DEREK FELL'S ADVICE TO THE BEGINNING VEGETABLE GARDENER

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Before sowing anything?when the garden, in fact, was still frozen?I spread some three?year?old horse manure over the tiny plot . . . manure that, I might add, was so clean and powdery you could've slept in it. Then I began to plant seeds.

Hardy spinach, onion sets, and garden peas were the first things to go into the ground, about six weeks before the last frost date in my area. These were followed?in turn?by radishes, parsley, carrots, Swiss chard, beets, and lettuce, all of which were direct?seeded during a warm spell that hit about four weeks before the last frost date. I also set some transplants?of broccoli and cabbage?into the garden at this time.

(Note: I confined all of these cook weather crops to one half of the 12' X 20' plot, and saved the other half for those tender vegetables?such as tomatoes, peppers, zucchini squash, and snap beans that I knew would have to be planted AFTER the last frost date.)

Once all my seedlings were up and growing well, I mulched the entire garden with pine needles (which I gathered from the forest at the edge of my property). These needles make an excellent weed?smothering mulch, and because they create a beautiful reddish brown background for the lush vegetable growth?are highly decorative.

Then, after harvesting my rows of spinach, radishes, and beets, I planted sweet potatoes (Centennial) in their place. And?after I'd picked the full yield of broccoli, peas, onions, carrots, and lettuce—I put down a row of cocozelle squash and second sowings of lettuce, beets, and spinach.

Every crop came up . . . and each one (as you can see from the accompanying photos) was spectacular. To this day, I can hardly believe that I actually grew such luscious vegetables! They sparkled like jewels . . . and tasted every bit as scrumptious as they looked. And, they all sprang from a plot just 12' wide by 20' deep.? Derek Fell

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