To start, what is succession planting? It is simply planting a vegetable, harvesting it and then planting something else in the same place.  Sometimes you can get three crops from the same the garden area.  This allows you to harvest a wide variety of food from a small space, keep the weeds down and keep the soil healthy.  You must remember to add compost or other organic amendments to the soil to replace what the vegetables have used for their nutrients.

How can you do this in your garden? You can plant peas – or any of the other cool season crops — as soon as the soil is workable.  Once the hot weather sets in, usually after Memorial Day, you can plant your warm season crops, such as tomatoes or peppers.

These will be small plants and the cool season plants will be larger. Soon the cool season crops will bolt or be done for the season.  At the same time, the warm season crops will really start to grow.

In August you can replant your cool season crops again.  Perhaps this time you want spinach or Swiss chard.  Plant them right near or behind the tomatoes or peppers. After the frost takes the peppers or tomatoes and you clean up the area, you find that the spinach is ready for you to start harvesting.

Because the soil was warmer when you planted them in August the seeds germinated faster.  These cool season crops will handle a few light frosts, but you might want to consider covering them for the hard frosts.  Even if there is some damage, they will often continue to grow on those warm October days.

Some suggested succession combinations:

• Peas, tomatoes, lettuce
• Lettuce, peppers, spinach
• Radish, peppers, lettuce
• Spinach, summer squash, Swiss chard
• Mustard greens, beans, lettuce
• Cabbage (early) beans, spinach
• Broccoli, tomatoes, mustard greens

You can even increase your growing time in the spring by using a low row cover or cloches to warm up the soil for planting even earlier.  Using the row covers in the fall for frost protection will extend your growing time at the end of the season. You can add two months or more growing time and two or more harvests of different crops by using these simple techniques in the same small garden space that you currently garden in.

There are many things you could know. Where do you start? Let’s keep it simple and basic so you can realize as much success as possible this year.

First, you need to build a foundation for your veggies and herbs. You start with the soil. But what’s in your soil and how do you know? Get a soil test from the University of Minnesota.  For $15 the soil test will tell you what the nutritional levels are in your garden. That is, what level of Nitrogen (essential for leaf growth), Phosphorous (essential for flower, fruit production), and Potassium (for strong stems and overall health of the plant) is in your soil?  Information from the soil test is located at http://soiltest.cfans.umn.edu/.

Is there enough organic matter in your soil? Not enough? Add composted manure, which is available at your favorite garden center. The same soil test will let you know that. It will identify the pH level. If your pH number is low, your soil is acidic and you may need to add hydrated lime to “sweeten” it. Just sprinkle it on the ground. Too high a number means your soil is too alkaline and you may need to add peat or pine needles to lower it.

A soil test will also identify what type of fertilizer, if any, you need and in what amount. All fertilizer includes at least three elements—Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), and Potassium (K). Each element is expressed as a number and that number correlates to the number of pounds the element has in a 100 pound bag of fertilizer. So a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10 means there are 10 pounds of N-P-K per 100 pounds.

Second, keep it simple the first year. Plant varieties of vegetables and herbs that you like to eat, but don’t go overboard. Plant what I call psychological reinforcers or ego-boosters. These are varieties that mature quickly and take a minimum amount of care and maintenance. They can make you look like a seasoned gardener.

Some examples of these quickies include radishes, lettuces, beets (and beet greens), turnips, chards, spinach, broccoli raab, kohlrabi, onion sets, and some Asian greens such as kailan and choy sam. Basil is an easy herb to grow as is lemon grass and lemon verbena. Mint is very easy to grow, but it can take over your garden. Plant it in a container!

Are you feeling lucky and think you can push the envelope the first year? Plant a few tomatoes (cherry-type are the easiest to grow), peppers, bush beans, and maybe some bush cucumbers. As you gain experience and confidence, consider planting summer and winter squash, peas, potatoes (Irish and Sweet), and maybe a hot pepper plant or two.

Third, how large a garden do you want? If you are going to hand-dig your garden, make it as large as your body tells you. When you start to ache from digging and turning over the soil, stop! After digging, comes raking to smooth the surface. You can always expand your garden in the fall or early next year.

Fourth, you say you don’t have a “dirt garden?” Do you have a deck? A balcony? A patio? Can you install hooks in a roof overhang? Think containers. Place containers on your deck, balcony, or patio or containers that you can hang from the side of your condo or apartment. You can grow any vegetable or herb in a container, including corn. Use a 6” container for most herbs. Depending on the variety, tomatoes require the equivalent of a 5-gallon container. Only use potting soil and some composted material in a container. Never use soil from your yard. It contains weed seeds, insect eggs, and soil borne diseases.

How to avoid some common mistakes

• Start with a plan. What do you want to grow? What do you like to eat? How many radishes do you really want?
• Do you have enough sun to grow tomatoes or peppers? Both need at least 6 hours of sun a day. Plants that tolerate less sun include most leaf vegetables, such as lettuces, beet greens, chards, chicory, and spinach.
• Read the directions on your seed packet or plant label. There is a lot of information that will tell you how to plant and grow the veggie—how deep to plant it, how much spacing between plants and between rows, how much sun does it require, when to harvest it, and so on.
• Failure to read and follow the directions on any insecticide or herbicide you purchase can be a major health problem for you, your family, and the environment. We use and consume too many chemicals as it is.
• Folks tend to get panicky when they see critters crawling on their plants. There are many beneficial insects. They eat the bad bugs. Spraying insecticides can kill the good bugs. Hand-pick them instead of reaching for the can of chemicals. Some of the good bug critters include bees, hornets, wasps, lacewings, ladybugs, and a wide range of ground beetles. All are carnivorous. They do not eat your plants.
• Most people apply too much fertilizer to their lawn (at best you only need two applications per season—spring and fall) and to their garden. You do not need to fertilizer every two weeks. Once or twice a season should be sufficient. Typically you do not need fertilizer after the first of August. And remember whenever there is a thunder-boomer you are getting free fertilizer—Nitrogen is released during a lightening storm.
• Folks tend to water their plants when it is convenient to them, rather than when the plants need it. It is best to water early in the morning. This gives the foliage time to dry as the sun rises. Early morning watering keeps foliar diseases to a minimum. Compared to overhead watering, drip irrigation can conserve water and minimize foliar diseases. However, the benefits are similar when you overhead-water during the early morning hours.
• Folks sometimes forget that rain is an example of overhead watering. Overhead watering is not bad when you do it early.

Gardening does not have to be work! Keep it simple. Keep it manageable. Read and follow directions (yes, gentlemen that means you!). Use your hand, not the can, to remove the bad bugs. Whether you are gardening at home or in a community garden, gardening can bring generations together. Grandparents, children, and grandchildren can all take part. Involve the kiddies so they understand that not all food comes from a can or package.

Raising some of your own veggies is healthier for you. You not only get beneficial exercise, you also get fresh, chemical-free food. Taste the difference and have fun.

Most every commercial potting mix contains sphagnum peat moss because it’s a good, lightweight, organic amendment that improves drainage, as well as water retention and air circulation. The downside to peat moss is that it isn’t a sustainable resource. Peat moss is the decomposing remains of living sphagnum moss, and it is harvested at unsustainable rates from bogs in a manner than involves scraping off the top layer of the living moss to get to the saleable product below.

This process destroys centuries-old bogs, doing away with wildlife habitat, releasing C02 into the air, and eliminating wetlands that help prevent flooding. Because of this, conservationists and scientists all over the world have been pushing for limits and even bans on peat moss harvesting.

In Britain, for example, where peat is often burned for fuel, harvesting has become so intense that the government has set goals for phasing out peat for home gardening use by 2020. Professional growers will need to go peat free by 2030. For more information, check out the Royal Horticulture Society’s website: http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Sustainable-gardening/Peat-and-the-environment/More-about-peat.

Peat-free options

Most of the peat used by the horticultural industry in the U.S. comes from Canada where talk of limits and bans is also heating up. So, whether you are concerned about the sustainability of peat of not, now seems like as good a time as any to explore some peat-free potting soil options.

Topping the list of sustainable peat alternatives is coconut coir. Coir is coconut husk fiber, a byproduct of the coconut industry in Southeast Asia where it is largely considered waste. Dehydrated and sold as small bricks or bales, coir can hold nearly 10 times its weight in water. In fact, researchers at Auburn University and the University of Arkansas recently compared peat and coir and found that the two were on par as soil amendments (http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/coir-sustainable-alternative-peat-moss-garden.) Like peat, coir is low in nutrients, but it is also less acidic than peat.

You can buy peat-free potting soil mixes, which are slightly more expensive than peat-based blends, and consist primarily of compost, pine bark (or another type of bark) and coconut coir. Some mixes may also contain materials that help to improve drainage such as perlite (a type of volcanic ash) and vermiculite (a mineral that is heated to a high temperature so it expands and holds more air).

You’ll save money if you make your own peat-free potting soil. And it’s easiest to buy your ingredients and mix them in a wheelbarrow before filling your containers. Here are a few recipes that are easy, affordable and still offer good drainage.

For seedlings:

• 1 part compost
• 2 parts coconut coir
• 1 part builder’s (sharp) sand

For ornamental plants:

• 1 part coconut coir (follow package directions for wetting the coir before use)
• 1 part compost
• 1 part good garden topsoil
• 1 part builder’s sand or perlite

For edibles:

• 2 parts compost
• 2 parts coconut coir
• 1 part builder’s sand

Keep in mind that compost makes a good slow-release fertilizer. But container-grown plants, especially edibles, will need additional nutrients throughout the season. Some good choices include: additional compost, bone meal, vermicompost (worm poo), fish emulsion and alfalfa meal.

Get more gardening tips at Meleah’s blog: www.everydaygardener.com.

Our weather pattern is changing. Remember the good old days of freezing cold, snow then crystal blue skies? Now we have freezing rain, cold, slushy snow, gray and overcast skies. Will the changes be long lasting? Will the changes be good or bad?  Does anyone really know? Regardless, prepare to modify some of your traditional gardening practices. If we are in a warming trend (yes, we are), you will need to make some changes if you expect to have a bountiful harvest.

Most vegetables are categorized into two types: cool-weather and warm-weather. Cool-weather plants do well in the spring and fall, while warm-weather plants prefer plenty of sun and heat. That said, just because warm-weather plants can thrive in hot (and possibly drier) weather does not mean that they can stand too much direct sun or prolonged heat. And they need water, regardless. You can help your plants through the hotter, drier conditions.

As home gardeners, we should not become overly hysterical about whether we get our quota of sufficient rain in our vegetable garden. We can control the amount of moisture our plants receive by simply watering them.  If nature is not supplying the moisture, give your plants plenty of water. If you use containers, you will need to water more frequently, perhaps every day depending on the weather, but that is not a hardship. Your plants will appreciate your extra efforts to keep them alive and well.

Here is a list of some herbs and vegetables that can tolerate drier conditions and higher temperatures.

• Amaranth (harvest and eat leaf amaranth like spinach)
• Arugula
• Asian Greens (a wide selection here)
• Asparagus. This is a perennial. You plant it once and let it grow in that same area. Don’t move it! A well prepared bed will produce spears for at least 15-20 years. And that is a cost effective bargain!
• Beans (bush and pole)
• Broccoli (Sun King Hybrid)
• Cabbage
• Chards
• Chinese Cabbages
• Cowpeas
• Cucumbers
• Dandelion
• Eggplant*
• Endive
• Garlic
• Leeks
• Lettuces (leaf varieties, harvest young and early in the season)
• Melons (cantaloupe, honey-dew, watermelons, etc.)
• Okra
• Onions (sets and plants)
• Peppers* (sweet and hot peppers)
• Pumpkins
• Rhubarb. This is a perennial and another cost effective bargain. Again, plant it where it can remain for a number of years. If you need to divide or move it, do it as soon as it breaks the surface in early spring)
• Spinach (New Zealand, Malabar)
• Squash (summer and winter)
• Sweet Corn (lots to choose from-white, yellow, yellow and white)
• Sweet Potatoes (Georgia Jet, Vardaman, Wakenda)
• Tomatoes (thousands to choose from-Solar Fire, Sun Leaper, Sunmaster, Equinox, many cherry varieties)
• Woody stemmed herbs (Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Winter Savory)

Mulching your plants will help retain moisture, keep the soil cooler, and keep weeds under control. Use grass clippings, straw, marsh hay, newspaper, and cardboard. You can plant cool weather crops such as lettuces, radishes, and salad greens, but plant them early in the season and harvest them earlier, before the hotter, drier weather appears.

If you grow chards and dandelions, do not remove the whole plant. Cut it about 2” above the soil line for a continuous crop. Cabbage? Remove the head about 2” above the soil line. The plant could produce 3 to 4 baseball sized heads later in the season.

*Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplants are heat loving plants. However, you will notice blossoms dropping and lower yields when the daytime temperatures remain above 95 degrees and night time temperatures remain above 85 degrees for an extended period of time, e.g., several concurrent days. In addition, the fruit can develop sunscald if exposed to too much direct sun.

You can provide some relief from the heat by using shade cloth to protect your eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes. No need to buy anything fancy. Purchase the porous shade cloth that you use to cover a dog kennel. Depending on the product, shade cloth can lower the temperature by approximately 5-15 degrees. Place the shade cloth on the south side of your plants. In addition, place taller plants, such as tomatoes or corn on the south side of your lettuce, chards, and endive. This will create some shade and slightly lower temperatures.

Many vegetables will tolerate brief periods of higher heat and lower moisture conditions. This list will give you a starting point for selecting herbs and vegetables that typically are more naturally tolerant to drought and higher temperatures.

Questions? Comments? Please contact me at larryc@cci4360.com.

The word “permaculture” was first used in 1978 by Bill Mollison, an Australian ecologist, and one of his students, David Holmgren. It is a contraction of “permanent agriculture” or “permanent culture.” Permaculture can be described as designing ecological human habitats and food production systems. It is a land use and community building movement which works towards the integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities. The focus is not on the elements themselves, but instead on the relationships created among them. Mimicking the patterns found in nature further enhances this synergy.

Wow, that sounds pretty involved doesn’t it? Well it is and it can be, but anyone can incorporate permaculture into their way of gardening at any level. Use just one aspect of permaculture, for example, build healthy soil and do not disturb the healthy soil by yearly tilling and you will see an increase in the health of the plants and you see the plants become more productive, the weeds are crowded out and pollinators and insect predators abound.

Each small step reinforces the previous step and opens the way for the next.  Soon you will notice that you, the human component in this garden, need to do little work and yet can reap many benefits.  The plants seem to ‘take care of themselves’.  This is what nature does when allowed to function sustainably. The individual systems interlock.

Problems are not problems but opportunities to refine the systems, to create new connections. Nature is studied and copied.

• Walking paths are set up to copy the veins in a leaf.  The paths start larger, and then branch off to smaller less used paths that wind their way between plants.
• Water is captured and stored in plants and in the ground (or in rain barrels) for use later.
• Plants are grown to draw up the deep minerals and nutrients, and then the plants are used as a mulch to release these minerals and nutrients to plants with less deep root systems.
• Carbon is sequestered. Energy is recycled and recycled time and time again.

Nothing goes to waste, and nothing is lost. Vast inputs of time, energy, fertilizer, and chemicals become things of the past. The entire system operates efficiently. We can garden using permaculture as our guide and we also can build our communities to become just as strong using similar reinforcing connections.

You can start using permaculture methods quite easily. In fact if you are composting, collecting rainwater, gardening organically, growing heirlooms or any other number of ‘sustainable’ activities you are already on the permaculture path.

Well it’s winter, the snow is falling and it is time to start planting those vegetable and flower seeds outside in Minnesota.  Wait! What??  Yes I did say you can plant outside now, but in a very special way.  It is called Winter Sowing.  Here’s how to do it.

1. Cut a plastic milk jug nearly in half.  You should have a base container and a flip top.  Remove the cap; you will not need it again.
   1. Other plastic containers work, too.  Remember they must have covers with openings in them and be able to have drainage holes.  Be creative!

2.  Now add the potting soil or seed starting soil to the jug (depth 2-4”).

3.  Add water to the soil so that it is quite muddy.

4.  Now plant your seeds.  One variety per container is best.  You decide how many seeds to plant; most will sprout so consider that when planting.

5.  Make sure to label the container well.  I label the container and add a label inside the container.

6.  Using duct tape, tape the container closed (remember the cap is NOT ON).

7.  Now take the container outside and with a knife or sharp object poke a few holes in the bottom for drainage.

8.  Set the container down. It can sit in the snow, on the patio, or anywhere else that is not in direct sunlight.  A north or east exposure is best.

You can start almost any seed using this method except those seeds that are sensitive to frost.  Root crops may not be the best as you must transplant them and they don’t like that.  However, this year I am trying radishes as I always wait too long to plant them outside and then it’s too warm.  I plan on harvesting the radishes from the container, not transplanting them.

You can start doing this anytime in January forward.  March is a great time to set out your winter sowing of tomatoes and peppers.

Once the plants start to sprout, you have to care for them.  Make sure to open the containers on warm days and if the nights will be frosty close the containers again in the evening.

Make sure to keep the plants watered.  When the soil is ready in your garden or containers and the weather is right, go ahead and transplant your winter-sown plants.  They will have been fairly well hardened off.

So what’s great about winter sowing?  No grow lights, no heating pads, no damping off, no spilled trays and yet lots of plants.  If you want more information you can go to http://www.wintersown.org/

Happy Winter Sowing!

For me, this is one of the best times of the gardening year.  I can get really serious about planning my annual vegetable gardens, and so far no deer, rabbits, squash vine bore or disease have attacked my garden.

Over the next week, I will prepare my seed starting area, and by the end of the month my eggplants, peppers, cabbage, broccoli, and parsley will begin their journey from seeds to my dinner table.  Tomatoes will need to wait until about March 20 for their trip.  Like any worthwhile gardening project, starting seeds isn’t easy, but it is both financially and emotionally rewarding.  It also lets us grow varieties to transplant that we may not find at our favorite garden center. My process is a bit labor intensive, but it works well.  Here’s what I do.

1. Starting Seeds – Start seeds in small divided containers.  The trays that I use have between 24 and 36 individual cells.  I keep mine from year to year, but wash them out with a 10% bleach mixture before planting.  This helps prevent any disease that may be lingering around from the prior year.
2. Planting Seeds – Plant the seeds at the depth called for on the seed packet.  Either buy a sterile pre-mixed potting mix or make your own soil-less mixture with vermiculite and peat.
3. Using Heat – Heat is essential for a good germination.  Peppers and eggplants, for example, do best when the soil temperature is around 80 F.  If you start seeds in a cool area of your home, like a basement, the temperature may be well below what seedlings require to germinate.  Heating pads designed for seed starting can placed under the starting trays serve to keep the potting mixture warm which makes the plants germinate sooner, produce healthy root systems, and prevent damping off disease.   A friend used these heating pads last year and convinced me of their value.  Our peppers were started on the same day, but hers were 8 inches taller than mine at transplant time.
4. Using Grow Lights.  You can make your own grow lights using a fluorescent light fixture with either cool white or a combination of cool white and warm white bulbs.  Use a timer to give the seedlings about 14 hours of light per day.  Simply placing the seedlings in a well lit part of your home is not recommended.  The plants will tend to become spindly, and may not do well because of the variation in temperature.
5. Controlling Moisture – Don’t soak the potting soil.  At the same time don’t let it dry out.  I keep a spray bottle nearby to moisten the potting soil as needed.
6. Protecting Seedlings – I prefer not to cover my seed trays because I have had some disease problems in the past when I covered them.  If you do cover them, be sure to remove the coverings as soon as the plants germinate.  I also have had good success in keeping disease issues away by placing a fan on low speed aimed at the seedlings.
7. Transplanting Seedlings – Transplant the seedlings to a larger potting container once the seedlings reach 2 – 3 inches in height.  That process, however, is still weeks away.  For now, I’m just excited to get my fingernails dirty mixing my potting medium.

For more information on seed starting, check out this U of MN link:

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/M1245.html

My orchids didn’t get the best start in life, so it’s no wonder they’ve struggled over the years. Purchased on sale at the grocery store, found abandoned on curbs and plucked from end-of-the-season tables at big-box stores, these orchids are not the Best-In-Show sorts. But, having brought them home, I’ve felt duty-bound to try to do the best by them that I can.

Though they look delicate and elegant to the point of being unreal, it’s honestly not that hard to grow orchids if you pick the right ones and follow a few simple tips. Phalaenopsis, or the moth orchid, are probably the easiest ones to grow. Unlike other orchids, whose flowers can be short-lived, the moth orchid’s showy, colorful blooms (which some say look like moths) can last for weeks, usually from late winter into spring.

You don’t need any special lights to keep these plants happy. Just grow them in an east, west, or shaded south window, out of direct sunlight. You can tell when moth orchids are getting too little sunlight because the dark green foliage will look limp. Cattleya and Dendrobium orchids like the same light conditions and are also easy to grow. Unlike moth orchids that prefer to be watered when the potting mix is still slightly damp, these two orchids will do best if they’re watered when the mix is completely dry.

Fertilizer is the key to getting orchids to rebloom, so be sure to fertilize every week when your orchids are starting to put out new growth as they head into the growing season. Back off to once every other week or even once a month after they’re finished blooming and are ready for a rest. Orchids bloom and rest, bloom and rest, so don’t be alarmed when those beautiful store-bought blooms fade away. Just cut off the spent stalk and keep watering and fertilizing.

You’ll find plenty of orchid fertilizers out there, but any houseplant fertilizer will do. When you feed your orchids, dilute the amount of fertilizer you use to a quarter of what the label recommends. You can always beef up your mixture a bit if you don’t get the growth you should.

Orchids do best in environments with reasonable humidity. So if it’s dry in your house, group your orchid pots on top of a tray or shallow dish filled with pebbles. Keep the water level low enough that the potting mix doesn’t get wet. Repot your orchids every one to two years, usually in the spring when you see new, green tips appearing on the normally white roots.

Next, get your camera ready because you’re going to want to take pictures of the beautiful orchids you grew without much fuss.

Yes winter is coming, the ground will freeze, and snow will fall.   But there is still work to do!  First, let’s discuss the things you should not be doing:

• Don’t prune any trees or shrubs.
• All of your transplanting of perennials and dividing should be done by now.
• Don’t plant evergreen trees or shrubs.
• Do not fertilize any plants now, including your lawn.
• Do not plant grass seed now. (Dormant seeding takes place just before the snowfall.)

Second, here are the things you should do:

• Keep watering everything until the ground starts to freeze, not just till we get the first killing frost. Plant roots are still growing and storing moisture for the winter and spring.
• Clean up any diseased perennials and annuals after the frost kills them and throw them away. Do not put them in your compost. You may send them to the city compost.
• If you have had to pull plants due to aster yellows, you should just throw them away; do not send them to the city compost.
• You can leave all your perennials standing if you wish, except for plants that were hit hard by disease or insects (like four lined plant bugs), and iris and peonies.  All of these should be cleared after frost has killed the above-ground foliage.
• If you had a perennial weed problem, you can spray the weeds now with the correct herbicide.  Always read and follow the directions on the label.  The label is the law!  If you have questions ask a Master Gardener or your trusted garden center personnel.  Hand pulling of weeds is a great way to remove them without chemicals and is a fun workout too!

Third, here are the things you can do now:

• Prepare any new beds for next spring planting.  After you have cleaned up the veggie garden, prepare the soil for next year and then either plant a cover crop (oats are nice because they do not have to be tilled under) or cover the exposed soil after it has frozen with straw or leaves.
• Once the ground is frozen, you can choose whether or not you want to mulch your perennials; it is up to you.  If you planted new perennials this year, you should mulch them the first season to prevent frost heaving.
• Continue to plant spring blooming bulbs now – daffodils as soon as you can and tulips until the ground is frozen.

Other tasks you may want to consider include:

• Protecting trees and shrubs from voles, bunnies and deer.
• Rake leaves and save them for next spring and summer.  Having a bag of leaves is great when you need to add brown material to the compost pile in the middle of summer.  They also can be used as a free source of mulch for your new plantings.
• Remove and store all decorations, tools, and breakable pots.
• Get the snow shovels out.
• Hang Holiday lights.
• Create your winter container arrangements.

Another task is to make notes about what went well in your garden and what did not work well.  Take pictures of the garden.  You can review the pictures during the winter to see what needs work, thinning, moving, etc.  Still can’t figure out what is wrong with the design? Turn the picture upside down, print it in black and white, or reverse the image.  By looking at your ‘problem’ area in a different way, the answer will become easier to see. Keep your notes, pictures and problems/solutions handy when the gardening catalogs start arriving. Your research will help you make good purchasing decisions.

And the final, most important task is to relax and enjoy the end of the season in all of its glory.  Sit back, have a cup of tea and just relax for a few minutes.  Happy Gardening!

Okay, so maybe you are still in the process of putting your yard and gardens to bed for the winter. How did your plantings do this year? Are you thinking about what you want to plant for next year? Not so much? Planning ahead can help you realize better success, with fewer disappointments. What varieties did well for you? Which did not? Plan now to select better varieties and you will realize less stress for you and your plants.

First, decide what you want to grow. Second, are you thinking of seeds or plants or both? If you like to start your own seeds consider buying locally or through one of the many seed catalog companies. Third, how much space do you have for what you want to grow? Fourth, how much sun and shade will your plants have to contend with? Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants need at least 6 hours of full sun to be productive. Leaf crops, such as lettuces, chards, raab, dandelions can tolerate less sun and more shade. Beans, for example, prefer some shade (plant them on the north side of your tomatoes or corn crop).

There are many (I mean a lot!) of places to purchase your seeds and plants, including our local garden centers. Here is a short list of some catalog companies to consider.

• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (Missouri, extensive heirloom selection)
• Comstock, Ferre & Company (Connecticut, oldest operating company in New England, heirloom selections)
• Dixondale Farms (Texas, Onion plants, good prices)
• Johnny’s Select Seeds (Maine, good selection – seeds, plants, supplies)
• Jordan Seeds (Minnesota, good selection, good prices)
• Kitazawa Seed Company (California, specializing in Asian vegetables)
• Richter’s (Ontario, Canada, herb specialists)
• Sand Hill Preservation Center (Iowa, extensive sweet potato selection)
• Seed Savers (Iowa, heirloom and open-pollinated seed varieties)
• Seeds from Italy (Kansas, Italian and Southern European seeds)
• Stokes (New York, great selection – seeds, plants, supplies)
• Territorial Seed Company (Maine, great selection-seeds, plants, supplies)
• Tomato Growers (Florida, extensive tomato, pepper, eggplant selection)
• Totally Tomatoes (Wisconsin, good tomato, pepper selection)
• Vermont Bean Seed (Vermont, bean specialists)

Catalogs can be a great source of information for you about growing conditions in our area, disease tolerance, days to maturity, how many seeds their packet will allow you to plant, planting distances within and between rows, when to harvest, and comparisons between varieties so you can harvest a better, more productive crop. Some even include recipes.

Let’s take a few examples of some typical vegetables that you may want to grow next year. Do you like raising tomatoes? Look for those varieties that are disease resistant. My advice is do not purchase seeds or plants that are labeled simply as “red tomato.” Look at the label. What is the name of the variety? What type of tomato are you buying? Are they disease resistant? Most hybrids are disease resistant, in varying degrees. Heirloom varieties? Not so much.

The more letters you see listed after a tomato variety, for example, the more resistant it is overall to different types of diseases. The key word here is resistant. It does not mean never. Varieties will not be as susceptible to that disease. For now, don’t worry about how to control the disease, just be aware that some varieties are more resistant than others. Here are the letters to look for when purchasing tomato seeds or plants:

• V= Verticillium wilt
• F = Fusarium wilt (FF = Races 1&2, FFF = Races 1, 2, &3)
• N = Nematodes
• T = Tobacco mosaic virus
• A = Alternaria Stem Canker
• St = Stemphylium Gray Leaf Spot
• TSWV = Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus

Other characters to look for in tomatoes are whether they are determinate or indeterminate. Determinant means that the vines make little or no growth once the fruit sets on the plant. Harvest time is short, with all the fruit maturing at about the same time. These are great varieties if you like to can or freeze your crop at the same time (more or less). Indeterminate means that the vines continue to grow. New shoots and blossoms will appear even after the fruit sets. You will be able to harvest tomatoes over a longer period of time.

Some tomato varieties to consider include Jetsetter VFFNTA, Big Beef VFFNTA, Celebrity VFFNTA, First Prize VFFNT, Health Kick VFFA, Super Marzano VFNT, and Viva Italia VFFNA.

Peppers are in the same botanical family as tomatoes (as are eggplants and potatoes). Some disease resistant peppers varieties include Big Bertha PS Hybrid, Blushing Beauty Hybrid, Key West X3R, King Arthur Hybrid, and Red Knight X3R Hybrid. Some eggplant varieties to consider are Hansel, Gretel, Tango, Megal, Black Bell II, Nadia, and Epic.

Do you like cucumbers? Seed catalogs often identify two classes of cucumbers—parthenocarpic and gynoecious. Parthenocarpic plants can set fruit without pollination and gynoecious plants have all female flowers which means higher yields for you.

Cucumbers, like many other plants, are susceptible to different diseases, such as Angular Leaf Spot, Downy Mildew, Powdery Mildew, Anthracnose, and Cucumber Mosaic Virus. Some cucumber varieties to consider include Corninto, General Lee, Olympian, Diva, Intimidator, Cobra, Diomede, Marketmore, and Sultan.

Other curbits (e.g., squash, melons, gourds) are susceptible to many of these same diseases. Some pumpkin (actually a squash) varieties to consider are Mystic Plus, Apollo, Alladdin, and Warlock. Summer squash varieties to consider are Golden Glory, Spineless Perfection, and Reward. For winter squash, consider Taybelle PM, Celebration, Metro PMR, Sunshine, and Sweet Mama.

Whether you purchase seeds locally or through a catalog you need to know how much you are buying for the price they are asking. For example, some catalog companies sell their seeds in sample packs or packets. Some sell by the number of seeds (count), or by grams or ounces (weight), others identify how many feet their sample pack or packet will plant, and still others have a set price per packet regardless of the number of seeds in that packet for that variety. For example, you will get a lot more lettuce seeds than bean seeds, yet pay the same price.

The seeds that you purchase from a catalog almost always have more seeds per packet than what you purchase from a garden center. The better catalog companies provide you with this information above or next to the variety, usually under a heading labeled “growing information” or “culture.”

Consider ordering your seeds by the middle of January. The availability of your selections will be the best. The catalog companies are not as busy then, which means you will receive your seeds within a week or two. If you wait too long, you may be disappointed by not getting what you want.

So plan now for a more successful and enjoyable harvest in 2013.