard and kale. The first three take up lots of space for low return. The last two are not on my menu.

Some of these crops need little protection before the temperatures get down around twenty. Some of the others need protection by the mid-twenties. Grouping them accordingly makes things much easier.

cabbage transplants are part of fall gardening
Cabbage and other cole varieties are good fall gardening prospects as they laugh at light frosts. Cold weather does slow them down, so planting them at least a month before frost date is a good idea. Mulch helps cool the soil in warm weather and keeps it warmer in cool weather promoting plant growth. Fall weather starts in August in the Ozarks.

Winter Protection

My main raised bed is set up for a plastic tent. In low temperatures, old blankets are added protection. I plant spinach, winter radishes, mizuna and bok choi in it. These crops will provide fresh food into January or even into next spring.

After killing frost, I pull off the tomato vines and cover the shade house with plastic. This turns it into an unheated greenhouse. Since it gets full sun, I often have to open the door to keep it from overheating during the day.

Larger drops like cabbage, beets, Chinese celery and Chinese cabbage grow inside. The Chinese celery is frost sensitive, but I grow it inside a wire ring and cover it with old towels on frosty nights.

My new raised bed is an unknown quantity this winter, it’s first winter to be planted. I will try various lettuces and a few cabbages in it. It too is set up to be covered with plastic.

Turnips and rutabaga are planted in an open bed. These too can be covered with plastic and old blankets on really cold nights.

Winter Supplies

By now it should be obvious my fall gardening plans include a supply of old blankets, old towels and so-called clear plastic from the hardware/lumber yard. A water supply completes my supplies.

Fall gardening lets me enjoy fresh, home grown produce well into December and beyond. All it takes is planning, work and care.