Organic Gardening Calendar
By: Kathi
14 weeks to frost free date in zone 6
There’s not much you can do about the weather, but you can get spring started by putting row covers on your planting beds.
Things you will need:
Prepared bed
Vinegar & Water
Mulch
PVC pipe in 10’ lengths
½” wide roll Velcro tape
1-3 mil rolls of clear plastic
Weights
I have been scolded for not warning you last week of what I have planned for this week. Yes, you are right, I’m sorry.
This week’s chore is very weather dependant. In zone 6 it could be freezing or 60o like it is now. If you live farther north you want to do this when you are 12-14 weeks from your last frost date. For those of you farther South, you’re late already.
Prepared bed: If you’ve been gardening you have beds. Clean them up, turn them if possible. If the ground is wet avoid stepping on the planting areas.
If you are a virgin, and this is your first planting bed or you want to start a new one, you will need to decide where to put the bed. It should be in full sun with an available water source. The closer you can orient it North/ South the better.
For our purposes, this bed should be a straight row 36-42 inches wide by 36 inches up to 30-40 feet long. Decide how much planting area you need and mark off the plot. If you need more than one plot, place them parallel far enough apart to get a sidewalk if hard surfaced between them or wide enough to get your lawn mower between them easily. Choose the spot carefully, because you will not want to move the bed(s) later.
Once you have marked off the perimeter of the bed, take a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water and spray it on any plants growing the in planting area you do not wish to keep. This spray burns the plants leaves because it is so acidic. It does not kill the plant unless you repeat the process until the plant gives up.
After spraying, put down a layer of mulch. This could be grass clippings, spread out and fluffed into a layer about 6 inches deep. (This is best done with a springy leaf rake.)
Or the mulch could be store bought. Read the labels. Make sure what you are buying is chemical free. Mulch can be leaves, manure, or wet newspaper laid out in layers at least 1/4 inch thick. Over lap edges. Personally, I think chopped leaves are the best mulch of all, and it’s free. In any case, the darker the color, the better.
PVC Piping: To build the frame for your row covers, you will use ¾ inch diameter PVC piping bent across the planting bed at approximately 36 inches on center. Plus you will need 1 length of 1 ¼” PVC pipe if you have an in ground bed. If you have raised beds, you probably wont need the 1 ¼” piping. To determine how many 10 foot pieces you need, divide the length of your bed by 3 and add 2.
If your bed is in ground take number if ¾ inch pieces you need, multiply by two, and buy that many feet of the 1 ¼ inch piping. Cut this piping into 12 inch long pieces. Hammer these 12 inch pieces into each corner of the
bed, as close to flush with the ground as possible (unless you want to remove them later, but I never do). Then hammer one in every 3 feet of length spaced evenly and directly across from each other on both sides of the bed.
By: Kathi
14 weeks to frost free date in zone 6
There’s not much you can do about the weather, but you can get spring started by putting row covers on your planting beds.
Things you will need:
Prepared bed
Vinegar & Water
Mulch
PVC pipe in 10’ lengths
½” wide roll Velcro tape
1-3 mil rolls of clear plastic
Weights
I have been scolded for not warning you last week of what I have planned for this week. Yes, you are right, I’m sorry.
This week’s chore is very weather dependant. In zone 6 it could be freezing or 60o like it is now. If you live farther north you want to do this when you are 12-14 weeks from your last frost date. For those of you farther South, you’re late already.
Prepared bed: If you’ve been gardening you have beds. Clean them up, turn them if possible. If the ground is wet avoid stepping on the planting areas.
If you are a virgin, and this is your first planting bed or you want to start a new one, you will need to decide where to put the bed. It should be in full sun with an available water source. The closer you can orient it North/ South the better.
For our purposes, this bed should be a straight row 36-42 inches wide by 36 inches up to 30-40 feet long. Decide how much planting area you need and mark off the plot. If you need more than one plot, place them parallel far enough apart to get a sidewalk if hard surfaced between them or wide enough to get your lawn mower between them easily. Choose the spot carefully, because you will not want to move the bed(s) later.
Once you have marked off the perimeter of the bed, take a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water and spray it on any plants growing the in planting area you do not wish to keep. This spray burns the plants leaves because it is so acidic. It does not kill the plant unless you repeat the process until the plant gives up.
After spraying, put down a layer of mulch. This could be grass clippings, spread out and fluffed into a layer about 6 inches deep. (This is best done with a springy leaf rake.)
Or the mulch could be store bought. Read the labels. Make sure what you are buying is chemical free. Mulch can be leaves, manure, or wet newspaper laid out in layers at least 1/4 inch thick. Over lap edges. Personally, I think chopped leaves are the best mulch of all, and it’s free. In any case, the darker the color, the better.
PVC Piping: To build the frame for your row covers, you will use ¾ inch diameter PVC piping bent across the planting bed at approximately 36 inches on center. Plus you will need 1 length of 1 ¼” PVC pipe if you have an in ground bed. If you have raised beds, you probably wont need the 1 ¼” piping. To determine how many 10 foot pieces you need, divide the length of your bed by 3 and add 2.If your bed is in ground take number if ¾ inch pieces you need, multiply by two, and buy that many feet of the 1 ¼ inch piping. Cut this piping into 12 inch long pieces. Hammer these 12 inch pieces into each corner of the
bed, as close to flush with the ground as possible (unless you want to remove them later, but I never do). Then hammer one in every 3 feet of length spaced evenly and directly across from each other on both sides of the bed. If you have raised beds you can probably get by without the larger PVC pipes if your soil is in good shape. I can easily push the PVC pipe 8-12 inches down in my raised beds. At each end of the bed, insert one end of a ¾ inch piece into a corner. Bend the piece over the bed across at a 45o angle, and shove the other end in the dirt. It should be fairly stable. Repeat this process from the other corner crossing over the first to form an X. Shove in the dirt. Cut a strip of Velcro tape about 18 inches long. Wrap the Velcro tightly at the PVC pipe intersection being sure to criss-cross the tape. Repeat this process at the other end of the bed. Then space the remaining pieces equally between the two ends. The hoop frame should be about 30 inches tall.
1-3mil thick clear plastic rolls: Buy painter’s plastic drop cloth. The farther south you are, get the thinner stuff, farther north get the thicker film. Buy a 10 foot wide roll x length of your bed plus 8 feet minimum. Start at the windward end of the bed. Open the roll the full width and begin to lay it over the hoops. Make sure the center fold line is in the center of the hoops. You may need those weights at this point if you have much breeze. After you’ve centered the plastic and cut it to length, gather it up and Velcro the gather tightly, or even better, tie the end in a knot where the knot or the gather sits on the ground. Go to the opposite end – gather and tape. Weight down the excess plastic all along each side and at the ends. Seal up air gaps as much as possible. The best weights I’ve found are 2x4’s laid along each side with bricks on top of them. The more wind your area gets the more weight you need.
The good news is, you don’t ever have to remove the hoops. If you used the bigger PVC pieces hammered in, taking it down is very simple should you decide to. Everything is reusable.
You now have a mulched bed with a hoop frame and a tightly sealed clear plastic cover over it. You just built a greenhouse. Congratulations! The soil will warm up much sooner than it normally would, so that you can safely transplant cold weather crops when the outdoor temperature is unlikely to drop below 25o. If it does, get out the Christmas lights, (the bigger the bulbs, the better) and weave the string(s) around your plants. The plants should be OK down to 19-20o with the lights.
Now go have yourself a well earned rest, get out your seed catalogs, a hot toddy, and get that order in. The worms are now doing your work for you. They will be attracted to the warmer soil and will munch on the mulch, eliminate, and best off all they bust up the soil.
Next week we will be starting seeds indoors of cold weather crops; broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, leaf lettuce, kale, parsley, chives, and annuals; petunias.
Next Week; Things you will need:
Seeds
Organic fertilizer
Seed starter kits with domes
Plugs or seed starting mix
Permanent Marker
Markers
The good news is, you don’t ever have to remove the hoops. If you used the bigger PVC pieces hammered in, taking it down is very simple should you decide to. Everything is reusable.
You now have a mulched bed with a hoop frame and a tightly sealed clear plastic cover over it. You just built a greenhouse. Congratulations! The soil will warm up much sooner than it normally would, so that you can safely transplant cold weather crops when the outdoor temperature is unlikely to drop below 25o. If it does, get out the Christmas lights, (the bigger the bulbs, the better) and weave the string(s) around your plants. The plants should be OK down to 19-20o with the lights.
Now go have yourself a well earned rest, get out your seed catalogs, a hot toddy, and get that order in. The worms are now doing your work for you. They will be attracted to the warmer soil and will munch on the mulch, eliminate, and best off all they bust up the soil.
Next week we will be starting seeds indoors of cold weather crops; broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, leaf lettuce, kale, parsley, chives, and annuals; petunias.
Next Week; Things you will need:
Seeds
Organic fertilizer
Seed starter kits with domes
Plugs or seed starting mix
Permanent Marker
Markers
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