Joanna Kenyon
When I moved back to Whatcom County eight years ago from an urban landscape where my gardening was limited to several pots housed on a small balcony, I was ready to “have a bit of earth,” to quote the lovely Frances Hodgson Burnett.
But although I had worked on farms, primarily with animals, I had never grown a garden of my own. As you might imagine, starting vegetable gardens with very little idea how to garden was what we call “a learning experience.” Yes, and each year, it was even more of a learning experience. At first I had a 20’ x 15’ plot carved out of swampy land surrounded by trees (this garden grew mushrooms like nobody’s business); two years later I added another plot of roughly the same size, only this one actually had some sun; two years after that expansion, I sought full sun, thinking it might be rather grand, and added three plots at the Happy Valley Community Garden. And then I moved away from my first two plots to a farm where they offered to give me as much land as I wanted for a garden…
I asked them to till up a 90’ by 30’ plot of land, and so it began.
Inevitably, this year’s learning has centered around the difference between cultivating small vegetable gardens for my own sustenance, and cultivating a large garden that provides several families with their vegetables, and me with as many tomatoes as I can ever dream of eating. As you might imagine, such a garden involves quite a bit of work, so I’ve had to become more efficient in managing my time. And while I have not, by a long shot, learned everything I need to know to make this feasible in the long term, I have learned a few specific strategies that have helped me manage a large garden. And I thank you for allowing me to share them!
The Importance of Design
Both the master gardeners’ class and its course-book have emphasized repeatedly the importance of design, particularly in putting “the right plant in the right place.” This is a tenet of gardening that I had learned before, when my secluded shade garden failed to grow award-winning tomatoes. However, setting up a 90’ by 30’ stretch of land all at once takes such a huge investment in time that initial design requires even more careful consideration.In addition to studying the movement of the sun/shade, I also was careful to think through how I planned to manage weeds (as lazily as possible). I measured the beds to make sure I could reach the center from my aisle, and I measured the aisles to make sure I could run a push mower through them. The idea was to get some nitrogen-fixing groundcover (likely clover) growing in the aisles eventually, but in the short term, to create a dirt aisle that could be easily mown or weed-whacked. I was also used to the old-fashioned technique of “pulling” to manage weeds, but this time I was careful to plant mainly in rows to allow some space for hoeing.
Speaking of rows, I actually created rows, which clashed with my marked preference for garden anarchy and curves of meandering pathways. Aesthetically, I dislike rows, but in terms of the larger garden, it is the right choice as the structure allows one to move more quickly in both planting and tending.
In retrospect, I do wish I had been more aware of the wind conditions on the farm in terms of the design. It’s not something I was used to accounting for with smaller gardens.
Wind is Difficult to Manage
The folks on the farm told me that the fierce winds I had experienced in the winter months would die down in mid-spring, and that I really shouldn’t worry about them. Wrong. Nowadays, I tend to think that if there’s a wind pattern during the winter, it will still be there in the summer, only less cold.The only windbreak I built into my garden was a row of sunflowers, which I initially put in to protect the vegetables from dust kicking up from the nearby dirt driveway. However, the type of sunflowers I put in were thin-stalked and lanky, so mostly they just chose to blow over.
Because this is a rental for me, larger, more permanent windbreak structures don’t interest me; rather I wish I had built the “bean wall” on the windward side of the garden, rather than on the north side. My placement of beans and corn on the north side had more to do with putting taller plants where they would cast the least amount of shade on the smaller plants, but I think now that I should have used the sturdy, shade-casting beans as a windbreak, and planted some shade tolerant plants next to them.
Regardless of solution, I was startled by how deeply the wind affected the garden, tumbling the taller plants and drying the soil much faster than I expected.
Drip Irrigation and Cable Structures Are Splendid
Far and away the best advantage to straight rows was that I was able to set up a drip irrigation system and put it on a timer that automatically turned on the limited well water during the nighttime—when the water was less needed on the farm. Not only do I loathe watering, but the drip irrigation made the wind less of a disaster than it would have been otherwise. I was able to monitor the water in the soil and adjust to the right duration of water time for various parts of the season. Furthermore, I could take trips and not worry about my garden drying up.The only downside to drip irrigation is that it is costly to set up. I was given the pipe, pipe glue, and drip tape (approx. $100 in value, especially if you accidentally cut a drip tape in half with your shears), but all the joints, clamps, the timer, and various filters I tested out to help with the high level of sediment from the well water cost quite a bit (approx. $100). I call it worth it though.
Cabling was another perk of the long rows: I was able to set up long cables that stretched across ten posts along about 1/3 of the garden, which gave me much-needed support for tomatoes, beans, squash, and (next year) peas. The hardware for this was also pricy (poles, cables, cable-joiners, hooks, string – approx. $150-200), but again, a worthwhile investment compared to purchasing fifty tomato cages.
Involve the People Who Are Benefitting from the Garden
I knew from the start that I would be producing far more vegetables than I would need for myself or even the other people living on the farm. If I were better about preserving vegetables, that might not be the case, but since I’m mediocre at preserving, I knew I’d need to get rid of the produce somehow.(My sister asked me “why in the world” I would want such a big garden in the first place, to which I could only blink my eyes in confusion, and reply because I want to.)
I considered the local Food Banks, and still might be passing on a portion of my tomato harvest to one of them, but my second thought was to extend my tendency to give vegetables to friends and family into a full CSA-like situation. Meaning that I would sell my produce, along with some of the farm eggs. The thought behind this was not to make money, but rather to cover my costs, or at least some of them. I also like the idea of asking those who are benefitting to pitch in to the system.
Next year, I think I’ll continue doing this, but I’d add a few changes.
First, it is very difficult to prepare organic produce. I’m mellow about aphids and earwigs and nibbled leaves, but that’s not true for everyone. My inclination was to toss everything into bags and then pile it into a box, but a couple of my test subjects (friends and family) gently complained about the state of the produce. Bugs. Nibbles. Over-ripeness. The problem though was that these boxes—bugs and all—took me hours to put together. I did not expect that at all. And so, adding the step of washing and closely inspecting all the produce is not feasible for a garden that is not a full agricultural business. I have neither the machinery nor the time.
So, when I say “involve the people,” I mean that more directly. Next year, I will set up certain times that I will be on the farm, and those who want to pitch in with me can come harvest one full box of whatever they’d like during those times. This likely means that half of the people I was doing boxes for will not want to continue. But it means more time for me, more companionship within the garden, and potentially also doing more of the education work that I enjoy about the Master Gardeners program. I suspect the requests and feedback will also be more direct and immediate, which will allow me to react more quickly with solutions.
One last quick note here is that I didn’t charge very much this year. I won’t charge very much next year either. It was hard for me to accept money from people, and I’d rather be gifted seeds or compost in return. However, I can’t do that, as I’m exceedingly well-opinioned about what kinds of seeds or compost I will use. That said, it was an important part of my process to learn how to value my time and skill.
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| The author and her tomato haul. |
Succession Planting Helps Ensure There’s Always Food
This is the last tip, and I’ll make it very brief, as I’ve gone on quite long enough.As a gardener of a small garden, I didn’t think about keeping up a steady stream of garden produce… considering the variables that go into ensuring that the harvest is stretched out over time. But when you are dealing with larger quantities of produce, the last thing you want is for everything to come ripe at the same time. It’s impossible to deal with. And so, I’ve become far more attentive to the various favored seasons and growth time of plants, transplanting some seedlings every week, and planting fewer of certain high-yield crops, even if they are my favorite.
That said, I’ve been pulling out three boxes of awesome Master Gardener tomatoes per week for the last month. Maybe next year, though, I will only plant forty tomato plants instead of fifty.