Venus Rising

ProfileIssue: Aries 10

Barbara Damrosch Goes 100% Organic in Her Revised Garden Primer

Are you starting a garden for the first time and don't know where to start? Save yourself from some big mistakes by reading the comprehensive, down-to-earth one-volume gardening reference, "The Garden Primer," now 100% organic, by Barbara Damrosch. From composting to crop rotation to the best varieties of seeds for the climate you live in, Barbara touches on it all - she is clearly an expert, having worked professionally in the field of horticulture since 1977.

Barbara suggests that pepper seedlings need a really warm spot to get started and not to harden them unlike other seedlings. She cautions that tomato seedlings need lots of light so they don't get "leggy" and should be hardened in a protected (no frost) area two weeks before planting to avoid the initial shock of planting. Both of these summer favorites need a spot in the garden where there is plenty of heat and sun - perhaps even black plastic cover to keep the ground warm.

I came across "The Garden Primer" near the end of the season last year, and now I don't know what I did without it. This year I actually have a map of my garden thanks to the Primer, including areas that will be "interplanted" with other vegetables.