Garden Primer Patience pays when you’re a novice at planting

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The nursery rhyme asks, “Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?”

I say, who has time to worry about Mary’s garden? I’m too busy trying to figure out how to plant my own. For the budding green thumb, the task can be daunting or at least seem that way. There are so many variables, and they can be a bit confusing.

Many seed packets advise planting anywhere from 12 to two weeks before the last frost. But what happens if you don’t know when the last frost is? Worse still, what do you do if the ground’s still frozen 12 weeks out? And what about the old-timers who tell you not to put anything in the ground until Memorial Day?

Gleason Gray, an educator for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Orono, has all the advice you’ll need: take a deep breath, relax, and by all means slow down.

“The biggest mistake people make is trying to get going too early,” Gray said. “People who plant gardens at the end of May will have good gardens.”

But even that has its exceptions. There are cool-season crops and warm-season crops (see sidebar). The cool-season crops thrive in the chilly evenings and moderate temperatures of early spring. So if your peas aren’t in the ground yet, they should be. Ditto for spinach, which withers in the heat.

When these start to fade, the warm-season crops, which love dazzlingly hot, sunny days, take center stage. But if you plant corn or melons too early, you’ll have any number of problems.

“All seeds have a minimum germination temperature, and that varies from crop to crop,” Gray said. “If you plant too early, there’s a really good chance that either insects or rot will destroy the seeds before they have a chance to germinate.”

Of course, what’s too early in Presque Isle could be just right in Frankfort – it all depends on what hardiness zone you live in. To find out, visit www.umext.maine.edu. If you don’t know what a hardiness zone is, take heart. For the absolute beginner, even the simplest lingo can seem daunting. My grandfather-in-law, who’s been farming for years, knows what “as soon as the soil can be worked” means. I, on the other hand, needed translation.

“Dry enough to work without being sticky,” Gray said. “If you work it when it’s too wet you … build clods, which won’t break down easily, and that can be an issue.”

But you need to till it up early enough to send a soil sample in to be tested. The results will come back with specific recommendations on how to amend your soil (how much nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus to add). Since time is of the essence, you may want to add organic matter (compost, manure, peat moss, etc.) while you wait for your results. For the average home gardener, Gray recommends retesting the soil every two to three years. Commercial growers need to test their soil annually because their livelihood depends on it.

“It would be rare – it’s not impossible – but it would be rare to overdo it,” Gray said.

If your soil is heavy in clay, it will drain too slowly. If it has too much sand, it won’t hold water. Adding organic matter, which breaks down into rich humus, will take care of both problems by spacing out the clay and binding together the sand.

“Organic matter is the answer,” said Lois Stack, an ornamental horticulture specialist with the Cooperative Extension. “Managing soil – it’s the physics, but it’s also the chemistry.”

Once you amend the soil, write down what you added. In time, your gardening notebook will become your best friend. It will allow you to keep track of soil composition, what seeds and seedlings you planted, what worked, what didn’t, and what you hope to do next year.

One thing you still have time to do this year is build a raised bed, which looks like a sandbox filled with dirt and, eventually, plants. It’s an easy way to extend the growing season, which tops out around 120 days in the Bangor area. Raised beds warm up faster in the spring, cool down more slowly in the fall, and drain more efficiently than their ground-level counterparts, according to Stack.

Plastic mulch, which is laid over rows and tucked in at the sides, is another way to give your warm-season crops a head start. It comes in many colors, including silver, which is said to deflect pests, but basic black is a good bet for first-timers. Black plastic absorbs heat from the sun, which raises the temperature of the soil underneath 3 or 4 degrees. It also holds in moisture and all but eliminates weeds.

“It’s a short growing season, which lasts from about May 25 to Sept. 25,” Stack said. “It’s a cool season. We don’t have very many days over 90 degrees. That’s one of the reasons we love Maine, but it’s also one of the reasons why plants that require a long period of warm weather don’t do well here.”

Stack and Gray both urge gardeners to experiment with new crops and new varieties, but anything that requires more than 120 days to mature is a gamble (check the seed packet). Okra and sweet potatoes won’t thrive here, nor will beefsteak tomatoes. Table grapes do OK in Maine, but wine and raisin grapes don’t.

“Certainly, Maine is at the end of the world garden-wise,” Gray said.

Your options may be limited, but a trip to your local farmers market will show you just how much will grow here. Seed companies based in Maine and Canada are your best bet for varieties that won’t let you down. Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Winslow, Veseys Seed in Prince Edward Island, Pinetree Garden Seeds in New Gloucester, and Fedco Seeds, a co-op in Waterville, are good choices.

“They all are really working with materials for this climate,” Gray said. “These are a good source of seeds that will do well in this area.”

When you get your seeds, don’t feel the need to use all of them. Follow the spacing directions on the packet, because trying to crowd too many plants into a small spot won’t do you any good. It could also stifle air flow, which promotes disease.

“More plants will simply produce less per plant,” Gray said. “The cost of the seed is incidental. It’s the after-effects of overplanting that are more disastrous than wasting 50 cents on bean seed.”

Equally disastrous is the proliferation of weeds. If you catch them early, you can control them quite easily by plucking them out or simply running your hand over them. If you see a few small weeds on Monday, you may be tempted to wait until the weekend to pull them out. Don’t, Gray says, because they can take hold quickly and rob your well-prepared soil of water and nutrients.

Ditto if you start to slack off in September. If you let the weeds go to seed, they’ll multiply, sometimes thousand-fold.

“Most people start strong, but they don’t do very well at the end of the season. It’s almost over and they’re getting kind of tired,” Gray said. “That’s a real danger. You should keep your garden clean all the way through.”

Of course, it’s May, and right now you’re filled with energy and ideas. So go out and plant. Make sure to weed, and soon, you’ll have enough carrots, lettuce, radishes and zucchini to feed the neighbors, too. Who needs silver bells and cockleshells, anyway?

Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.

Garden resources

“The Garden Primer,” by Barbara Damrosch

“Square Foot Gardening” by Mel Bartholomew (visit www.squarefootgardening.com)

“Home Vegetable Gardening,” UM Cooperative Extension, www.umext.maine.edu/publications/homegarden

Johnny’s Selected Seeds, www.johnnyseeds.com

Fedco Seeds catalog (no longer available for the 2004 season. In December, check www.fedcoseeds.org)

Veseys Seed, www.veseyseed.com

Pinetree Garden Seeds, www.superseeds.com

People, Places & Plants magazine, www.ppplants.com

Cool-season crops

Broccoli

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Chinese cabbage

Kale

Kohlrabi

Lettuce

Mustard greens

Peas

Radish

Rutabagas

Spinach

Turnips

Warm-season crops

Melons

Cucumber

Eggplant

Beans

Peppers

Pumpkins

Squash

Sweet corn

Tomatoes