And Then There Were Three
Many years ago, I read an article by Mel Bartholomew on square-foot gardening, and I heartily embraced the idea. The premise is basically that you can plant one large plant—a tomato, a pepper, an eggplant, a broccoli, a cabbage—in each square foot of your garden. (And smaller plants, like beans and spinach and whatnot, can be planted more closely than the package might suggest.) So a 4x4' raised bed, for instance, should be able to hold 16 large plants.
But last year I had many more eggplants than I could use, and didn't get as many tomatoes as I thought I should have, so I decided to scale back from 16 plants per bed to just nine. (The rationale that I could get more tomatoes from fewer plants was that I figured each plant would get more sunlight if it weren't so crowded, and wouldn't be fighting its very close neighbors for nutrients.)
Since I had nine on the brain, I planted only nine 'Small Miracle' broccoli this year, and at first they appeared to be very happy.
But last year I had many more eggplants than I could use, and didn't get as many tomatoes as I thought I should have, so I decided to scale back from 16 plants per bed to just nine. (The rationale that I could get more tomatoes from fewer plants was that I figured each plant would get more sunlight if it weren't so crowded, and wouldn't be fighting its very close neighbors for nutrients.)
Since I had nine on the brain, I planted only nine 'Small Miracle' broccoli this year, and at first they appeared to be very happy.
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I chose 'Small Miracle' from Park Seed for a couple reasons. One was that it was supposed to mature in only 55 days, which was the fastest of the varieties offered, and I always feel like my spring garden takes way too long and my summer garden gets in late. The other is that it's supposed to produce full-size heads on small plants, which meant I could have done 16 in my 4x4' bed with no problem, but like I said, I had nine on the brain, so nine is what I planted.
I have to wonder now if it would have worked out better if I had planted the 16. Shortly after planting, I noticed that one of the nine was looking rather withered, and closer examination showed that the stem was broken—not sure if it got snapped during transplanting, or if cutworms were at work. But in any case, that was just one, so I still had eight broccoli left to look forward to.
We've had a typical Ohio spring this year—temperatures fluctuating widely, some hard rains, the usual fal-de-rah. And then one day I went out to look at the beds, and another five of the broccoli looked withered, like the one that had been broken. These seemed to have intact stems, but most of the leaves had turned brown. However, the remaining three seemed to be just fine. You'd think that if it were a matter of weather, they all would have been affected. Why would five bite the dust and three seem to thrive, all in the same space?
I have to wonder now if it would have worked out better if I had planted the 16. Shortly after planting, I noticed that one of the nine was looking rather withered, and closer examination showed that the stem was broken—not sure if it got snapped during transplanting, or if cutworms were at work. But in any case, that was just one, so I still had eight broccoli left to look forward to.
We've had a typical Ohio spring this year—temperatures fluctuating widely, some hard rains, the usual fal-de-rah. And then one day I went out to look at the beds, and another five of the broccoli looked withered, like the one that had been broken. These seemed to have intact stems, but most of the leaves had turned brown. However, the remaining three seemed to be just fine. You'd think that if it were a matter of weather, they all would have been affected. Why would five bite the dust and three seem to thrive, all in the same space?
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I left the sad-looking ones in the bed for another week or so, hoping they would bounce back, but they never did. When I pulled them, they seemed to have almost no root system at all—one narrow little tap root, and that was about it.
So I still don't know what caused the problem, but I do know that it'll take a small miracle for me to plant 'Small Miracle' again.
But on the bright side, I will get the green beans in early.
So I still don't know what caused the problem, but I do know that it'll take a small miracle for me to plant 'Small Miracle' again.
But on the bright side, I will get the green beans in early.
Been there done that...
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