ONE OF the most effective methods of being successful in any field of endeavor is to prepare for success. Gardening in any form, can be used as a good example of this technique, but it is especially true in the vegetable garden. All too often [ hear cases of crop failure because of a tack of consideration to the details of soil consistency or fertilizer and water requirements or garden sanitation or a host of other easily avoided pitfalls. The first item to be considered on the path to successful vegetable gardening is your or your house- hoid’s requirements. What is the point in planting four rows of car- rots when all you will use is 4% a row? This all relates to a determina- tion of the size of the garden plot you wish to have. How much space is required to grow a sufficient crop of a particular vegetable in order to fill the needs of a specific household would require more space than I am allotted here. Any good vegetable gardening book will contain charts which will sup- ply you with this information. Try to be realistic in setting your goals; if you make your garden too large in the beginning only to give up in the middle of the season because it has become a larger task than you were prepared for it could turn you away from an en- joyable pastime. Next, we must take into con- sideration the conditions of the site. The typical vegetable bed re- quires at least six hours of midday sun and soil conditions which are neither bogey nor too dry. If you don’t have the sun there isn’t a lot we can do about it; but, if the site is too wet or too dry, you should consider raised beds. A raised bed will either lift the planting zone out of the water table in the case of a wet site or in- crease the moisture holding capaci- ty of the dry one. Raised beds are also easier to work in, easier to keep pest free, and can be more attractive in the garden. Now that you have determined the site of your vegetable garden, you can begin conditioning the soil. First, if you happen to be one of the typical North Shore residents with particularly rocky soil, you must screen it. Next, work in last year’s com- post (I told you that would come in handy) or, in lieu of that, ~~ fe " ALL FABRICS & LABOUR and on our custom made . DRAPERIES, UPHOLSTERY, SLIP COVERS, BEDSPREADS mushroom manure, well - rotted Steer manure, or peat moss. I fist these substitutes in order of their acceptability; some would also list composted wood fibre, | would not. 11 - Friday, March 6, 1987 - North Shere News nitrogen, phosphorus, and potas- sium levels of your soil. It is most important that you test the Ph level. As [I have discussed in previous articles, we have particularly acid soils here on over the garden gate by Geoff Tobiasson Now would be an excellent time to do a complete soil test; both for the vegetable garden and the lawn. There are some dandy little test kits available on the market that will tell you the current Ph, FIXTURE Forecast ArtCraft Lilmage Thomas Fredrick en, VY the North Shore. We must counter this if we are going to have decent results. Check your local garden centre, this is the time of the year that they sometimes offer free soil analysis. Once you have the results try to bring the Ph level up to the prefer- red 6.5 range; adding four pounds of dolomitic limestone per 100 square feet (2 kg. per 10 sq.m.) will raise the level one point. Should you need more than six pounds per 100 you should work it into the top six inches of soil. Bone meal is an excellent source of organic phosphorus as well as many of the trace elements. Put- ting it down now will assure you that it will be available throughout the growing season. Apply il at the rate of one handful per 10 square feet. About two to three weeks before planting, add a well balanced fer- tilizer. By well balanced | mean a fertilizer that has a proper propor- tion of the major nutrients (n- nitrogen, P-phosphorus and K- potassium) plus the trace elements (boron, iron, magnesium, calcium, See Remove Page 12 SS ee Jr aoa 4h 4 40% OFF REGULAR LIST PRICES on our A entire selection of quality lighting products. SURREY 14625-108th AVE. 4 biks. north of Guildford Phone 585-8877 NORTH 984-0341 VANCOUVER 1400 MARINE DRIVE —— BURNABY 4700 E. HASTINGS Cnr. of Hastings & Beta Phone 294-5256