fall-garden

Here’s the last garden plan, for the last plantings of the season. (If you don’t know when that is for you, print out our Fall Garden Planner. Yes, it’s already time!)  This plan is still worked out according to companion planting rules, but it has more flexibility than previous plans because of the cooler weather:

broccoli*–if you don’t care for broccoli, you can substitute 1 cabbage or 1 cauliflower in each broccoli spot
kale*–if you don’t care for kale, you can substitute 4 collards
beets*–if you don’t care for beets, you can substitute 3 chard

You will need:
4 – 2×8 boards, 4ft long each
12 deck screws or nails
1 electric drill or hammer
(If you have no idea what I just said, walk into the lumbers section at Depot or Lowe’s and hand them the above list. They can make it all happen.)

1 small roll of weed blanket (any kind)
5 – 1 ft bags of potting soil
5 bags of different composts (This guy says that the more different nutrients the better your garden. I have found him to be correct.)
2 tomato stakes (any kind)
nylon string
12 flat head nails
2 broccoli plants*see above note
2 heads of garlic
1 pkg pea seeds
1 pkg spinach seeds
1 pkg beet seeds*see above note
1 pkg leaf lettuce seeds
1 pkg head lettuce seeds
1 pkg kale seeds*see above note
1 chrysanthemum plant
1. On your driveway, screw(nail) together your boards in a square. Don’t worry about how crooked the screws are or how maimed the heads of the nails end up. Just make the boards stick together in a square-type shape long enough for you to get it to the back yard.

2. In a sunny location, lay down your square. Cut a big enough piece of weed blanket or layer it to cover the bottom of your square. Figure out where North is. You’ll be planting all your big stuff on that side.

3. Mix all your dirt and compost on a tarp.

4. Fill box with dirt and WATER that bad boy till it’s damp all the way through.

5. Smooth the surface and using your finger (or what have you), divide the square in half both ways and do it again on each side to get 16 squares.

6. Poke holes in your garden with your finger about 1/2in deep so it looks like this:

fall-garden

7. Break apart your garlic and insert one fat clove in each of the nine holes.

8. Open your peas. Pinch out four seeds. Put two in the first hole, and two in the second and cover. Put two seeds in each hole in your garden corresponding to the names on the grid.

9. Put your broccoli* plants in the dead center of the corresponding square on the chart.

10. Drive your tomato stakes in DEEP behind your peas squares. Put a nail in the top and run string to nails in the side of your box like this:

The peas may take some coaxing at first, but those bad boys are dying to climb that string. Buh-lieve me!

11. Water every other day for a week, and as needed after that.

***And for you savvy gardeners, you already know that this is next year’s early spring garden plan too, don’t you?  Maybe minus the garlic.  Gotta have a few really cold snaps to get that going.  Could change it with some leeks.

Ivory