Country Living Skills

We are using this book a lot… Maybe you will find it useful too if you are new to the whole homesteading business or are just looking for something that sums up everything you need to know in times such as these…

Generally speaking, you can plant zucchini, squash, pumpkin and gourd a plant per foot. Note that zucchini does not vine, whereas squash, pumpkin and gourds, do.

IN ROWS:

• 18 inches between rows for zucchini, squash and gourd
• 12 inches apart
• plant 3-5 seeds, thin out if necessary

Pumpkins are usually planted in hills dues to their size. Leave plenty of space for them to vine.

Corn, Beans and squash, pumpkin or zucchini together make what is commonly called “The Three Sisters”. Here is how you plant a three sister mound:

1. In late May/ early June, pile up soil a foot high and 20 across. Place the mounds four feet apart, flatten the tops.

2. Plant five to six corn kernels in a small circle.

3. When the corn has grown about five inches (about a week or two later), plant seven to eight pole beans in a circle around the corn, about six inches away.

4. At the edge of the mound, a foot away from the beans, squash or pumpkin seeds, seven to eight all in all.

5. Weed out the weaker plants once they have grown enough to tell which are strong and which are weak plants.

6. Wrap the beans around the corn stalks as they grow. The squash will crawl around corn and beans.

Buy plants, and remember when you buy them that you need some space for them as they will grow quite a bit.

IN ROWS:

• leave 18 inches between plants
• plant in a somewhat shady spot
• cover plants with straw in the fall

Strawberries are easy to propagate. They send out runners that root and grow into individual plants. There are different varieties of strawberries:

• June Bearing strawberries produce a single, large crop per year during a 2 - 3 week period in the spring. They produce many runners and the largest fruits. You find early, mid-season and late varieties.

• Everbearing strawberries produce two to three harvests of fruit from spring to fall, but unfortunately do not send out many runners.

• Day Neutral strawberries will produce fruit throughout the growing season and only few runners, too.

If you have limited space and are not too keen on runners, Everbearing and Day Neutral varieties are best for you, even if the fruits are somewhat smallish.

Plant your spring crop early, 4-6 weeks before the frost date, as kohlrabi that grows slowly and in hot weather will be woody.

IN ROWS:

• 1/4-1/2 inch deep
• thin to 3-6 inches between plants, thinnings can be planted elsewhere
• 12-24 inches between rows

IN A GRID:

• plant 9 plants in a 1 foot square

It is a good idea to plant carrots and radishes in alternating rows as the radishes come up much earlier than the carrots and will remind you where the carrots were Both vegetables can be planted as early as 25 days before your frost date.

CARROTS IN ROWS:

• 1/4 inch deep
• 1/2 inch apart
• 12 inches between rows

RADISHES IN ROWS:

• 1/4-1/2 inch deep
• 2 inches apart
• 6 inches between rows

As the radishes will be gone by the time your carrots need the space, you can plant the radishes in between the carrot rows, thus saving space.