Richard R. MacMahon, Ph.D.
Gardens are mainly a systematic way of raising particular plants so that each plant grows to its optimum in the time frame of one garden season. There are some basic suggestions that may be followed to produce a respectable garden with very little effort.
If you enter a store that sells seeds, you may be overwhelmed by the number of varieties of vegetables offered for sale. If you are shopping in a super-market, you are on your own, and can only be guided by the label information on the packets. But in a real seed store, you should be able to ask which varieties are dependable, relatively trouble-free and have a good track record. While seeds for everything are on the shelves, you must be aware that some types of vegetables do much better in certain climates. For example, collard greens are southern while kale is northern. Okra does not do well in the north. Many varieties of vegetables have too long a growing season to be usable in the north.
I have included a list of the seeds and plants that we are currently using in our program at HSC (Table I). I have also included a sample lay-out of a student garden plot to show how the seeds and plants might fit together as a whole. One of the early student assignments is the construction of a master plan for their garden plot. You might very well ask how large the individual plots are, to be able to plant so many different kinds of vegetables. Our plots are all 12’ x 15’. The dimensions of the plots vary some from year to year, depending upon the number of students enrolled in the course.The answer to why so many kinds of plants is that not all students plant every vegetable or flower. One student was almost rude when I suggested that he plant beets. Another told me that she was allergic to egg plant and did not want it in her garden. Most students try most of the vegetables, but very few try them all.
So no student could plant everything. But the way in which we ask them to lay out some areas in their plots for the natural pest control experiment partly dictates how the garden will shape up. I usually award a prize to the student who designs the best garden, and often give an additional prize for the most imaginative lay-out. If you examine a typical garden lay-out (Fig. 2), you will see that I have not included all of the plants.
Table 1. Seeds and Plants used at HSC, Spring 1997
SEEDS
Radish
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Turnips
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Kale
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Chinese cabbage
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Peas
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Snap Peas
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Green beans
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Yellow wax beans
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Beets
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Cucumbers
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Summer squash
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Winter squash
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Pumpkins
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Sweet Corn
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Lettuce
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Romaine
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PLANTS
Tomatoes
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Marigolds
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Green Bell Peppers
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Basil
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Egg plant
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Oregano
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Cabbage
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Onions
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ParsleyLemon
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Balm
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Sage
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Alyssum
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Ageratum
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Salvia
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Portulaca
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Petunias
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