Plot 1

Urban Harvest's eight-plot rotation provides the following directions for Plot 1:
Plot 1: Squash - In plot 1, as the November plot clears from peppers and eggplants (plot 8), plant 100 sq. ft. of Berseem clover November to April for soil improvement, and in late March, plant Moschata species squash such as Calabasas and Seminole, or butternut. Do this by removing some clover and planting plants down the middle of the bed. From March to November, squash will take up the entire plot (and more). You can try summer squashes there in August, but they produce poorly compared to the Moschatas. In November, change the plot number to Plot 2. 
 ___________________________________________________

On March 1, 2016, Plot 1 was in the south half of Bed 1. I sowed Waltham butternut squash seeds. They grew very slowly.

On March 20, 2016, The butternut squash seedlings all had one true leaf about 1″ across.

On March 25,  I did my first ever newspaper mulching in Bed 1 for the butternut squash. First, I laid out about 3 pages in a spot, watered it down, and repeated until the entire bed was covered, except for small areas around the seedlings. I then covered the newspaper with some of the leaf mold I had left. I probably should have used a couple more layers of newspaper.

In November 2016, Plot 1 was in the north half of Bed 4. I sowed Berseem clover seeds I had ordered online. I covered the plot pretty heavily, but the clover only grew in thin patches around the plot. In March, 2017, I sowed butternut squash, as I did the year before, but this time it grew much better. In May the vines covered much of the plot, and they had many flowers and some small fruits. In November 2017, I cast carrot and berseem clover seeds all over the plot, and I harvested the carrots, of which there were many, in February and March.

In late March, 2018, I suppressed some of the berseem, and pulled some out in a haphazard way. I then made three mounds for butternut squash seeds and covered the rest of the bed, with some berseem plants will in it, with shredded leaves.
Initially, I sowed some butternut seeds from last year, but they didn't sprout. The homemade leaf mold I used for the mounds was not completely finished, and I should have rubbed it between my hands to break up the fragile leaf forms that remained. I bought more butternut seeds and put them in the mounds after breaking up the soil.

No comments: