COMPLEAT HOME GARDENER: Know what to grow, where, when and for what skill level

Published 1:07 pm Monday, March 22, 2010

By Marianne Binetti

The end of March means you should already have mowed and fertized the lawn, cut back your roses and any overgrown summer-blooming shrubs, pulled all the flowering weeds before they can go to seed and baited for slugs and snails. If you haven’t crossed all these chores off your list, get growing.

This spring has seen a bumper crop of vegetable seeds being sold as well as berry bushes, fruit trees and herb plants. There is no excuse not to hop on the hay wagon driven by backyard farmers and front yard growers of edible ornamentals. I have a new book out this month called “Edible Gardening for Washington and Oregon” and here are a few ideas to help you decide what to grow and eat in your garden:

Top three that save money: tomatoes, blueberries, basil

In our climate growing tomatoes, blueberries and basil will save you the big bucks – but it all depends on what your eating habits are. Tomatoes need a hot spot so up against the west or south side of the house is best. Grow patio tomatoes in a recycled black plastic pot but don’t skimp on potting soil. Blueberries like the east side of the house or a spot where their roots can stay cool and get plenty of water. Basil, oregano and thyme are herbs that love the heat so don’t set them out too soon and don’t over water. Basil is such a heat freak that it shouldn’t even be placed outdoors overnight until the middle of June.

What to grow if you have shade: lettuce, blueberries, huckleberries – and mushrooms?

Leafy greens can produce even in a partially shaded bed but do much better in full sun. Blueberries and huckleberries are both native to our climate and you won’t get as much fruit in a shaded bed, but they are both nice-looking shrubs. If you really want to play with the Prince of Darkness, grow mushrooms. You’ll need a fallen log or hardwood tree stump (not a cedar tree as cedar wood has anti-fungal properties) and then some wooden dowel to act as the mushroom “seeds” that are then inserted into holes you drill into your mother log. To find mushroom planting dowels go to www.raintreenursery.com.

What to grow in your front yard: carrots, bush beans, Swiss chard, blueberries

Use a lacy row of carrots along a pathway, plant upright Swiss chard in front of the evergreen hedges and let bush beans replace petunias in your front yard flower garden. Blueberries can serve as a dividing hedge between you and neighbors – much more neighborly than a wooden fence, especially if you invite the neighborhood to help themselves at harvest time.

What to brow if you go on vacation – or want to save water: sage, asparagus, rhubarb

Mediterranean herbs such as sage and oregano are naturally drought resistant and perennials like asparagus and rhubarb can be harvested in early summer then ignored the rest of the summer. Tucking drought-resistant edibles into the far corners of the landscape is a practical way to keep thirsty plants nearby and eliminate dragging a hose across the yard to irrigate thirsty plants.

What to grow for fine dining: everything! But especially French green beans, heirloom tomatoes, Italian herbs.

Growing vegetables and herbs that are hard to find at the grocery store is what draws cooks, chefs, and foodies to the garden bed and it is the more intense flavors and fresher textures that keeps them planting gourmet crops year after year. There is even an Oregon seed company (www.nicholsgardennursery.com) that caters to the gardener cook with fine herbs and vegetable seeds for the discriminating palate – or anyone who enjoys great tasting food fresh from the garden.

What to grow if you’re a beginner:

Lettuce

Buy already-started seedlings of lettuce from the nursery. Bring them home, water well and then gently pull or tease apart the little guys and replant each seedling into soft soil spacing them six inches apart. You make soft soil by forking compost into the top six inches and mixing it well with a shovel. Buy weed-free compost I plastic bags at the garden center. Keep the seedlings moist for a few days by watering very gently. Pull any weeds that dare to come up in the area. Watch for slugs. In six weeks you’ll have a salad.

Tomatoes

Bring home a tomato plant from the nursery that says Early Girl or Sweet 100 on the tag. These are the two most dependable varieties. Wait until June to place tomato plants outdoors at night. They need a hot, protected spot to do best. More growing tips on tomatoes will come later in the growing season.

Blueberries

Choose two blueberry plants growing in pots at the nursery. Dig holes at least 1 foot deep and 3 feet wide and add three shovels of peat moss to the planting hole. Mix in with a shovel. Remove the blueberry plants from the pots and place into the hole so the top of the root ball is level with the top of the hole. Fill in around the roots with more peat moss and soil. Keep your blueberry plants well watered and fertilize each spring with a rhododendron fertilizer or plant food made for acid-loving plants.

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Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of “Easy Answers for Great Gardens” and several other books. For book requests or answers to gardening questions, write to her at: P.O. Box 872, Enumclaw, 98022. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope for a personal reply.

For more gardening information, she can be reached at her Web site, www.binettigarden.com.

Copyright for this column owned by Marianne Binetti.