The long wait for Maine gardeners begins. Gardening tools lean against basement walls and seed catalogs are piled on tables. Thoughts turn to next year and some people start their first garden.
The first decision for a gardener is where to place the garden. Imagine the sun. Most vegetable plants require at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day. Exceptions are leafy green vegetables such as lettuce and spinach, which are less tolerant of sunlight. If you're currently evaluating potential garden plots, remember that surrounding deciduous trees will provide plenty of shade during the growing season.
Consider good drainage. The soil of your future garden should be loose and well drained. Check as many locations as possible the day after a heavy spring rain. Are there wet areas or standing water pools? After the snow is removed from the ground, remove the areas that do not dry well. To ensure good drainage in your new vegetable garden, I recommend creating raised beds as described below.
What about the size of the garden? Some first-time gardeners may want to start with a very small garden, such as only 10 by 10 feet (100 square feet), and expand over time.
Others may dare. The 20-by-20-foot (400-square-foot) garden will grow a variety of labor-intensive crops, such as corn and winter squash. Even a 12-by-16-foot garden (about 200 square feet) will yield plenty of food, especially if you train cucumbers like cucumbers to grow on a trellis. Of course, the need for plenty of sunlight and good drainage can limit the size of the garden or create two or more small gardens in a larger landscape.
After the location is determined, draw a large-scale drawing on graph paper with the plan of your future garden. Use paper with ¼-inch squares, each square representing one square foot of garden space. Orient the garden so that future flower beds flow from east to west.
In the spring, as soon as the soil can be worked, you take your plans to the actual garden by placing wooden stakes in the four corners of the garden, then turning the garden by hand or by digging, turning and removing the soil. Vegetation existing before the establishment of flower beds.
Raised bed cover
There are several good reasons to garden in raised beds, but the main reason for many Maine gardeners is that our gardens sit on a lightly filled granite ledge, leaving us little topsoil to work with. Such is the situation in Marjorie's garden; In most places, we can't drive more than a few inches into the ground before the pole hits the rock platform.
As mentioned above, planting in raised beds helps compensate for poor drainage after heavy rains. Raised beds also dry out quickly in the spring, allowing for early planting of cool-season crops such as peas, lettuce and spinach. They retain the warmth of sunlight longer into the afternoon and fall, which is a huge advantage for northern gardeners trying to grow heat-loving vegetables like tomatoes, watermelons and squash.
Some of the flower beds in Marjorie's garden have wooden structures, others are surrounded by large stones, which are always plentiful. The layers average about three feet in width and vary in length from several to several feet, with the upper surface tapering slightly to minimize erosion. The adjoining road is about two feet wide.
You can get creative by making raised beds out of logs, rocks, wooden blocks, corrugated iron or wood. Begin construction by cultivating the garden area to improve drainage under the beds, then mark each bed with stakes, string, or framing material.
Remove topsoil from adjacent strips in each bed, add sifted clay as needed, then dig in 2 to 4 inches of compost and remove topsoil. When completed, each bed should be raised about 8 inches above the pavement. Finally, define a path around the bed using wood chips or straw.
You'll be able to plant, fertilize, weed and harvest along each section of the trail, preventing soil compaction and improving drainage that allows air, water and solar heat to reach plant roots. We mulch each year, increasing the height of each bed until some of the soil returns to the road. Every few years we have to restore this damaged land to its rightful place. One year we had enough left over to start a new bed and fill in some gaps in Riley's never-ending search for Brittany's squirrels.
Planting vegetables and small fruits in raised beds will double the space available for plants. Differences in landing distance; Gardeners use row spacing across the entire planting area, excluding "inter-row" spaces. In raised beds, plants form a "living mulch" that holds moisture in the soil and prevents weeds.
