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If you want to nourish both body and soul, grow a vegetable Garden.
Harvest sun-warmed tomatoes on a summer afternoon, share home-grown spinach with your
neighbor and observe the butterflies that visit your plants. Even a small Garden adds delight and
satisfaction to your life.
Site selection and soil preparation
It's not too late to begin a Garden. Choose a sunny, level spot where water doesn't collect
in puddles. Add organic matter to improve soil texture, aeration and drainage. Apply one to two
inches of decomposed organic matter on the soil surface and till it in at least eight to ten inches
deep.
The best organic amendments include relatively coarse, partially decomposed compost and
aged barnyard manure. Manures should be at least one year old. Fresh manure usually is too
high in ammonia, which injures plant roots. It also can carry the bacteria that contributes to E.
coli illness. Continued heavy applications of manure may increase soil salts to harmful levels, a
condition that periodic soil testing will help avoid. Because of high salts, avoid repeated use of
most feedlot manures.
Extra soil nitrogen usually is needed when applying materials such as straw, sawdust or other
stemmy plant tissue with high carbon: nitrogen ratios. Materials with high carbon:nitrogen
ratios such as straw, sawdust or other stemmy plant tissue with high with high carbon:nitrogen
ratios can cause a temporary nitrogen deficiency in the soil.
Leafy Crops
Leaf lettuce is easy to grow and many kinds are ready to eat 40-45 days from planting. Each
variety has a distinctive texture and leaf shape. Many companies sell blends of leaf lettuce that
contain seeds of several varieties. Some of these blends are so attractive they make a nice flower
bed border. Add a few feet of spinach and you'll harvest your own gourmet spring salads. Both
leaf lettuce and spinach do better in cool weather and are planted about four weeks before the
date of average last frost.
Swiss chard is a heat-tolerant green. Cooked, it is similar to spinach. Plant it about two
weeks before the date of average last frost.
Root Crops
Beets and carrots are planted about two weeks before the date of the average last frost. They
are good Crops for small Gardens because they require little space. Carrot seeds are tiny and
should be planted only 1/2 inch deep. For heavy soils the stump-rooted or half-long varieties might be
more satisfactory than slender-rooted ones.
Tomatoes
Select a location for tomatoes that receives full sunlight eight or more hours a day.
A good transplant should be at least as wide as it is high, with a stem the size of a pencil and
slight purpling at the base of the stem. The transplant also should have dark green, thick and
turgid foliage. Quick-maturing varieties generally do better in this area. Plant outside after
danger of frost is past. When setting out transplants remove any fruit already set on the tomato,
but do not remove any leaves. From the time of transplanting until late August, apply about one
inch of water per week. Irrigate early in the day to allow plants to dry off well before sunset.
Low night temperatures are the most frequent cause of poor fruit set. Tomatoes set fruit best
when night temperatures are 57 - 68 degrees F and day temperatures are 70 - 86 degrees F.
For more information on Gardening, contact your
local Colorado State University Extension office.
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