Book Recommendation - WEEK-BY-WEEK VEGETABLE GARDENER'S HANDBOOK 

Looking for an  excellent week by week guide for planning, planting and harvesting your  vegetable garden. This book  is designed to work starting from the average date of the last frost in your neighborhood. Planning the vegetable garden starts from 20 weeks before that frost date and continues to harvest and beyond up to 29 weeks after that last  frost date with daily and weekly to-do lists.

The Handbook provides instruction for all tasks associated with the vegetable garden. The techniques work for large or small gardens. It also serves as a workbook where calendar dates for your specific environment are entered to help you stay on track. Space for note taking is also included. The book is sprinkled with hands on tips from soil preparation and seed starting to how to preserve your harvest.  


The authors, Ron Kujawski and daughter, Jennifer Kujawski, speak from hands on experience with a 6,000 square foot garden in The Berkshires. Jennifer is a horticulturist and a writer and editor who works for a variety of organizations. Ron is the author of the popular syndicated gardening column “The Gardener’s Checklist” and served as an Extension Educator for the University of Massachusetts for 25 years. He has also served as an advisor to the Berkshire Botanical Garden. You may find him there during the growing season doing weekly garden pest surveys.

The book is spiral bound so lays flat making entries easy. It is written with easily understood instructions and a pleasant sense of humor. It is available through independent bookstores and Amazon. The publisher is Storey Publishing (Pownal, Vt., 2011).

Submitted by Richard Demick, Master Gardener, Rensselaer County Cooperative Extension

TOPSOIL  & A  LITTLE COUNTY SOIL HISTORY 

Backyard gardeners think and talk about soil a lot, especially  topsoil... but that is only scratching the surface so to speak.  If you have bought a load of "topsoil" to start your garden,  that soil is probably very different, and hopefully better,  than  what you have in your backyard. But do you really know what you got?

There is no definition of topsoil that spells out what it has to be. Topsoil can be whatever someone scoops up from the earth's surface someplace, labels and sells it as topsoil.  It can be great for your vegetables, or it can be lacking in nutrients or its pH can be unsatisfactory.  If you are going to order a truckload of topsoil, at least ask about its pH value. The supplier should be able to tell you.  If the supplier does not know, then you know you need to think about getting a soil test.

The soil's pH is important because it affects  how readily  nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and a few others  can be used by your plants. If you remember any high school chemistry, pH is measured on a logarithmic scale between 1.0 and 14.0. Soil pH values in the range of  between 6.2 - 7.2, basically  a neutral range, i.e. neither acidic or alkaline, are good for growing most vegetables.  But considering that it's still winter and you cannot yet dig in your garden, let's talk about  the character of soil in general and little bit about Rensselaer County's soils.

Source: CA Urban Forests Council 

The soil cross-section to the left shows its defining layers, called horizons, starting with a thin first layer of detritus (called the O horizon) and most easily recognizable  in forests as "the floor," followed by topsoil (the A horizon), then the  subsoil layer (the B horizon) and finally reaching bedrock (the C and R horizons).

The O horizon, when it is recognizable,  can be measured at most in  a couple of   inches, usually much less.  The topsoil layer, or A horizon, is where the organic and mineralogical  components mix along with air and water. It is  also where most  subsurface life exists, e.g. earthworms, grubs, bacteria, and roots. The A horizon frequently is between a few inches to about one feet in depth, but can be deeper.  The underlying subsoil layer, the B horizon,  may typically vary between a few feet to hundreds of feet in depth; and finally  the C and R horizons,  first  consisting of broken fragments and then solid bedrock that simply goes a long way down.

The mineralogical characteristics of topsoil originate from bedrock, the R horizon. Although the above cross section gives the impression that bedrock fragments gradually migrate upward over eons, the reality   might be better pictured  as fragments disintegrating from the weathering of bedrock outcroppings or volcanic flows (think  mountain peaks, plateaus, slopes etc.)  with water and wind providing the  common methods of soil redistribution to and accumulation in lower elevations.

Rensselaer County 

For Rensselaer County, its soils  came from glacial sources, tills, drumlins, outwashes etc.,  as the county  emerged from the last Ice Age starting about 13,000 years ago. In the western third of the county this glacial sediment covered over much of the earlier topography  with sand, gravel and clay creating outwash terraces that in some places reach depths of 200 plus feet.  Not so in the county's central area, the Rensselaer Plateau,  whose original surfaces were first closely scraped by glaciers and later left with relatively little sediment, but with  many boulders, by the receding glaciers. In the county's eastern-most region that is drained by the Little Hoosic River and its tributaries,  glacial sediment   accumulated also  in similar fashion to what happened on the western side of the county but the general slope of the land is more gradual. For gardeners interested in more information about county geography and soils, I recommend the 1988 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture's  Soil Survey of Rensselaer County Soil. It makes great reading if your just a little wonkish.

Now let's get back briefly to topsoil (the A horizon) for a wrap-up.  Remember that topsoil's organic material  must  accumulate over time before the soil can support much biodiversity.  That initial  accumulation may  start with some bacteria or a few pioneering plants whose seeds might have  been distributed by wind or perhaps birds; and after generations of these organisms, different species including animals can begin showing up.  A commonly cited figure  (and maybe optimistic for this region) is that an inch of topsoil   requires 300 - 500 years  to develop once an ecosystem is established. However, climate is the most important factor determining the rate of topsoil formation.  A few centuries probably does work for   warmer  environments.  For temperate climates like Rensselaer County's with its cold winters and elevation changes of almost 2,800 feet, an inch of topsoil might easily require 3,000 years or longer to develop.

So, whether you either are turning over your backyard's topsoil with a spade or buying topsoil by the bag and/or truckload, you are handling a natural resource that has taken  a very long time to develop and is beyond any  mere mortal's ability to replace.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION - KITCHEN GARDENING IN AMERICA

It's mid February and maybe dreary and cold.  Maybe it's time to curl up under a blanket with a book about vegetable gardening.  Here is an obscure little book, Kitchen Gardening in America: A History by David N. Tucker (Iowa State University Press, 1993).  You will probably have to ask your local public library to locate a copy for you through their wonderful interlibrary loan service. You can probably have a copy in your hands before spring.


Although gardening is certainly an ancient human activity, many of our practices today, like using raised beds and watering cans, stem from long established English gardening practices. When we see "kitchen gardens" at places such as the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, NY or the Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA, we easily relate those gardens to our own backyard endeavors.

In reality, however, colonial gardens were typically much larger  taking  up between 1 - 2 acres and  were the primary source for  much of their food for the year. Women took the lead with help from young their children to plant, weed, harvest and save seed. Jefferson's 1 acre raised terrace was his "kitchen garden" at Monticello, VA and probably  better reflects colonial reality.  Jefferson's garden, I suspect, probably appeared better maintained than most colonial gardens given that he used slaves to do the work.

Until the early 19th century, gardeners mostly saved seeds from mature plants or traded seeds with neighbors. Seed merchants were far away and few in number.  As the population spread into interior regions from the East Coast,  some merchants did see business opportunity, but it was the Shakers who developed the paper seed packet and who first distributed display boxes in general stores.  Merchants received a  commission for the seeds sold, and the seed business took off...

If you like this book, other books that Tucker has  authored include The Mugwumps and The Decline of  Thrift in America. I haven't read them, but I like the titles.

VEGETABLE VARIETIES for GARDENS (VVfG) UPDATE - Soil Testing

At its recent February meeting the Rensselaer County Master Gardeners decided to test the soils in their vegetable planting beds. The beds have been used for a number of years with minimum fertilizer, but often mulched with shredded bark.  The gardeners will take samples from each of the 9 beds,  combine them into a single sample and send that sample for a complete analysis in March. If there are nutrients that need to be added or the soil pH level  needs adjustment, there  will be time to start those amendments in advance of the growing season because  soil adjustments can  require weeks to take effect.

Healthy soils, healthy plants

When is it necessary to have garden soil tested? 

If you are planning to grow more than just a  couple of tomatoes and a little lettuce, or if you only have a 4' x 4' raised bed and noticed lots of earthworms when you filled the bed, maybe you're okay.  On the other hand, here are a few reasons to test:  

1. Do you have a new garden location? - In new housing developments, sometimes builders remove/replace top soil. In older homes, the backyard frequently was the spot where the excavated  subsoil from the foundation  was dumped, or it was where the coal ashes from an old furnace were used to fill a low spot.
2. Have you been using the same garden plot for years and only adding  a sprinkle of 5-10-5 fertilizer from  a bag,  and your yields seem to be declining? You might have some micronutrient  deficiencies.
3. Do the leaves on your plants seem smaller than normal, look pale or a little yellow? Do the underside of your tomato leaves have a purplish tint; or are the leaf edges brown and curled? The soil may be  in need of nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium.  

   

   Blossom End Rot Source: T.A. Zitter,
   Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

4. If the soil is deficient in calcium,  your tomatoes will develop blossom end rot.
5. Do your plants look green and bushy, but set little fruit?  Maybe you have excess nitrogen in the soil.
6. For a longer list of symptoms, check  this  chart from the Arizona Extension Service, but realize that... 

Diagnosing nutrient deficiencies (or excesses) can be tricky, because many plant symptoms overlap; and there can be multiple  conditions needing attention.   The Rensselaer County Extension Service and the other area Extension Services offer both simple pH testing as well as more extensive soil analysis.  These services typically only cost a few dollars, and the results will be returned to you promptly along with advice on how to fix any problems.  But, it is really important to get the testing done early in the spring in order to start soil remedies.

VVTG is a public science effort coordinated by  Cornell Cooperative Extension  to collect and share the practical experiences of  Master Gardeners  maintaining demonstration vegetable gardens. 

February  Garden Preparations

Every garden blog seems obliged regularly to  "nag" its readers by posting lists about what they should be doing now, but probably have been ducking from doing.  Here's our list:

1. Stop feeling down in February, cheer yourself up a little, go find those seed  catalogs that arrived in the mail immediately after Christmas, and look at them again. Their covers will remind you that spring might be coming sometime.  Do you remember what seeds you were thinking about ordering?  This time, jot down what you want to order. It's not too late for that.
2. Get outside and breathe some cold air. Now is the time to prune those grape vines and fruit trees as well as a lot of other stuff.  In fact, I've almost motivated myself now to do the grape vines I maintain  in a nearby community garden.  If you're not sure about what to cut, checkout Cornell's fruit growing guide for the home gardener. It covers everything and probably more than you want to know about growing all kinds of fruit.
3. I hate this one... Wash those flower pots, planting trays and the tools you use for starting your plants.  Remember to add some bleach to the water to kill the  mold or bacteria.  And, you might as well clear off the table or countertop that your going to use eventually to start seedings. If you happen to have a greenhouse, you probably need to clear off its decks too.
4. Check your garden tools again. Do the hoes, spades and shears need sharpening, more cleaning?  
5. Take a fresh look at the old seed packets you saved from last year.  How old are they really?     Seed companies typically print the year that seeds are
   
   meant to be used either near the top or bottom of a seed packet, sometimes on the front, sometimes on the back.  The tested germination rate for  its  intended year of sale may also be noted on the packet. Seed germination rates fall dramatically for some varieties after the first year.  For a quick check on how long seeds for the most popular vegetables stay viable, look at this article from Oregon's Extension Service. 
6. Now take a deep breath.  If you have a heated greenhouse or grow lights in the cellar,  you might consider starting some cool weather vegetables like celery, onions, leeks, and lettuce for an actual early start on the growing season.  If you don't have a greenhouse or grow lights, don't plant any vegetable seeds yet.  Just keep thinking  about doing it for a while yet. 

Remember, spring is coming, and there will be even more things to do or not do in March.

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