475-The Continuous Vegetable Garden, with Charlie Nardozzi

You've really covered the gamut there.

In a couple thing...

I mean, everything you mentioned I can relate to, and I really like that we're gonna talk about a good number of these things, but the two that you mentioned in there that really stuck out for me, maybe three, was using the, um, the self-sowing concept, and I think, or maybe it's just me, I don't routinely just let that happen.

You know, I don't, I don't think, "Okay, I'm gonna let these go to seeds so that they self-sow, and then I won't have to do anything next year," 'cause I'm always, like you mentioned, you know, once I, once I grow it and I harvest it, or it starts to bolt, I'm done with it, you know? And so I, I'll take it out or I'll let it go to flower for the pollinators, but then I'm not thinking about the seeds.

And then the other thing is the perennial plants, the perennial edibles that we have.

Again, I know better, but at the same time, when it comes down to the time where they've, you know, overwintered and they're now coming up, back up, specifically, for example, chard, you know, and it's going strong, and I'm like, "Well, that, that was, it's past its prime.

It was better last year," and I'll, I'll take it out, and it's like what a waste.

I mean, that, that's ready to go again.

And then of course the ones where we plant too many.

I mean, we plant it all at once, and once it's done we had that big glut, and then we don't have anything for the rest of the season.

But anyway, I, I say that because in reading your book, it was clear that you made the point that in order to save time and, and to enjoy our time in the garden more, it involves more intensively planting in small spaces and maximizing the space we have with multiple plantings each year.

And I think that's the part where, speaking firsthand, I can say that's where I kinda fall short and I wanna move on to something else, but I'm missing a big opportunity, aren't I?

Yeah.

You know, especially for most gardeners have small yards with small, uh, plots of land to, to grow in, and they have a small family, so they don't really need the big bed full of z- beans or tomatoes or whatever it is.

They just need a, maybe sometimes just a couple plants, uh, to keep it going.

Now, I know everyone's a little nervous about that, and I am too sometimes [laughs] because, you know, if you put two zucchini plants in, and what happens if a woodchuck gets one of them? [laughs] Now you only got one zucchini.

Yeah.

So there is a little concern, and I always grow a little extra just in case I have some replacement plants to put in.

Uh, but the idea of interplanting things that you're gonna use the growth characteristics of that plant to find a good companion for it.

So for example, with tomatoes, we plant tomatoes in a bed.

They're spaced two to three feet apart for the most part, and you have all this space in between that you actually don't do-

Yeah

... anything with.

So why not take some lettuce seeds, some Asian green stir-fry mix seed, whatever s- uh, green seeds or seeds of greens that will germinate fast and grow quickly, put them in between the tomatoes.

And what we've learned in soil science is that plants don't ...

You've really covered the gamut there.

In a couple thing...

I mean, everything you mentioned I can relate to, and I really like that we're gonna talk about a good number of these things, but the two that you mentioned in there that really stuck out for me, maybe three, was using the, um, the self-sowing concept, and I think, or maybe it's just me, I don't routinely just let that happen.

You know, I don't, I don't think, "Okay, I'm gonna let these go to seeds so that they self-sow, and then I won't have to do anything next year," 'cause I'm always, like you mentioned, you know, once I, once I grow it and I harvest it, or it starts to bolt, I'm done with it, you know? And so I, I'll take it out or I'll let it go to flower for the pollinators, but then I'm not thinking about the seeds.

And then the other thing is the perennial plants, the perennial edibles that we have.

Again, I know better, but at the same time, when it comes down to the time where they've, you know, overwintered and they're now coming up, back up, specifically, for example, chard, you know, and it's going strong, and I'm like, "Well, that, that was, it's past its prime.

It was better last year," and I'll, I'll take it out, and it's like what a waste.

I mean, that, that's ready to go again.

And then of course the ones where we plant too many.

I mean, we plant it all at once, and once it's done we had that big glut, and then we don't have anything for the rest of the season.

But anyway, I, I say that because in reading your book, it was clear that you made the point that in order to save time and, and to enjoy our time in the garden more, it involves more intensively planting in small spaces and maximizing the space we have with multiple plantings each year.

And I think that's the part where, speaking firsthand, I can say that's where I kinda fall short and I wanna move on to something else, but I'm missing a big opportunity, aren't I?

Yeah.

You know, especially for most gardeners have small yards with small, uh, plots of land to, to grow in, and they have a small family, so they don't really need the big bed full of z- beans or tomatoes or whatever it is.

They just need a, maybe sometimes just a couple plants, uh, to keep it going.

Now, I know everyone's a little nervous about that, and I am too sometimes [laughs] because, you know, if you put two zucchini plants in, and what happens if a woodchuck gets one of them? [laughs] Now you only got one zucchini.

Yeah.

So there is a little concern, and I always grow a little extra just in case I have some replacement plants to put in.

Uh, but the idea of interplanting things that you're gonna use the growth characteristics of that plant to find a good companion for it.

So for example, with tomatoes, we plant tomatoes in a bed.

They're spaced two to three feet apart for the most part, and you have all this space in between that you actually don't do-

Yeah

... anything with.

So why not take some lettuce seeds, some Asian green stir-fry mix seed, whatever s- uh, green seeds or seeds of greens that will germinate fast and grow quickly, put them in between the tomatoes.

And what we've learned in soil science is that plants don't ...