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Re: Speaking of Swiss Chard/Soil Sterilization

Square Foot Gardening List - http://myweb.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html


> I only have 6 plants.  I bought them at the Mum Farm already started.
> The leaves are about 6 - 8 inches long now, and I am wondering if I
> should wait longer or go ahead and harvest the outer leaves.  If I do,
> this will give me about 3 Tablespoons of greens when I cook them!  45
> days to harvest, huh?  So if I plant some seeds in flats now, and then
> put them into a few squares that have been harvested of other things in
> about 6 weeks, I could have a nice fall crop probably.  And then I could
> extend that through part of the winter if I cover them somehow perhaps?
> I am so new to this.  I guess my question is, should I wait longer for
> the leaves to get bigger?  If I do, will they keep producing?  Am I just
> being impatient?
   I had swiss chard one season.  I waited till it was about a foot tall
then used the leaves like lettuce or cooked like spinach.  The stalks of
course use like celery.  I picked whole plants I think but might have used
just the outer stalks.  I would say try a few outer leaves on one or two
plants and if they don't seem stressed and contnue to grow then you got it
licked.

>I was so late getting my garden in, I mostly
> put in already started plants from the Mum Farm.  Next year ....
....I will put in seeds after last frost ---right.

> I really appreciate the info. on soil sterilization.  I am definately
> going to try this.  I have a slope that I want to kill.  Patience.  It is
> so hard to be patient, because all of these things take time and if it
> were up to me it would be the only thing I did!  But I have 4 children
> (at home) and a husband that need attention also, say nothing of that the
> house work doesn't take care of itself!  But if I am going to do this
> garden thing, I want to do it right and save myself time in the long run
> - the old saying "a stitch in time saves nine."
   You might try beds without natural soil but filled with Mel's mix which
has compost, vermiculite and sphagnum moss.  With this you have a nearly
sterilized growing medium.  Commercial compost is processed so that it gets
hot enough to kill the weed seeds.  Vermiculit itself wont support plant
life so no weeds.  The way moss grows so dense there is no chance of weeds.
I would use it except on dissability I need to do everything as cheap as
possible.  Don't we all.

> I have been looking at the garden sites a few people have shared, and
> really enjoy them.  Charlie, I wish somehow there were descriptions that
> went with the pics.  Could you give some sort of description to the list?
>  (Pic. #1 This is ....)  Or is there a description somewhere and I missed
> it?  Regardless, your gardens look great.  Bill, your ooo la la always
> takes me by surprise, every time I have gone there or when I am at one of
> your links and go "home."  Too funny ... great site.  I hope to get some
> pics. up before the summer is over.  We don't have a digital camera (one
> of my husband's goals is to get one soon.)  We seem to take forever to
> get films developed.
   Get a small roll of 35mm or if you have a 120 film camera use that and
take mostly pictures you would want digital.  Take them to a kodak film both
or elsewhere where they offer a digital cd copy as well.  The cd dose cost
almost the same as the reg prints you get with it. So your cost is doubled
but you only do it once.  If you get hooked on the digital copy then you
might better get a digital camera.

Jim allAn zone 5 New York State
Northeastern USA.


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