Mediterranean Garden 2' x 4'
Simmer a rich tomato sauce redolent with roasted eggplant, peppers, garlic and onions. Add a simple tossed salad of your own tender greens with oil and vinegar. Mangia!
Planting Guide:
Tomato
- Plant seeds 1/4″ deep indoors, six to eight weeks before last frost
- Transplant into garden one to two weeks after last frost or when soil reaches 65 degrees F.
- Spacing: one plant per sq. ft. Grow early season crops nearby to allow more room later.
- Days to harvest: 55 to 100 days from transplanting, depending on variety. Not frost-hardy
- Hint: Remove lower leaves before planting and bury extra stem.
Eggplant
- Start seeds 1/4″ deep indoors eight weeks before last frost.
- Transplant seedlings when soil reaches 70 degrees F. or three weeks after last frost.
- Spacing: one per sq. ft.
- Days to harvest: 55 to 70 days from transplant. Not frost-hardy.
- Hints: Bugs love eggplants. Protect with garden fabric (row cover) even after flowering.
Hot peppers
- Start seeds indoors 1/4" deep 10 to 12 weeks before last frost.
- Transplant into garden three weeks after last frost or when soil reaches 70 degrees F.
- Fruits are edible from early green to full-color maturity. Heat increases with maturity.
- Spacing: one plant per sq. ft.
- Days to harvest: 50 to 65 days green, 80 to 85 days to full color. Not frost-hardy.
Peppers
- Start seeds indoors 1/4″ deep 10 to 12 weeks before last frost.
- Transplant into garden three weeks after last frost or when soil reaches 70 degrees F.
- Fruits are edible from early green to full-color maturity.
- Spacing: one plant per sq. ft.
- Days to harvest: 50 to 65 days green, 80 to 85 days to full color. Not frost-hardy.
Scallions
- Start seeds 1/4" deep indoors 6 weeks before last frost; plant 5-10 seeds per cell
- Transplant plants into garden a 2 to 3 weeks before last frost. If planting sets, plant them 1" deep.
- Spacing: 16 plants per sq. ft.
- Days to harvest: 60 days, pencil-sized or larger. Frost-hardy.
- Hint: Flavor gets hotter as scallions mature. Plants require consistent moisture.
Leaf lettuce
- Sow seed indoors 1/4″ deep, eight weeks before last frost or directly in garden when soil can be worked.
- Thin seedlings when four weeks old.
- Spacing: 16 plants per sq. ft.
- Plant more lettuce every two to four weeks for a good supply.
- Days to harvest: 28 days for baby lettuce, 45 days to full size. Frost-hardy.
- Hint: Harvest outer leaves anytime, or use scissors to harvest entire plant, leaving an inch of stem to encourage new growth.
Swiss chard
- Plant seeds 1/2″ deep indoors six weeks before last frost, or in garden two weeks before last frost
- Transplant: Around the time of last frost
- Plant a second crop to ensure a plentiful supply of tender leaves.
- Spacing: two plants per sq. ft.
- Days to harvest: 30 days from seed for baby; 50 days to full size. Frost-hardy.
- Hint: Good source of summer greens, chard is not bothered by heat.