Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles; site gypsy.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!siemens!gypsy!rws From: rws@gypsy.UUCP Newsgroups: net.garden Subject: Re: NEW GARDENER Message-ID: <25900013@gypsy.UUCP> Date: Mon, 15-Jul-85 18:08:00 EDT Article-I.D.: gypsy.25900013 Posted: Mon Jul 15 18:08:00 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 17-Jul-85 06:48:24 EDT References: <696@ihlpa.UUCP> Lines: 32 Nf-ID: #R:ihlpa:-69600:gypsy:25900013:000:1259 Nf-From: gypsy!rws Jul 15 18:08:00 1985 While you are waiting for your "square foot gardening", run out and get some seeds for lettuce, bush beans, summer squash, peas, and corn. The formula for deciding the last date to plant something is: (date you expect it to die) - (days to maturity + 14) The 14 allows for the shorter days you get in late summer and fall. I planted the above items last week because lettuce and peas are cool weather crops that can survive a moderate frost bush beans and summer squash grow very fast I wanted to gamble on the corn If you have a choice of varieties, get the one with the fewest "days". Water the seedlings every day, in the morning, with a light, fine spray so that the seeds don't wash away. Once the plants are mostly up, taper off your watering to twice a week, but -this is important- use a sprinkler, so that you can shower them lightly for about half an hour. Watering more often will give you shallow-rooted plants that can't survive occasional neglect in the hot Illinois Augusts. (I grew up in Glen Ellyn ...) Watering in the morning or mid-day will reduce problems with mold, fungus, and other things that like evening dampness. Good luck! Bob Schwanke Siemens Research Princeton, NJ 08540-6668 seismo!princeton!siemens!rws