Sketch Plan in Landscape Planning
The preliminary results of your design work will be a sketch plan. It will show:
- The location of the private, public, service and living areas, and the type, approximate shape, size and location of individual areas within these four major areas.
- The sidewalks, pathways and other means of access to and be¬tween areas.
- The approximate kind of surfaces, for example boards, ground covers, lawn, hard paving.
- And a general idea of the kinds of enclosure to be used, for example trees, shrubs, hedges, flower beds, and screens.
Specific planting details will be considered later in the design process.
You are now ready to progress from this general sketch plan to a more specific and detailed design plan. This will involve the detailed consideration of each individual area, the kinds of material to be used in surfacing and enclosing; and the effects of site considerations such as grade, soil, drainage, wire poles and con¬duits leading to final design decisions for each area of the total site. Let’s make sure that some common errors are avoided:
- Don’t arbitrarily cut lawn areas in half with concrete sidewalks and don’t create curved sidewalks, arbitrarily. Remember that a sidewalk can be a very strong, dominating design element.
- Depending on function, patios should be at least as large as an average size living or dining room.
- Locate outdoor eating areas near the kitchen.
- Don’t be afraid to use high screens and fences where privacy is desired. Shrub borders and hedges aren’t the only solution.
- Don’t over-plant the garden. Remember that it has to be maintained.
- Don’t place trees and shrubs too close to walls, screens and fences. Allow enough room for them to mature. Don’t plant elm where there is only room for mountain ash.
- Hide garbage cans.
- Don’t plant trees under wires or over sewers.
- Terraces and steps are better than steep slopes.
- Garden steps should have long treads and low risers.
- Most gardens don’t have enough hard, all-weather surface areas.
- When it comes to grading, don’t make sidewalks so steep as to be a winter hazard, but be sure water can drain away.
- Don’t drain land towards the house.
- For protection, be aware of prevailing winds, sun and shade. Screens and walls provide shade. Consider the low-angled sun in the evening shining into a person’s eyes.
- There are various types of surfaces. Ground covers are green and don’t need regular mowing; lawns can be played and walked on; dry surfaces include gravel, patio blocks, concrete, wood, bricks, stones and combinations.
- Enclosures can vary, depending on need. High for privacy, low for simple definition. Trees, shrubs, hedges, fences, screens, walls can vary in thickness from a six-inch wide fence to a 15-foot wide shrub border.
Design Process in Landscape Planning
Lay out the site plan on a hard flat surface and over it place a sheet of thin sketching paper taped down at each corner. With a soft, blunt-pointed pencil, trace the house outline and property lines. Using your written program, begin the process of locating the four major kinds of outdoor areas:
- Public. Areas in constant public view, for example most of the front yard and other areas through which visitors pass.
- Service. Includes garage, driveway, garbage cans, clothes lines and drying areas, greenhouses, fruit and vegetable plots, back entrances and outdoor storage.
- Private. Includes breakfast and bedroom terraces and sunbath¬ing areas.
- Living. Areas used by the family such as outdoor eating and entertaining areas, games courts and lawns, children’s play areas, conversation nooks, quiet spots for reading and thinking. May also include areas under the private category depending on the degree of privacy and enclosure required.
Without being too specific as to shape and size, try to collect these four major groups of uses together into four main interconnected areas. For example, don’t introduce the clothes line right through the middle of your patio, games lawn or reading nook area, but relate it to an area which encompasses the other service functions. Once you locate these four major general areas, you can then proceed to be a little more specific and begin to sketch ideas about each individual area or use, for example the location of garage, driveway, vegetable plot and clothes line within the service area.
Just as an architect designs a house, you first decide the kind and number of rooms (areas) required, then place them within the space available at the same time making sure you will be able to move from one room to another. As an architect uses walls, screens, planters and windows to define and enclose the rooms of a house, so the landscape designer defines outdoor rooms or areas using trees, shrub borders, hedges, screens, fences, trellises, walls and planters. The landscape designer can use a wide variety of elements and materials to create enclosures, floors and pathways.
The main point during the design stage is to keep an open and relaxed mind. Be prepared to keep sketching and re-sketching without becoming too specific regarding the materials of enclosure and floor surface until you are completely satisfied. Be sure that: your design meets the needs outlined in the written program, that outdoor spaces are arranged in a logical and orderly manner and that there is good access between individual areas and good circulation within each area. Don’t be afraid to use lots of sketching paper, laying each piece of paper over the top of the old. In this way you will gradually and progressively develop from one sketch to the next, allowing your design to evolve. When designing, don’t be arbitrary and fanciful. Rather be simple and functional. Remember that straight lines and simple geometric forms such as squares, oblongs, circles and ellipses, can be beautiful and are much easier to use than free-form curved lines and shapes. Of course free-form lines and shapes, when properly used, can be lovely.
First Steps in Landscape Planning
The first step in the planning process is “writing a program.” This simply involves setting down on paper all those things you wish the site to contain, plus a fairly specific idea of the function of each area in the landscape. The program will be based on answers to questions about yourself, your family and the nature of the house site. Such questions include:
- Do we enjoy outdoor living and entertaining?
- To what extent do we entertain outdoors?
- The number, age and interests of the children. Do we plan to have any more?
- Do we like gardening and landscape maintenance?
- Are we hobbyists? Are we interested in growing vegetables and fruit, and to what extent?
- Do we like to home-freeze vegetables?
- How much can we afford to spend on both construction and maintenance?
- Is the land level, well drained, in good heart?
- Are there problem areas?
- What is the shape, size and orientation of the site?
- What kind of access do we have – back and front?
In short, you must thoroughly analyze the outdoor needs and interests of yourself and family, and the characteristics of the site. Once you have answers to such questions, you can decide the types of outdoor areas required, who they will serve, the relative importance of their uses, and some clues as to their location on the site.
The Site Plan
Having analyzed the needs and interests of your family and developed a written program to be followed in designing the landscape, the next step is to draw a site plan. It must be accurately drawn to scale, preferably one inch to four feet. For an average lot, a sheet of paper 20 inches wide and 40 inches long should be adequate. The use of graph paper will help in drawing to scale. Smaller scales may be used but a large scale will allow for many details, such as planting arrangements, to be included in one plan.
Using various kinds of dotted lines and symbols, the following items should be accurately plotted and drawn on the site plan:
- Property lines to outline the shape of the lot.
- Adjacent municipal sidewalks, roads and lanes.
- All permanent features on the site such as concrete sidewalks (not concrete block sidewalks since they can easily be moved), garage, poles, overhead lines and wires, underground gas, water, sewer and power lines, trees, fences, etc.
- A few contour lines to indicate flat areas, gentle slopes, steep banks, etc., and the location of holes and humps. The less level a site, the greater the information needed regarding existing grades.
A few notes written in the margin outside the property lines, regarding the depth and condition of top and sub soil will also be helpful. Information is also needed about permanent features external to the site which may affect your plans such as the wall of the neighbor’s house and garage; and pleasant views and vistas to preserve, such as the weeping birch across the back lane which you can frame with shrubs and enjoy viewing from your lot. These external features are recorded on the plan outside the property lines, mostly in the form of short notes with arrows pointing in the appropriate directions.
The collection of some of the data will probably involve getting out onto the site, tape measure in hand, with someone by your side to measure and record lengths and locations in a note book, before transferring, to the site plan. A walk over the site will also help in assessing grades and external views. Even though it may take some time, it’s worthwhile and will enable you to get on with planning and designing, equipped with all the information most likely to be needed. Ideally, such information should be collected in the fall so that you have all winter to work on the plan.
With written program and site plan now in hand, you are almost ready to begin the more creative phases of planning and design. A few tools are needed:
- An 18-inch wide roll of thin sketching paper (not drafting paper)
- Soft lead pencils and erasers (the plastic kinds are best)
- A straight rule with 1/4″ scale
- Masking tape
- Drawing compass
How to Build a Simple Hydroponics Unit
The science of growing vegetables without soil has proven that it can increase the growth rate of many edible plants and help us to grow more of our own food instead of purchasing it from distant commercial farms. Most people don’t realize, however, that building a cheap and effective hydroponic unit is not that difficult. In fact, with a few common items, you can build your own hydroponic unit and enjoy fresh, home-grown lettuce or other vegetables, all winter long.
The first thing you need to do is to gather your materials. You may have many of them already. Others can often be purchased inexpensively in yard sales. The materials you will need are:
- A 10 gallon aquarium tank
- A small aquarium air pump
- Aquarium airline tubing
- An aquarium air stone or bubble-wand
- A piece of sturdy plastic or thin plywood that you can cut holes in and use to cover the aquarium tank
- Small plastic disposable cups (5 oz size works best)
- Rock wool or other porous material to support the plant roots
- Hydroponic nutrient solution
The latter two items can be purchased at many local nurseries or from online sources.
The first step is to lay the plastic or plywood cover over the aquarium. Mark locations for each plant on the cover. Fit as many as you can while leaving room for the plants to grow. Each plant should be about 4 inches from its closest neighbor. Measure the diameter of the disposable cups that you are using at a point about one half inch below the top of the cup. Next drill or cut holes of this same diameter in each of the locations you have marked for plants on the aquarium cover. Be sure to use safety goggles and observe appropriate safety practices for the tools that you are using.
Once you have holes cut, place one of the disposable cups in the hole. The cup should fit in the hole but should not fall through. With the cup in place, cut out the bottoms of enough cups to fill all the holes in your aquarium cover. Fill each cup with rock wool. The rock wool should extend an inch or more below the bottom edge of each cup. Placing the rock wool cups in the cover, mark the height of both the bottom edge of the rock wool and the bottom edge of the cup on the side of the aquarium.
Fill the aquarium with a mixture of water and hydroponic nutrients to level that is halfway between the two marks you just made. Follow the directions on the nutrient package for the correct mixture. Place the airstone or bubble wand in the bottom of the aquarium and turn on the air pump. You should see a continuous flow of small bubbles rising through the water. Highly oxygenated water is important to keep your hydroponically grown plants alive and healthy.
Place your seeds in the top of the rock wool cups. Press them gently into the rock wool. Place the cover on the aquarium so that the rock wool extends into the water. For best results, cover the glass sides of the aquarium with cardboard or other opaque material. This will keep light out of the aquarium water and help reduce the growth of algae in the tank. Once the seeds sprout, you’ll need to add grow lights above the aquarium. Keep the water level between the two marks you made on the side the aquarium so that the rock wool stays wet, but there is still an air space between the top of the water and the bottom edge of the cups. Roots need air.
That’s it; your plants should grow faster and fuller than they would if you planted them in soil. Many different vegetables will grow in this kind of set-up, but leafy greens like lettuce work particularly well. You can also try tomatoes, bean, herbs, and many others. Experiment to find what works best for you.
Beech Trees
We speak of the Oak as the “Monarch of the Woods,” and to the Beech the title “Mother of Forests” has been given. To the timber-merchant the Beech has little importance, but the grower of timber freely acknowledges his heavy indebtedness to this nursing mother, for, in the words of Professor Gayer, the Bavarian forestry expert, “without Beech there can no more be properly tended forests of broad-leaved genera, as along with it would have to be given up many other valuable timber-trees, whose production is only possible with the aid of Beech.” Quite apart from utilitarian considerations, we should be very sorry to lose the Beech, with its towering, massive shaft clad in smooth grey bark, its spreading roots above the soil, and the dense shade of its fine foliage. Fortunately for the lover of natural beauty, it is this luxuriant growth of leaves and the shade it gives that are the redeeming virtues of the Beech in the eye of the forester. Its drip destroys most of the soil exhausting weeds, its shade protects the soil from over evaporation, and the heavy crop of leaves enriches it by their decomposition. On these points the forestry experts of to-day join hands with John Evelyn, who, nearly 240 years ago, thus referred to it- “The shade unpropitious to corn and grass, but sweet, and of .all the rest, most refreshing to the weary shepherd-lentus in umbra, echoing Amaryllis with his oaten pipe.” And, again, after giving us a long catalogue of the varied uses to which Beechwood may be put, he adds-” Yet for all this, you would not wonder to hear me deplore the so frequent use of this wood, if you did consider that the industry of France furnishes that country for all domestic utensils with excellent Walnut, a material infinitely preferable to the best Beech, which is indeed good only for shade and for the fire.” In the days of open hearths and chimney corners the Beech was extensively used for fuel, and it is still reputed to make good charcoal ; but to-day the chairmaker and the turner are the chief users of its wood.
The Beech well grown attains a height of about 100 feet, and a girth of about 20 feet. There is a Beech in Norbury Park, Surrey, said to be 160 feet in height. Its branches horizontally spreading give it a head of enormous proportions. Hooker gives the diameter of the Knowle Beech as 352 feet, which means a circumference of about as many yards. It will grow in most upland places where the Oak thrives, though it does not need so deep a soil, and has a preference for those containing lime. Fresh mineral soils, rich in humus, are the best for it. In poor soils its growth is slow and its life is longer. It begins to bear mostly at about eighteen years of age, and thereafter gives good crops at intervals of three or five years.
In spring, just before the buds expand, the twigs of the Beech have a very distinct appearance. They are long and slender, placed alternately along the twig, and the brown envelopes retain their shape long after they have been cast off. It is interesting to note how well these are mimicked by a glossy spindle-shaped snail (Clausilia laminata) that has a decided fondness for the Beech. As the snails crawl up the bole or over the moss at its base, it is not easy at a glance to say which are snails and which bud-envelopes. This is one of the protective resemblances adopted by many animals to give them a chance of eluding their natural enemies-in this case the thrush and other birds.
In the bud the leaf is folded fan-wise, and the folds run parallel with the nerves. They expand into an oval, smooth-faced leaf, with slightly scooped edges, and a most delicate fringe of short gossamer, which falls off later. These leaves Evelyn recommended as a stuffing for beds, declaring that if “gathered about the fall, and somewhat before they are much frost-bitten, [they] afford the best and easiest mattresses in the world to lay under our quilts instead of straw… In Switzerland I have sometimes lain on them to my great refreshment.” That last clause seems to imply that the authorities at home would not allow the introduction of new-fangled bed-stuffings, but remained true to straw. These leaves are rich in potash, and as they readily decay, they produce an admirable humus. In sheltered places the leaves, turned to a light ruddy-brown color, are retained on the lower branches until cast off by the expansion of the new buds.
Beech Trees – Fagus Sylvatica
In early summer, whilst the leaves are still pellucid, the shade of a big Beech is particularly inviting. Later the leaves become opaque, and their glossy surfaces throw back the heat rays. Then the play of light upon the great mass of foliage is very fine; but when autumn has turned their deep green to orange and warm ruddy brown, and they catch the red rays of the westering sun, the tree appears to be turned into a blazing fire.
The Beech flowers in April or May. The blossoms are rather more conspicuous than is the case with the Oak, for the male flowers are gathered together in a hanging purplish-brown rounded tassel with yellow anthers. The female flowers, to the number of two, three, or four, are clustered in a “cupule” of overlapping scales, like those of the Oak. But in the Beech the ” cupule” becomes a bristly closed box, which afterwards opens by one end splitting into four triangular silk-hair-lined valves, which turn back and reveal the three-sided, sharp-edged” mast” This mast was formerly a very valuable product of the Beechwoods, when herds of swine were turned in them to feed upon the fallen Beech-nuts.
Agricultural methods have changed; but though our hogs are now confined in styes, and fed on a diet that more rapidly fattens, Beech-mast is still a good food eagerly taken by such woodland denizens as badgers, deer, squirrels, and dormice.
The vitality of the Beech is so high that quite frequently the bole divides at its upper part into several trunks, which rise straight up, and each attains the dimensions of a complete tree. Often such a tree stands on a sandy bank, and seems in imminent danger of toppling over, but its uprightness secures it against strain, and the roots that it sent down the steep side of the bank have thickened into strong props. Many such trees may be found along the hollow lanes in the Greensand district of Surrey, and we have more than once sheltered from a storm under their roots.
We have already mentioned the value of the Beech as a nurse for other trees, and its frequent use for that purpose, but it should also be stated that it is a powerful competitor with other trees, and if these are left to fight their own battles unaided, the Beech will be the conqueror. Evelyn saw this more than two centuries ago, and pointed out that where mixed woods of Oak and Beech were left to themselves, they ultimately became pure Beech-woods. The Beech appears to gain this advantage through rooting in the surface soil, and, exhausting it of food elements, suffers none to penetrate to the lower strata, where the Oak has its roots.
A number of insects feed upon the Beech, but they are mostly more beautiful or more singular than destructive. The Copper Beech, which is so effectively used for ornament in parks, is merely a sub-variety of the Common Beech, and all the examples in cultivation are believed to be “sports” from the purple variety, which itself was a natural sport discovered in a German wood little more than a hundred years ago.
The modern word Beech is derived from the Anglo-Saxon boe, beee, beoee, which had very similar equivalents in all branches of the German and Scandinavian family, and from the fact that the literature of these people was inscribed on tablets of Beech, our word book has the same origin.
Birch Trees – Betula Alba
“The Lady of the Woods,” as Coleridge christened the Birch, is at once the most graceful, the hardiest, and the most ubiquitous of our forest trees. It grows throughout the length and breadth of our islands, and seems happy alike on a London common, in a suburban garden, or far up in the Scottish highlands (2500 feet). It penetrates farther north than any other tree, and its presence is a great boon to the natives of Lapland. It will grow where it is subjected to great heat, as well as where it must endure extreme cold, with its slender roots exploring the beds of peat, the rich humus of the old wood, or the raw soil of the mountain-side, where it has to cling to rocks and a few mosses. Given plenty of light, and it seems to care for little else. Though a mere shrub in the far north, with us the Birch has a trunk sometimes as tall as eighty, but more frequently fifty feet, and a girth of from two to three feet. In its first decade it increases in height at the rate of a foot and a half or two feet in a year; but, of course, there is little breadth to be built up at the same time. It reaches maturity in half a century, and before the other half is reached the Birch will have passed away.
The bark of the Birch is more enduring than its timber, which may be partly due to its habit of casting off the outer layer in shreds, like fine tissue-paper, from time to time. The greater part of the bark is silvery white, which adds to the apparent slenderness of the tree, and makes it conspicuous from a long distance; for the attenuated and drooping branches, dressed in small and loosely hung leaves, sway so constantly that the trunk is scarcely hidden. The glossy, leathery leaves vary in shape from a triangular form to a pointed oval, their edges doubly toothed, and their foots talks long and slender.
About April the hanging catkins of the Birch, which were in evidence in the previous autumn, have matured and become dark crimson; the scales separate and expose the two stamens of each flower, which has a single sepal. The female flowers are in a short, more erect spike, which consists of overlapping scales (brads), each containing two or three flowers. The flowers have neither petals nor sepals, each consisting merely of an ovary with two slender styles. After fertilization the female spike has developed into a little oblong cone. The minute nuts have a pair of delicate wings to each, and as they are set free from the cones they flutter on the breeze like a swarm of small flies. The moss that usually covers the ground beneath the Birch will be found in October to be thickly speckled with these fruits, which are something more than seeds, as they are commonly termed; they are really analogous to the acorn -a nut within a thin shell. The tree sometimes begins to produce seed when only fifteen years old; but, as a rule, it is ten years older before it bears, and thereafter it has a crop every year.
The Birch Tree
It is strange how so striking and graceful a tree could have been so persistently ignored by the old school of landscape painters, when one remembers with what good effect modern artists have utilized it. In this connection we need not apologize for quoting at length a description of the tree from the artist’s point of view, because it also gives attention to those points one would like the rambler to notice. Mr. P. G. Hamerton in his Sylvan Year, says – “The stem… of the Silver Birch is one of the masterpieces of Nature. Everything has been done to heighten its unrivalled brilliance. The horizontal peeling of the bark, making dark rings at irregular distances, the brown spots, the dark color of the small twigs, the rough texture near the ground, and the exquisite silky smoothness of the tight white bands above, offer exactly that variety of contrast which makes us feel a rare quality like that smooth whiteness as strongly as we are capable of feeling it. And amongst the common effects. In all northern countries, one of the most brilliant is the opposition of birch trunks in sunshine .against the deep blue or purple of a mountain distance in shadow. At all seasons of the year the beauty of the birch is attractive and peculiarly its own. The young beech may remind you of it occasionally under strong effects of light, and is also very graceful, but we have no tree that rivals the birch in its own qualities of color and form, still less in that air and bearing which are so much more difficult to describe. In winter you see the full delicacy of the sprays that the lightest foliage hides, and in early spring this tree clothes itself, next after the willow, with tiny triangular leaves, inexpressibly light in the mass, so that from a distance they have the effect of a green mist rather than anything more material. When the tree is isolated sufficiently to come against the sky, you may see one of the prettiest sights in Nature-the pure deep azure of heaven, with the silvery white and fresh green of the birch in opposition. And yet it is not a crude green, for there is a good deal of warm red in it, which gives one of those precious tertiaries that all true colorists value.”
Linnaeus named our common Birch Betula alba; but more than a century ago Ehrhart pointed out that there were two well-defined forms of the tree, which he proposed to separate as distinct species under the names of B. verrucosa and B. pubescens. Hooker regards the first of these as the typical form, for which he properly retains the Linnaean name. It is distinguished by having the base of the bole covered with coarse, rough, and blackish bark, the smooth leaves looking as though their base had been cut off, and the twigs warty. The B. pubescens of Ehrhart appears to be a variety of Fries’ B. glutinosa, which Hooker treats as a sub-species of B. alba. The bark at its base is smooth and white, its downy leaves have a triangular base, and its twigs are free from warts. It sometimes assumes a bush-like form.
The Dwarf Birch (Betula nana) is a distinct species, which occurs locally in the mountainous parts of Northumberland and Scotland. I t is not a tree, but a bush, only two or three feet in height. Its firm-textured, round leaves have scalloped margins and short footstalks.
The foliage of the Birch in autumn turns to a yellow hue. At this period-and, indeed, for a month earlier-there may be seen beneath the Birch-trees one of the most striking of our toadstools, the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscarius), so-called from its use as the lethal ingredient in the making of fly-papers. From a bulbous base a creamy yellow stem arises, decked about half its height with an ample hanging frill. The upper side of the spreading “cap” is painted with crimson, over which are scattered flecks of white or cream kid-the remains of an outer envelope that was ruptured by the expansion of the cap, and of which the frill represents the lower portion. This species is really poisonous, and the Kamschatkans are said to make their vodka superlatively intoxicating by the addition of this fungus to it. On the trunk of the Birch may sometimes be found a large fungus named Polyporus betulinus, whose root-like portion penetrates the bark and sucks up the sap.
Birch-bark is used for tanning certain kinds of leather, and the peculiar odor of Russian leather is said to be due to the use of Birch in its preparation. The Birch. agrees with the Beech in two respects-it is of little value for timber, but as a nurse to young timber-trees it is of considerable importance. Its name is from the Anglo-Saxon beorc, birce, and signifies the Bark-tree.
Fresh Home-Grown Salad Greens All Winter Long
Many summer garden vegetables can be grown indoors during the winter. Salad greens are a great choice for indoor gardening. Ordinarily, salad greens that we’d find in the supermarket during the winter are grown far away, in the Southwest United States or even in Mexico. Growing your own, provides a fresher alternative and is even better for the environment.
By the time they get to our supermarket shelves, winter produce has lost much of its crispness and flavor. By growing your own salad greens indoors, you’re salads will be just minutes old by the time they reach the dinner table. Whether you use them in a salad or in a sandwich, you and your family will notice the difference. During this past year, there have also been several cases of commercially grown salad greens and baby spinach being contaminated with salmonella or E. coli. Your indoor garden can eliminate this risk as well.
By growing our own food we are also helping to preserve the environment by reducing the need for transportation of distantly grown produce. By reducing the need to truck vegetables across the country, we reduce the amount of truck exhaust released into the atmosphere and the amount of foreign oil we need to import to make the fuel for these trucks.
Now that we know the benefits of growing our own vegetables indoors, what equipment do we need? First, we need to provide some artificial light. The best solutions are metal halide or high pressure sodium lighting systems. These provide an intense light with a spectrum that mimics the spectrum plants would find outdoors. However, they tend to be very expensive and can run hundreds or even thousands of dollars. A cheaper, but still effective alternative is fluorescent lighting. Instead of the ordinary bulbs, use fluorescent grow lights, such as the Sylvania Gro-lux, the Hydrofarm Agrosun, or the Verilux Tru-Bloom bulbs. These bulbs will fit a standard 48 inch, 40 watt fluorescent fixture like those found in any home improvement store. The bulbs run about $15 to $20 each. Depending upon the fixture, you’ll need either 2 or 4 bulbs.
Next you need a planting medium. Standard potting soil works just fine. Instead of conventional plant pots, however, I suggest using long window box planters. This will help you maximize the planting space and fit more plants directly under the lighting fixture. Mount the lights about 18 inches above the surface of the planter. Light intensity fades quickly with distance, and the indoor plants will need as much light as they can get. Make sure you place trays under the planters to catch any excess water that drains through the planters when you water them. You’ll want to make sure the planters have drainage holes in the bottom to prevent an accumulation of water in the bottom of the planter.
Plant your seeds very densely. I like to use a mesclun salad mix since it offers a variety of flavors and colors. Water the planters whenever the soil feels dry to the touch. Don’t over water. As the leaves become big enough for use, snip them off cleanly with a pair of garden shears. Don’t let any get too big or too close to the lights. If you see the plants starting to form buds, snip them off as soon as you see them. Once the plants bolt or go to seed, they can develop a bitter flavor.
Fall Garden Maintenance
Even though your gardening season has ended with the first frosts and hard freeze of the year, there are still a number of things you can do to get a head start on the spring. Soil preparation, clean-up, planning, and even some planting should be done in the fall to make sure your garden is even better next year than it was this year.
One of the first fall garden tasks is clean up. Many of your plants were killed by the first frost and by now have been reduced to piles of brown stringy leaves. This is especially true of bulb plants. Things like lilies, hostas and irises should all be cleaned out and prepared for spring. Gently rake the dead above ground portions of these plants from their beds. Be careful not to pull up the bulbs. If the leaves won’t let go of the root portions, use garden shear to make a clean cut at ground level. If you want to transfer some of these bulbs to new locations, now is the time for that as well. Carefully dig up the portion of the bulbs you want to move. Check for disease or insects that might damage the bulbs, and then simply transplant them to the new spot where you’d like them to come up next spring.
Some bulbs are not winter hardy and should be dug up and stored in a cool dry place. Many tulips fit into this category. For these bulbs, you’ll want to dig them up, rinse them off, and store them either in the open air or buried in clean dry sand. Place them in a basement or any cool, dark and dry storage area. In the spring, when the ground thaws, and danger of a hard freeze is over, you can replant them outdoors.
Now is also a great time to prepare your garden bed soil for next year. If you compost, you can take your finished compost material and spread it on your garden. Add any fertilizers or other soil treatments at this time as well. Use a shovel to turn the new material under and mix it in to the garden bed. If your gardens are larger, you can use a tiller. For most vegetable gardens you can even till under the old plants. Exceptions are woody plants like corn stalks, sunflowers, and the like. These should be pulled and discarded. Another exception is any plants that experience any signs of disease during the year. If your squash leaves showed the characteristic white patches of powdery mildew for example, they should be manually removed and discarded far from your garden beds.
Finally, don’t forget to take stock of this year’s garden. What do you want to repeat next year and what mistakes did you make that you want to avoid next year? Make notes and refer to them in the spring as you get ready to start all over again.