A SHORT ROW TECHNIQUE THAT WORKS
We have all grown up with the picture in our minds of a vegetable garden with 40 foot rows of everything, a vision that no longer makes sense in our modern life. In the first place, most of us don’t have room for a forty foot row of anything and then there is no way to eat forty feet worth of carrots for most normal families. I think the way to go is plant short rows of root crops and be able to harvest the vegetables over a longer period of time. Let me share with you my technique for doing this.
Often times you see vines or trees sold from the nurseries with a three quarter square piece of a wooden stake, about six feet tall. I have a piece of one of those stakes cut about 18 inches long. I turn this on one of the long edges and press it into the garden bed. The result is a ‘v’ shaped depression, a straight row as long as my piece of wood. Into that straight line, I sow seeds of my various root crops. Planting in among the larger plants already in the bed, I do not try to make all my lines perpendicular or parallel, but I point them different directions within the bed to add visual interest as the plants grow.
The beauty of this is lies in having just enough carrots or beets or turnips becoming edible without being overwhelmed. If I plant a row the first week in October and follow up with another row of the same thing in three weeks or so, this will keep me in fresh carrots all winter long. So, let’s say in the first week of October, I plant carrots – my little 18 inch row. In week two, I would plant beets in the same amount of space. In week three, I plant some nice little turnips. So in week four, I would again plant carrots – maybe this time a different variety. I usually plant Mokum carrots, but this last year I tried a new carrot named “Ya Ya” that I really liked too, so I’ll plant Mokum one time and Ya Ya the next time, alternating like that all through the cool season. This also shows off another thing about planting your own veggies – you get to choose the varieties you plant and can mix them up and explore different tastes – or colors (red, white, yellow or purple carrots in addition to the usual orange!).
For a family of two, three or more, cut your stake longer. With a little experimenting, you’ll find what length of row works for you. One final note on planting root crops. Carrots are a very small seeds and the plants are initially quite small. If you have soil that will crust over, and most of us in the Los Angeles basin do, the carrot seedlings will have a really tough time breaking through that soil crust. I get a bag of vermiculite from my neighborhood nursery and, instead of covering carrot seed with soil, I use the vermiculite. It has two advantages besides not crusting over: it marks the row where the carrots are planted and vermiculite holds water well, something seeds really need to germinate. Vermiculite dust can be harmful, so when you sprinkle it down, take the proper steps to protect yourself. You only need to use it on carrots – the other root crop seeds don’t struggle with the soil crust the same way.
You can use this technique with all the root crops and with lettuce and salad greens as well. It’s a real winner and you’ll be happy to learn to use it.
Happy eating!
Grandson of a Great Plains farmer, David King is the Garden Master at the Learning Garden, on the campus of Venice High School. He shares his love of the land and music through teaching, writing and playing in a folk/country band. Contact: greenteach@roadrunner.com