OKEY'S GRARDENING TIPS

GREENBEEANS

1. Although some "expert" in a fancy gradening magazine and or on a gardening show will tell you to place a bean a certain set distance in the row, that is not how the old country folks did it. I sow my beans fairly thickly in the rows.

2. If you use a commercial fertilizer, do not fiertilize your beans. You will burn them. Beans do not need fertilizer. You may side-dress them if you wish.

PLANTS

I have found that if you stick an onion set in the ground beside each pepper, tomato, or cabbage plant, the onion will repell those varmits that would eat you plant.

TILLING

If you use a tiller, you will want to till often. The reason for this is, especially when you use a rear-tined tiller, that the soil is worked up fine and, when it rains and drys, the surface has a tendancy to form a very hard crust. This hard surface will starve your plants by preventing the entrace of water and air into the soil. Most of us know our garden needs water and air, but we don't realize why. The water and air is for your second crop which you may not be aware of but which is esential if you are to have a productive garden. This second crop is the bacteria. This benificial bacteria is essential for the feeding of your crop, and the bacteria needs the water and air to survive. So, after ground has dried after that next rain, get out your tiller. Even when it is dry, it is a good idea to till. Beans especially like the soil stired. However, for best results with a rear tined tiller, till while the soil is still damp.

photo by Okey L. King

Some gardners call this beauty a "bindweed," but I call it a morning glory. I have them in nearly all colors and they are a riot even if they sometimes get in the way.

I erected and planted my fifth and last teepee for half-runners yesterday. My first four teepees of half-runners are through the ground and in various stages of growth. I like to string a "loom" from the teepees for the beans to vine on. I get pleasure from watching the vines grow, and vining up the teepees keeps the half-runners off the ground and keeps them healther. I once also grew pole-beans, but they do not have the flavor that a half-runner bean has.

When I began my garden this year, I knelt and asked God to bless it.

photo by Okey L. King

It is best to pull your onions before the tops dry up or you may not be able to find all of them.

.....I raise most of my plants in a coldframe. I built the one I am using now out of two-by-fours. I have two pieces of glass from a storm window. This is the first of March, so I am going to try to clean it out today and install the glass so that the ground will begin to warm up. I will buy potting soil and fill the frames.
.....I will sow cabbage seed in rows some time in March first. Then, later in the spring, I will sow tomato, squash, and cucumber seed.
.....I usually try to buy a few rutgers tomato plants on Mothers Day and perhaps some Hungarian wax hot peppers. But, you can raise plants at a fraction of the cost than they would cost you at a greenhouse and they will be less likley to have blight. I bought some seed packages at the dollar store for four packs for a dollar. So far, K-mart has been the highest at $2.49 per pack. Walmart is a little better. God bless