VEGETABLE Self-Sufficiency

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Cutworms are gray grubs of a night-flying moth. They like wilting plants. That is why you want to make the transition as easy as possible so the plants don't wilt and send out the dinner-bell signal to cutworms. When I do lose a plant I just stick in another that I have waiting for such an eventuality. If you are worried or don't have backup plants, you can put up a barrier for the cutworm. The cutworm wraps its body around the stem of the plant and then cuts through the stem close to the soil line. You can put a match stick next to the stem to prevent them encircling it, or a collar to keep them from reaching the plant.

Bush Beans

I plant bush beans the same as onion sets except that I drop the seeds into the trough about two inches apart. Same with potatoes except the though is deeper, about six inches, and the potato pieces are spaced about a foot apart.

Potatoes

Potatoes are grown from the eyes of potatoes. You cut potatoes into pieces making sure each piece has an eye in it. My pieces are about golf ball size but they can be much smaller. In fact, we have had potatoes grow on the compost pile from potato peelings.

Many seed companies now carry seed potatoes but I still prefer getting them locally. You can use potatoes from the market but you don't know what variety they are. They are not certified against disease but then neither am I. That may sound like a joke but it is also intended to make some sense. We are all surrounded by disease organisms all the time. It is not so much the presence of these organisms that makes us sick but our health that makes it possible to resist disease. Concentrate on having healthy plants in a healthy soil rather than avoiding disease organisms.

Carrots

Carrot seeds are small and germinate slowly. They also should be planted fairly close to the surface, no more than a quarter inch deep. Wiser people than I discovered that if you mixed carrot seeds and radish seeds together, you would be able to space the seeds better. The radish seeds germinate very fast, four or five days, and grow to maturity in three to four weeks. They pop out of the ground showing you where the carrots are located, which makes cultivation easier. They shade the row, holding in moisture, which helps the carrots germinate.

Parsley

Parsley is of the same family as carrots and can be planted the same way. Lettuce seed should be planted very shallowly, covered with just a sprinkling of soil. Because they are so close to the surface the soil needs to be kept moist until the seeds have germinated. The only time I water my garden is when new seeds are trying to germinate and the weather is especially dry. Lettuce grows best in cool weather, so you should be careful to pick varieties that do better in summer. Romaine lettuces and buttercrunch are two that have been consistently good in the heat of summer. Swiss chard is planted about half an inch deep.

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