Starting A Vegetable Garden
Make a plan for weeding, pest management and water irrigation. Keep in mind that a vegetable garden needs full sun, 8 or more hours per day. It also should be near a water source for consistent watering, such as a garden hose hookup or rain barrel.
Vegetables can be grown and harvested year-round for fresh eating. However, the plants that can be grown will vary with the seasons. Eliot Coleman has written books on vegetable gardening in Maine with the help of low and high tunnels. He is able to harvest vegetables year-round throughout the harsh Maine winters so we can do this in Kentucky as well.
Most gardeners focus on the traditional summer crops planted one time: tomatoes, squash, peppers, potatoes, corn, green beans, and other beans. But it is possible to extend your harvest of warm season crops into the fall with successive plantings of bush green beans, corn, and squash. And many cool season crops that can withstand cool fall days, frost, and even freezing temperatures, can be started now. July through mid-August is the time to plant beets, Bibb Lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, endive, bush green beans, kale, kohlrabi, leaf lettuce, mustard greens, turnips, rutabagas. Snow peas can be planted in August and spinach can be planted in August and September.
High or low tunnels, covered with plastic or floating row cover (a material similar to cheesecloth), can protect warm season crops, and allow them to persist through the first cold spell or two in the fall. The tunnels can increase the temperature inside the tunnel 4-6 degrees, enough to allow continued growth of cool season crops in the fall. Many cool season crops growth under a low or high tunnel can be harvested in the dead of winter, whenever the temperatures are above freezing. The key to growing crops for winter harvest is to have plants reach 75 percent maturity by November when temperatures and solar radiation levels decline significantly. In the dead of winter there is about 2.5 less hours of daylight, and the intensity of the light is lower because the sun stays lower on the horizon. While the low sunlight levels and cold temperatures prevent significant plant growth, the crops will hold their quality and flavor. When temperatures reach freezing, cool season greens will wilt but they will recover and can be harvested when temperatures rise above freezing. Root crops like carrots store more sugars in the fall months and have improved flavor. Brassica crops perform better in Kentucky when grown in the fall. These include Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli.
A high tunnel planting calendar is available at uky.edu/ccd/production/system-resources/gh-ht/plantingdates, choose region one for western Kentucky. Our ID-128 Home Vegetable Gardening in Kentucky also gives planting dates for seeding, transplanting, etc. If you would like a copy of these contact the Lyon County Extension Office, 270-388-2341. The Cooperative Extension Service prohibits discrimination in its programs and employment on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability.
Source: heraldledger.com
