Growing at the Speed of Life - A Year in the Life of My First Kitchen Garden

year. Of course, once the selection is made, the rest of the handling is basically the

same.

The seed packet tells us all we need to know (or should do), and once again,
be sure to follow the fine print. For example, I purchased seed for Scarlet Nantes

carrots. The packet told me it would take the seeds about 2 weeks to germinate at

60ºF and 68 days to mature. They went into the bed in May, just aft er Memorial

Day, and were wonderfully ready (if not fully grown) by mid-July—just 60 days.

I was told to plant 2–4 inches apart in my 3-foot-wide row. So I went for 3

inches (ever the middle-of-the-road decision!). I thinned them when the tops
reached 4 inches, allowing about 2 inches between the remaining plants.

Now comes the tough part. Here are all these growing baby carrots, and I was

ripping them out to make room for their fellows to mature. What I’m pleased

about is that it felt bad, so it wasn’t done without emotion, but I was able to use

all of the thinned-out plants in my rapidly increasing compost.

The package went on to tell me that I could plant carrots every 2–3 weeks for
a continual harvest up until mid-July, to have fresh supplies in the fall and winter.

The seed packs for other plants can have all manner of

coded messages that relate to hybrids or heirlooms and dis­

ease resistance rather than complete avoidance.

I’m really excited about the years that I hope spin out

ahead of me, because each year I’ll keep the packages on fi le
and journal each plant’s progress until I’ve matched up my

little microclimate to the taste I find most satisfactory.

I have been the happy—although sometimes late—

recipient of excellent advice about greenhouse and indoor

seed germination and the journey to the great outdoors, which I pass along in

“byte”-size pieces. There is no specific need for a greenhouse. Seeds can be started
on window ledges from February on. All my notes are equally applicable.

■ Pots : You can reuse old plastic pots, but you must wash them well in detergent

with a little bleach. You can also use paper cups that are biodegradable. (I think

MY NEED-TO-KNOW LIST • 29