Planning the 2008 Garden

It appears that I’ll be a Master Gardener eventually. But for now, I’m just an intern, donating the occasional day to worthy gardening causes and learning as I volunteer about other people’s garden questions in a hands-on, dirt-turning setting, but with the help of those who have been at this much longer. At any rate, I passed my MG test back in December, so I guess that means I can mostly be trusted not to kill too many plants.

But enough of all that. Time’s-a-wasting, and the 2008 gardening catalogs are on the table and I’m anxious to use some of what I’ve learned. It’s time to plan the 2008 garden! Stay tuned for the next few weeks and I’ll tell you what I ordered and why…and what it cost and I’ll post the photos as the seeds begin to sprout. You may notice this year that I’ve gone mostly for hybrids with a few heirlooms to supplement the lot, rather than plant all heirlooms. Why? Because I’ve begun to think that Integrated Pest Management (IPM) makes a heck of a lot of sense. That doesn’t mean that I’ll begin using a lot of chemical pesticides or go gangbusters with chemical fertilizers; it just means that I’ll pay attention to the disease resistance of some hybrids as one of many tools to use in a balanced way in the garden. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll let you know what I use and when and most importantly WHY and what precautions I’ve taken. And we’ll see whether you think I’ve jumped on the industrial production, super-veggy bandwagon.

I’ll not stop using organic methods, especially composting and crop rotation and the like. These just make sense. In fact, the research just keeps getting stronger. Take my strawberry patch, for example. I’ve been using a rotation for several years that was suggested by Gene Logsdon that includes corn in the rotation. However, this year I’ve discovered that broccoli planted in the rotation prior to strawberries leaves a natural fungicide (glucosinolate) that keeps verticillium in check. (Krishna Subbarao, University of California, plant pathologist; see Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew, Samuel Fromartz)

Our family loves broccoli, so guess what we’ll plant instead of corn in that strawberry rotation for 2008? It never hurts to try a little experimenting of our own, especially the edible kind.

While you are planning your own garden, check out our new Indianapolis Gardening Calendar. I think you’ll like it.

Tumbledown Farm