on your plot

This section will feature one way of planting tomatoes. The steps are as follows: You seed them in
pots at home or in a green house. When they have their second set of leaves, you transplant them
into a larger pot. This step can be repeated as often as necessary until they can be planted in their
final place.
You can use milk cartons or liter bottles if they get really long. You just remove all leaves except
the very top ones and more roots will be formed along the stem that is under the soil.
Now, when it is time to plant them in their final place (the ground) you make a shallow trench with
a deeper place at one end. This is where the main root ball will go. Lay the plant on its side and
cover it completely except for the very top leaves. Prop these up and place a plastic cup or an
empty flower pot over the root ball and partially submerged in the soil.
You give water in the cup to the deep roots and along the underground stem. I have read that the
deep roots take-up water and the roots nearer the surface take up nutrition.
The reason for planting the plants in this way is that the tom's roots like warmth and when planted
this way, they get extra. By laying the plants on their sides the covered stem roots are closer to the
surface. When plant gets this extra warmth it will grow faster than plants that have their roots
planted deeper in the still cold soil. This is helpful, as here in the north we have a shorter growing
season.

There are all kinds of ways that one can seed and plant their beans, I will
show just one of them here below.
We begin by making paper seeding "cups" out of newspaper with a special
little paper roller that we found in Britain. These will be filled with garden
soil, the seeds will be planted in this and then covered with a fine compost.
You water them once then place them together in a container in the green
house to germinate.
They should be up within a week. Wait a few days to to give the roots time
to form a decent clump, then plant them in the place where they will
grow.
We select a place where the beans will come the year before the planting
time.
Once a place has been selected, it is a good idea to make a trench, fill it
with compost or weed cuttings (earlier in the year), and work it through
with regular ground.
Use a tulip planter to make the holes (it should be like a hot knife cutting
through soft butter if the soil texture is correct), fill the holes with water
then lower the plantlets in and cover. When you have finished planting the
row, water it once again...then let Mother Nature do her thing and do
YOUR thing: defrost and clean the freezer.

The cultivation of asparagus on our complex is not widespread, but there are a
few folks that are making the effort.
I visited Gerard Schepers, Lottie 262 and he explained how he does asparagus.

The process of growing asparagus is a long and sometimes tedious job. Having
said that, the hardest work is in the beginning stages with the ground
preparation and development of the mound; after that, it is a relatively simple
matter of maintenance. Perhaps the best aspect of all is that once the bed had
been made, it can be used for 10 - 12 years.
When it comes to harvesting�well who's going to complain about that! One
must only be careful when removing the stalks.
The procedure that is described here is one that you follow every year until the
bed has finished producing.

PREPARATION
The first thing to do is to decide if you want green or white asparagus.
Next decide if you want to buy seeds to plant (which will cost you an extra year
before the first harvest) or buy klauwen (root clumps). Gerard chose for the
latter.

PLANTING
You choose a sunny location with sandyish soil if at all possible.(1) In March,
dig a trench about 30-40 cm deep (� the depth of a spade). The length depends
upon how many plants you want to have.
(2) When the trench is dug, make a small "ridge" in the middle on the bottom of
the trench. You then place the klauwen(roots) flat on top of this ridge, with
the roots spread-out like a spider and space them four per meter. Fill half the
trench with the sandy soil that you dug out to make the trench. The plantlet
roots (klauwen) are to be covered completely�and then just wait.

WAITING/MAINTAINANCE
Let the plants grow until October, at which time; you clip the plants off just
above soil level (3). Add a little sandy soil as necessary. When March rolls around
again, mound-up your plants (4) before the asparagus grows out of the soil. Just
wait until about early May.

HARVESTING
The time from first planting to the first harvest is fourteen months.
You know it's time to begin harvesting when you see the points
breaking-through the soil on top of the mound.
The first year you harvest you can only harvest for about two weeks, then you
must stop in order not to "wear-out" the plants. Harvesting in the following years
can extend to � 21 June before terminating the harvest.
Gerard harvests about eight asparaguses from his bed per day; however, he says
that when things are really going well, it is better�and in fact necessary to
harvest TWICE a day.

HARVESTING METHOD
In early May you will see small, thick, white points protruding through the
top of your mound (5). It's time to harvest!
Begin removing the soil around the asparagus point with your index fingers.
To work deeper, use your index and middle fingers forked-apart (6).
Carefully remove more and more soil until you have reached the depth that
you want (7). You can then cut it with your special tool (8). You may
notice other points working their way upwards; just leave these, as they
will be ready the following day or perhaps the day after (9).
When you have removed the stalk, refill the hole so that the other
upcoming stalks won't become discoloured.
Sometimes you see that the stalks are a bit reddish-coloured or "blue" as
they call them here, and this means that they have had some light exposure.
You can't sell these to a restaurant, he says, but the flavour is not affected,
actually.

JULY is the month when things are not starting to happen�they are ALREADY
happening! Of course there are still things that you can seed and plant out, for that matter�but a
number of veggies are ready for the picking.

Schoffeling and weeding is a maintenance thing that must be done periodically throughout the
season. The more often you do it the easier it is to do. Your plants are not robbed of nutrition and
the plot looks nice and neat as well.

There are some things to think of this month. I will mention a few here. If the weather is still it is a
good idea to tap on your corn plants to cause the pollen to float in the air and hopefully land on the
female tassels. Keep a vigilant eye out for the various garden pests like black fly, caterpillars and
signs of potato blight. Brassicas will be especially targeted by those white butterflies. Mealy aphids
are also about. Keep watering your peppers as once they have begun to flower or the buds may well
drop off and your harvest will be very meagre. Pinch-out flower buds of herbs to induce them to
make more leaves, e.g. mint, coriander and basil. Keep on top of the suckers on your cordon tomato
plants. Check them regularly, as they appear and grow with amazing speed. Be alert for
Phytophthera, especially if you are growing your toms outside. Nip the tops of your runner beans
when they have gone past the upper limit of their racks or wigwams, and keep the runners well
watered (unlike French Beans).

SEEDING
Beets. Carrots - sowing late means that the late carrots will miss the last of the carrot flies. Endive.
French Beans - There may be just enough time for a late crop if you sow now. Coriander and parsley
for late summer use. Lettuce - sowing at periods will give you lettuces right up until the fall. Peas.
Spring cabbages. Perpetual Spinach - if you sow them now you may be able to harvest it right on
through the winter as long as you keep picking the leaves�and you don't let it shoot. Purslane. Swiss
Chard - Sow now for fall picking. They may continue to yield leaves throughout the winter. Just keep
on pickin'.

PLANTING
Artichoikes and Cardoons may still be planted out through mid-July. Late-sowed Cauliflower plants
can still be planted-out, just put some kind of collar around the base of the plants. Things like
yogurt cups with the bottoms out or burlap draped around. Leeks. Celery.

HARVESTING
Broad Beans planted this spring are ready for picking. Runner Beans and French Beans planter this
spring should be beginning to yield some veggies now. Kapucijners and peas. Carrots, beetroot,
lettuce, spring onions, turnips, second early potatoes, courgettes, Swiss chard, perpetual spinach
blueberries, cherries, currents and some raspberries are beginning now.

FRUIT
Pick what's ready. If you are planning on using your fruit to make jelly, jam, preserves or juice and
the pickings now are too scanty�just pick the fruit and freeze them in a container. Repeat this as
long as the pickings are slim and at some point you will have enough to process in whatever way you
wish. Thin-out pears and apples now. Protect your fruit-bearing plants from birds if you haven't
already. Check the ties on your trees and branches to be sure that they are not too constrictive or
are causing friction abrasions. Keep your plants well watered now that they are producing fruit. If
you are having problems with the dryness consider using mulch over the root zone. Water the
ground over the roots very thoroughly, and then apply the mulch and water again. The mulch will
help enormously in keeping surface evaporation to am minimum. Water demand is at its peak
between when the fruit "sets" and when it becomes mature. This period is crucial you may have to
supplement rainfall then. Water shortage at this time will result in small fruits or possibly
"shedding".