Grow Your Own – The Time Of The Season
by John Weckerle
Spring was a tough proposition here in Central New Mexico, with few good weekends for planting. Wind, cold, even snow in May made for difficult conditions for getting started. Last weekend was simply too windy for putting in new plants, but it was not too windy for a trip to Parker’s Farm Greenhouse in Edgewood (at the east end of Church Street), where we picked up some lettuce, straight neck yellow squash, zucchini, eggplants, green bell peppers, and various ornamentals (for the pots on the deck). These went in this week, along with the kale, chard, and three varieties of string beans we had already started. Still to be planted are tomatoes (Martian Giant), snow peas, and butternut squash. We think we’re giving the cruciferous (cabbage family) vegetables a break this year, based on previous years’ yields and some issues with aphids.
Bed 4 was, alas, not to be this year. Work pressures and other household efforts have taken up the time to prepare it, although there’s still a chance that we might pull something together in time for winter vegetables. We are considering a larger bed, combining aspects of our raised beds and traditional double-dug gardens, with the thought that some things – tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers, for example – might benefit from a greater rooting depth than our current strategy provides.