THERE'S NO VEGETABLE LIKE THE ONE YOU GREW YOURSELF
Byline: Richard Donley Fox
Among life's natural pleasures it's hard to imagine anything more satisfying than plump
ripe tomatoes or cool crisp lettuce freshly harvested from your own garden.
Imagine the difference these would make at any meal. Think how you'd enhance an ordinary pot roast with genuine home-grown carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic and spices.
Not you, you say? Just a dream? Well, backyard vegetable gardening is a lot easier than you might think. And besides producing some fine-tasting fresh food, your garden can save you a few dollars, too.
All you need to get started is space in the backyard, eight railroad ties, a handful of seeds, a few plants and some mulch.
You can build an 8-by-8-foot raised-bed garden, including the railroad ties for about $100. Check the Yellow Pages under ''railroad ties'' for creosote-free ties and shop around for the best price. Most suppliers will deliver them.
Arrange four ties on the ground to form a large square. Stack the other four ties on top. The nice thing about this setup is that it's quick and easy to construct, yet it is so compact that even a condominium dweller is likely to have room for one. Build it directly over your lawn or consider putting it on a patio. Just choose a spot that gets some afternoon shade in the summer months but catches all the rays from the lower-angled winter sun. If your choices are limited , pick the sunniest location.
Once your railroad tie bed frame is up, phone around for the best price on garden mulch in 3-cubic-foot bags. Shopping around will pay off because you'll need about 15 bags.
Fill the raised bed with mulch and you're ready for planting. If you are worried about building over Bermuda grass, don't be. Any Bermuda that manages to push through is easily removed from the mulch. In fact, weeds are seldom a problem with this system.
This is the time to start your winter crop. Reserve about a square yard for lettuce. You can mix two or three varieties in this area. Plan on eating your lettuce in four to five weeks. As they sprout, thin them out by pulling seedlings. You'll enjoy your lettuce at its best, when it is most tender and sweet. As the plants become larger, you can continue to thin them to prevent overcrowding and feast as you go through the season.
To help with insect control, line the entire border with onions. It is quicker and easier to purchase ''sets'' at a nursery. Don't think of it as cheating. It just makes sense.
Plant radishes in small areas throughout. Do this every six to eight weeks to ensure a full season's supply.
For a whole season of carrots, put in a second area about four to six weeks after the initial planting. As for broccoli, wait until the plant produces one full head, then cut it back to the point where one or two leaves are growing near the base. A new full head will grow. This can be done several times throughout the season.
You can enjoy Swiss chard all winter by harvesting the largest leaves for each meal, leaving the main plant intact to continue producing leaves. This same technique can be used with lettuce.
For peas, build a small trellis in the center of the bed and let them climb it.
When spring arrives and as soon as there is no chance of frost, it is time to start your summer garden.
If you've eaten all your small onions, plant a new crop. You'll probably still have carrots by then, but if not, put in more.
Squash is a fruitful plant. Plant one yellow squash and one zucchini plant. They will produce more than enough squash, and you'll probably be searching for zucchini muffin recipes to help use up all that you cannot give away.
In the center of the garden put in one or two tomato plants. In the Arizona climate the practical growing season for tomatoes is just too short to raise tomatoes from seeds unless you have the patience and foresight to start them indoors some six to eight weeks earlier. If you don't, get sprouts from a nursery. Many nurseries grow them on a wire tower that comes with the plant in a 5-gallon container.
Eggplant and peppers are also best acquired ready-started in pots instead of seeds. Just about everything else is fine in seeds.
A small garden can accommodate only one artichoke plant. Place it in a corner.
On the whole, don't worry too much about overcrowding. Most vegetables actually do better in a crowd, and some combinations really thrive on togetherness. For example planting basil next to your tomatoes benefits both. Scatter herbs and other small plants around the bed where space permits.
Growing vegetables for yourself and your family probably will make you feel better for several reasons. For one thing, you'll have saved a few dollars and you'll have had fun doing it. For another, you won't have to wonder what chemicals were sprayed on your food: none, unless you did it.
But best of all is the personal satisfaction -- you did it. It's one thing to think about growing vegetable but it's really something else to bite into a part of nature's bounty that you helped along. It tastes more than good: It's great. So stop thinking about it and go do it. You'll thank yourself.
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Type of story: COMMUNITY VIEW / OPINION
This guest opinion column is by Richard Donley Fox.