THE GARDENING YEAR

“I’m a year-round garden, yes you know it’s true.” The Pacific Northwest’s mild climate is conducive to year-round food growing, as celebrated in the Beetless’ TWELVE MONTHS A YEAR [0]. Not every crop grows year-round, of course. Some grow only in the warmer or cooler parts of the year. Some require protection of a greenhouse for some or all of their lives; others survive outside even during the coldest winters.

But before we dig too deeply into the particulars, we need to step back and ask a few questions:

1. What conditions change throughout the year? Why, and how, does this make a difference to crops?

2. Don’t these crops just grow naturally here anyway? Why do we need to concern ourselves with “timing” and “seasons”? Where are these crops from, anyway?

To address question #1, anyone with a familiarity with seasonal cycles will have noticed that several things change throughout the year:

a. Sun angle and day length. Many vegetable crops thrive on sunlight, and grow best when the sun is strongest and shines for a long time every day. (When it’s highest in the sky at summer solstice on June 21, it is filtered by the least amount of atmosphere; this is also the longest day of the year.) On the other hand, some crops prefer at least partial shade--less intense sunlight, and less of it. Hours of sunlight and darkness also trigger predictable responses in the internal biological clocks of “photoperiodic” plants (like onions, garlic, and leeks). These plants are stimulated to flower, or bulb, or die back when the light/dark balance reaches a specific point.

b. Temperature. Soil temperature, average air temperature, and also maximum and minimum air temperatures all have powerful effects on plant life cycles, and these fluctuate throughout the year as well. They generally reflect a lag time of a couple months from the sun angle/day length cycles; the warmest growing months are usually July and August. Soil temperature is a crucial factor in plant growth, as is air temperature. Maximum and minimum temperatures are both limiting factors in the growth of certain crops. Above certain temperatures, some seeds will not germinate, and some plants will become weakened, diseased, pest-prone, and/or dead. Below certain temperatures, other seeds will not germinate, and some plants will be killed by frost.

Not all plants freeze at precisely 32 degrees Fahrenheit—in fact, few do. Sugars in the cells of frost-hardy plants act as antifreeze, and sclerophyll tissue (which makes leaves leathery) offer further protection, lowering the freezing temperature. On the other hand, many plants, including the “American” crops (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, corn, beans, squash) and also cucumbers, eggplants, basil, and others, can die at 37 or 38 degrees Fahrenheit if the night sky is clear. This is called a “radiation frost,” and is lamented in the Beetless’ I'VE JUST SEEN A FROST [0]. When staring into the intense cold of outer space, with no cloud cover, plants—and water, for that matter—will freeze even when air temperatures are several degrees above freezing. (This principle has also been used to make ice in the desert.) Protective measures against radiation frosts include covering crops with spun polyester, plastic sheeting, or bed sheets—or, more commonly, turning a sprinkler on before the temperature dips to 38 F. The water freezes on the surface of the leaves, offering an insulating layer which keeps the leaf temperature itself from dipping below 32 F. (Because of the sugars in the leaves, even these frost-tender plants do not freeze at that temperature.)

c. Rainfall and moisture. Most of our rain falls during the fall, winter, and spring; very little falls in the summer. Those crops which need summertime moisture, or crops growing in a greenhouse where natural rainfall does not reach the soil, need supplemental irrigation.

d. Pests and diseases. Populations of “pest” species also fluctuate throughout the year, as a response to the above three factors and their impacts on the rest of the ecosystem. Some pests thrive in the damp, and don’t mind some cold; others are present only during the hot times of year. Each organism has its own life cycles, linked not only to the seasons but to the life cycles of other organisms, including garden plants. Pests can be vectors of diseases, which also have their preferred times and conditions to strike. Even where the first three factors above are not in themselves direct limiting factors to the growth of certain crops, the pests and diseases associated with them may counterindicate growing those crops during particular seasons.

It’s important to remember that some plants are annuals, some are biennials, and some are perennials. Annuals go from seed to seed in one year—they complete their growth and reproductive cycles in the same year in which they are sown. Biennials spend their first year growing vegetatively, and then flower and make seed in the second year. And perennials continue to live more than two years, although they may flower, fruit, and make seed each year while doing so.

So this brings us to question #2 above: Why do we even need to worry about seasonal cycles? Aren’t these plants natural here? Can’t they take care of themselves without our keeping track of their schedules?

The answer, put most simply, is no. Almost none of the garden plants we grow are native to this area. In fact, almost none of them are native to the North American continent. As GOOD DAY SUNCHOKES [0] explains, just four commonly cultivated world crops come from North America: sunflower, cranberry, blueberry, and sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes). (More recent information reveals that a few varieties of squash also originate in eastern North America.) The rest come from elsewhere. 

Ironically, the crops we call “American” crops—including beans, corn, squash, tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers—are among the least suited to our climate, since (except for a few varieties of squash) they originate in the subtropics of Central and South America. They are killed by frost, and require warmth to grow well. Other warm- and hot-weather crops originating in subtropical regions include cucumber, basil, eggplant, okra, and melons; the last three, in particular, tend to be even more marginal in our area. Season-extension methods (starting the seeds in greenhouses in late winter or early spring) are required to induce tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and okra to produce significant amounts of mature fruit here. Beans, corn, squash, cucumber, basil, and melons are usually sown after the danger of frost has passed, and, like the others, are killed by the first frost in the fall (or in the late summer, when it sometimes arrives). (See I'VE JUST SEEN A FROST [0].)

Crops originating in temperate regions of Europe and Asia—sometimes referred to as “Mediterranean” crops—are actually much more compatible with our climate than are the “American” crops. Most are at least somewhat frost-hardy, and many can live through our mild winters outside without suffering any cold damage. Even more can survive our winters in a greenhouse. For some of these crops, summer is actually the most stressful time—cabbage family members (celebrated in GREENS THAT ARE MUSTARDS [0]) and many salad greens actually prefer cooler temperatures, as do peas, favas, garlic and other onion family members, and similar crops. Wild crops are also seasonal, with fruit ripening throughout the warm periods of the year but fungi (see I'M A SHROOMER [0]) thriving in the damp of fall and spring.

Garden activities are also affected heavily by the cycle of the seasons. Some are determined by crop cycles. For example, seed collecting (see ALL YOUR SEEDS ARE LOVE [0] and YOU WON'T SEED ME [0]) obviously needs to happen when seeds are ready to collect. Pruning of fruit trees and other fruit-bearing crops either within the garden or in separate orchards can be done at different times depending on the desired effect—stimulating fruit production or influencing vegetative growth (see MISTER PRUNE-RIGHT [0]). Other activities are determined simply by weather conditions. High soil moisture levels during the rainy season often prevent cultivation of garden beds; working wet clay soils can destroy soil structure and create lasting compaction (see SHE DUG YOU [0]). In summer, moisture levels can be controlled through irrigation decisions, allowing much greater flexibility. This flexibility is available year-round in protected greenhouses and cloches, except when soil saturation is so great that it waterlogs even covered garden beds.

Many sources offer information about appropriate sowing dates for various crops. Here are some general guidelines for our area, with additional notes reflecting our experiences here at Lost Valley. These guidelines will be elaborated further elsewhere in this guide:

January-March: Sow leeks, onions in flats in greenhouse (we often wait until March, but they can be started earlier).

January-continuous throughout year: Sow lettuce, other salad crops in flats in greenhouse (midwinter germination and growth can be slow or nonexistent depending on temperature, so in reality we usually skip the coldest midwinter months).

February-May: Sow peas directly in the ground—in greenhouse beds, if early, and/or in outside beds.

February-March: Sow parsley, celery (we usually wait until March for reasons of temperature; early sowing is essential, because germination takes three weeks and growth is slow).

March-August: Sow root crops directly in ground, in greenhouse or outside (check suggestions for individual root crops; radishes can be sown even later).

March-September: Sow brassicas and other cooking greens in flats (in greenhouse, early, or outside if later) and in ground.

March-July: Sow flowers (depending on variety).

March-April: Sow tomatoes, peppers in flats in greenhouse (early sowing is recommended).

April-June: Plant potatoes in ground (allow three months to mature; vegetation is frozen back by frost, but will resprout if growing conditions are still favorable).

mid-May-mid-June: Sow squash, melons, cucumbers in pots or directly in ground; sow basil in flats; sow corn directly in ground.

mid-May-June: Sow beans directly in ground, sunflowers in flats or in ground, buckwheat (throughout summer) directly in ground.

June-August: Sow fall and winter brassicas and other greens in flats or directly in ground.

August-November: Sow winter cover crops (such as clovers, field peas, vetch, rye) directly in ground.

September-October: Plant garlic directly in the ground.

October: Plant favas directly in the ground.

October-November: Sow peas directly in the ground.

In summary, our temperate climate offers the opportunity for great diversity and abundance from our gardens. While we can’t grow any crop imaginable (see OH! BARLEY [0]), we can grow a healthy variety of fresh produce all year round, which can be supplemented by stored and preserved seasonal produce to create a well-rounded, tasty bioregional diet (see SALT AND PEPPER'S ONLY FOR WHEN VEGETABLES ARE BLAND [0]). Our mild winters and summers mean that a motivated gardener can almost always stay busy with outdoor and garden-related activities if desired, reducing the seduction of the “old 9 to 5” even further (see WORKDAY [0]).

Other Beetless tunes not mentioned above that deal with topics at least tangentially related to this chapter are referenced in the “Beetless’ Bootleg” APPENDIX [0]—their lyrics have been lost, but the notations do offer some information. These include A DAY IN THE LEAF (which celebrates photosynthesis), FOR NO SUN (which considers various possible culprits for the death of a plant, including unfavorable weather and lack of sun), HAPPINESS IS THE WARM SUN (especially for “American” crops), HEY BULLFROG (luckily, these nonnative invaders need year-round bodies of water to survive and reproduce, and our pond dries up), HOE SNAP PEAS, HOE FAVAS (more on some cool-weather crops), MELON SAYS PICK ME (a rare late-summer delight here), SAVOY CABBAGE (much more compatible with our climate), and SLOPE DOWN (which deals with the process of garden siting, in which it is essential to consider sun angle and other factors which change throughout the year).
 

(forward to Pt. 2 [0]) (back to Gardening Guide [0] index)