For a professional landscape designer -- say that guy on PBS, P. Allen Smith -- choosing the site for a vegetable garden on a small property or urban lot is a carefully calculated decision. Enough sunlight is weighed against traffic patterns, buildings and existing trees, water and utility lines, drainage and other aspects of the landscape. We took a different route.
Here in northeastern Pennsylvania in 1987 – long before every outdoorsman owned a personal GPS, we calculated latitude, longitude and elevation to find sun angle, but not for a garden plot. Using this information blueprints were drawn for the optimum location of a passive solar home.
When a few years passed and the house failed to materialize a small garden was created just a few feet north of that perfect spot, at the edge of a locust grove we called “the woods,” chosen hastily when a friend stopped by with a tiller in his truck. I knew the day would come when I would regret it.
Sunlight to the garden was already dappled by several trees my wife insisted on keeping because, “Where else would bird houses hang?” Of course the shade has been well appreciated while weeding in August and less watering is needed… but, the building has finally become a reality and now severely blocks the low winter sun. Moss is beginning to take over the paths.
Twenty years of soil-building, fences, raised beds, arbors, gates and benches -- if only it all could be picked up and moved. But no, it will remain for plants that grow well in partial shade, like spinach, lettuce and herbs. I just need another garden, one for corn, tomatoes and peppers.
The good news is we recently acquired an additional acre and my choices of where to put a new plot have expanded. And to top it off, the former owner’s father had a garden in there somewhere.
According to the grandson, due west of our house, through a “hedge” of ash and cherry trees that mark the original border (where a fieldstone wall once held that job), are a pair of blueberry bushes showing where “Grandpa” had his garden. In order to revive his grandfather’s legacy some major clearing has to be done. As is, there is no full sun there either.
What would a P. Allen do? Probably tell me to get a property map with lot size, orientation to compass points, showing roads, wires, water or gas lines – anything a legal right-of-way and thus restrictions apply.
Got it (after a two-day search)! What would the “pro” do next? Probably ask for money. I think I’m on my own here folks.
What other “rules” should I follow? My “design manual,” from the county extension office says there are five basic principles for locating a vegetable garden.
Number one is sunlight, of course. No amount of fertilizer, water, or prayer can replace good old solar radiation. And I’m not saying that just because of my past shady mistakes. Full sun is required for most fruiting vegetables; a minimum of six hours per day, every day of their growing season. My journal notes over the years reflect that it isn’t necessarily true. The plants may not grow to their full potential but if you will settle for softball-sized cabbage and don’t mind a little fungus now and then….
The second consideration is nearness to the house. This one bothers me a little when I measure the distance to “Grandpa’s” garden. The closer the vegetable garden the more time you will spend there and I do spend a lot of time in mine -- planting, weeding, watering, harvesting at the peak of vegetable perfection ….
Third is soil. You do not need to have the ideal type of soil to grow a good garden. It will evolve. Most importantly avoid any area that remains soggy after a rain. Heavy clay and sandy soils can be improved by adding organic matter. I chose to keep a family cow and other animals to provide that material but there are many alternatives.
The fourth consideration is water. Including rain and irrigation, the garden needs at least one inch of water per week. 150 feet of garden hose is stretching it; maybe I will have to reconsider “Grandpa’s” garden.
The fifth consideration is good air drainage. You don’t want to put the garden in a low area that may be slow to warm and fast to frost. I don’t have to worry about that, being located on high ground we tend to escape early frosts, get an earlier start in the spring and a longer harvest in the fall.
Let’s explore my other options.
An attached greenhouse or sunroom is planned for the south end of the house. The township road is just fifty feet from that “front” of the house; there is no room left for a garden.
East, across a small lawn is this camp, a tool/wood shed and driveway, all on the level but hiding a steep forested slope. Once we move to the new house and this cabin is gone I envision a terraced shade garden leading to a root cellar further down the ravine, where the “sun don’t shine.”
North? It would be relatively easy to extend the existing plot further from the shadow of the house. Cut a few trees, move the fence back, dig out stumps and start building the soil. Hmmm….
What would you do?