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Old 15-07-2003, 08:42 PM
Pat Meadows
 
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Default Newbie...advice wanted

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 14:04:44 -0400, Allan Matthews
wrote:

Hi, I'm 68 years old and as a teen ager sold veggies off a 3 acre
plot. Kept a large garden for several years but gave up a few years
ago and want to get into a raised garden situation. I have laid up
loose cement block, two tiers high 17 blocks long and three blocks
wide. A heavy layer of paper over the bottom, 8 inches of stone free
sandy loam, 3 inches of rotted horse manure, covered with loam, filled
to top with horse manure and tomorrow I am going to cover it heaped up
with about 4 more inches of loam. I am going to add 50 lbs of
pulverized limestone to the top layer of loam. Its late here in the
season, upstate NY so am going to plant string beans and set out a few
strawberry cuttings. Is there anything else I should do to this now
besides water it? Any suggestions on what I can plant this late? I
plan on a few inches of leaves this fall. Comments would be
appreciated.


I bet you are going to just LOVE your raised beds! I would
never go back now...never.

(We live in northern PA, with a climate most likely fairly
similar to yours - we're in the mountains.)

Lettuce and Swiss chard are quite frost-resistant and would
be OK to plant now. I've had lettuce survive just fine in
the snow and in temperatures down to 16 F. I've had Swiss
chard survive fine down to 12 F. Kale can survive all
winter, I'm told. I'm planting some in about two weeks.

You would still have time for bush beans - I just planted
some, they are supposed to be mature in 47 days. Well -
even if it takes 60 days: there's still time here, and I'd
think in most of upstate NY there would be time for them
too.

I think you could also plant (early) beets too, and various
Asian greens (if you eat these), bok choy for one. You'd
probably need to order the Asian greens online and in that
case, you'd better do it quickly.

If you're interested in any Asian veggies, I recommend:

http://www.evergreenseeds.com

You might want to take a look at a wonderful book called
'The Four Season Harvest' by Eliot Coleman: it's
specifically about extending the seasons and having fresh
veggies all or most of the year.

Pat