I started planting my garden, this year, on March 5th, 2021. Normally in the Kansas City area, zone 6-A), we expect the last frost around April 15th. Most gardeners of our area will begin acquiring seeds and plants, so that, beginning on or around April 15th, they can have much of their garden in by the first of May. Many are not aware that the planting date for radishes, turnips, lettuce and other early crops is March 15th in our area (some of these are touted to be planted as early as the soil can be worked). I am planting 10 days earlier than that because I can alway cover my crops with Garden Fabric (Row Covers) which will allow the soil to warm up sooner and be protected from frost. Normally I only plant this early in my hoop houses, but because we have had an extended period of warm weather and have an extended forecast that mimics April, I will go ahead and demonstrate in an open field situation. By the 20th of March, I had plants already sticking their leaves through on the outside rows.
I make my planting areas four feet wide. This allows for one to reach any plant from 2 feet from the edge. Some will only be four feet by four feet while others will extend 25 feet long, yet still being 4 feet wide so I can pick from both sides. This picture taken on the 13th and you can see some are already showing along with my strawberries
On this early date, I am planting strawberry plants on two sides, each one about 6 inches apart. I will plant these very close to the edge. The strawberries should bear some fruit yet this year around the first of June. Instead of letting the strawberries put out runners and take over the plot, I will keep the runners clipped and just let the plant mature as a single plant. (Commercial farmers will plant a crop in the fall and then expect a full crop in June. They will then plow under the crop and plant something else to keep their soil producing all the time.) By the second year, each plant I have put in should produce up to a quart of fruit. Because it is taking up so little room along the edges, we can still get as many as three crops (peas followed by green beans followed by peas or turnips for example), all before the fall freeze, from the center.
In the center, I plant 3 equally spaced rows with peas. The peas will bear near the middle or toward the last part of May and the strawberries about the same time or a little later depending on the variety. Between the rows of peas now planted, I have 4 very narrow rows of bare soil. In one, I have planted an early variety of turnips (30 to 35 days), in another row i have planted radishes, in another row an early baby beet (35 day) and then in the fourth row, onion sets (the one that looks like bulbs and grows to be green onions). There are other crops that can be planted the same way because they are quick maturing such as leaf lettuce and spinach. All of these will be ready to pull in 30 to 40 days. They will be ready before the peas and strawberries. Because of their quick growth, they will be harvested before the strawberries and peas are large enough to shade the quick inter-cropping. If you check my dates, I should be harvesting my first quick maturing crops beforeMay 1st when most gardeners in my area are just starting to plant their peas.
If I had started this series last fall, I would be talking about cover crops in the winter ( see Farming and Carbon Sequestering below). The garden plot I am now working on has not been tilled, but I added about 4 inches of compost. The reason is that I am trying to cover any herbicide drift that would affect my crops. I know there is some still there, but with this covering of compost, my seeds should sprout. (See my previous articles below (Herbicide drift on my garden ). The intercropping of early crops will work toward keeping a variety of crops on the earth at all times as well as allowing interaction of different plants. The peas will produce nitrogen which will be shared with the strawberries and also the early inter-crops.
Because there were no cover crops on the soil all winter and because there were no plants growing in the compost to feed the microorganisms, I have added mycorrhizal fungi, which according to the Smiling Gardener “we’re only getting a handful of microorganisms (very specific fungi in this case), but they just happen to be some of the most important soil microorganisms in the world.” In addition, I have added SCD Probiotics. These products not only add some more effective microorganisms, but have been used to “Help decrease radiation from nuclear disasters, and toxins and smells from other natural disasters”, again, according to the Smiling Gardener. Since I am fighting herbicide drift and who knows what other chemicals from both the rain and city water supply and also since I live in an older part of the city, there is probably lots of lead build up in my soil, I will continue to apply this product every month throughout the growing season. These products can be purchased from the Smiling Gardener and no, I don’t profit from this recommendation. In addition, my pea seeds were dusted with innoculate. These bacteria “infect” the legumes growing in the soil and cause the legumes to form the nitrogen fixing nodules that make peas and beans the nitrogen powerhouses they are. They will cause the peas to produce nitrogen that will migrate to the strawberries and all the other crops planted nearby. If peas and beans are planted on the same space every 3 or so years, there will be a carry over of innoculate and it is not necessary to reapply.
Finally, gardening is finally here!
A gram of living soil will have a billion microorganisms (it takes 25 grams to make an ounce) or to put it another way, a gallon of soil will have more microorganisms than there are stars in the universe!
I have two 25 foot hoop houses made with 10 ft ½ water pipe that I stick into the ground 4 ft apart and then cover with greenhouse plastic. The below pictures were planted a week later than those outside and I can see little difference in growth, but I have interplanted a dozen tomato plants, staggering them at 4 a week. So far, they have gone through one 27 degree night with only one plant showing any frost damage. We are expecting another 27 degrees on the 20th, but don’t expect any further damage.