Hill Gardens of Maine -- Successful Vegetable Gardening, Part 2

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The Success-Oriented Vegetable Gardener, Part 2—What Makes Up A Plant
by Fred Davis, MG, Hill Gardens of Maine (To view previous articles, click: Archives)

Welcome through Fred's Garden Gate! In order to properly maintain the family automobile, it usually helps to have a fairly substantial understanding of its inner works. Not only where the oil, water and gas goes - but why. It helps to have a basic knowledge of how an internal combustion engine functions and how the force it generates gets to the drive wheels.

Vegetable raising, too, becomes more satisfying and rewarding when the gardener has a better understanding of the make-up of plants and the internal/external processes which culminate in sweet, juicy, nutritious, fresh produce for your table.

Plants are made up of tiny, generally single-purpose, cells which combine to form structures like stems, leaves, roots, flowers pollen and, finally, seeds. These cells increase in number by a process similar to that which causes an infant to grow to full stature and size.

Photosynthesis. In the presence of sunlight and warmth, basic elements like oxygen, water, carbon dioxide and minerals are taken into green plant cells where they are converted into complex sugars, vegetable fats, proteins and vitamins, then are used in the production of more plant tissue or some form of storage or reproductive structure. The process cannot normally occur without light, moisture and, to a degree, heat. A byproduct of photosynthesis is the release of oxygen, carbon dioxide, water and a certain amount of energy, in a process called respiration.

Reproduction. Almost all plants reproduce themselves by seeds - small storehouses of energy, nutrition and a tiny embryo of the next generation. Stored materials are derived from the air, soil and whatever the gardener has opted to apply as organic or chemical fertilizer or other elements.

Water, heat and light combine to encourage germination - the emergence of stem and root - and eventually, another mature plant. Only enough food is stored within a seed to produce the barest-essential root and elementary leaves. At that point, the young seedling is on its own; it must locate and process external materials in order for growth to continue, and begins gathering up, processing and storing literally everything useful in sight.

Seeds are either clustered together in tight groups and large numbers (corn and other grains), carried singly or in small numbers within a protective covering (peas, beans), or completely surrounded by what may seem as an enormous reserve food supply (tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins). Sometimes seeds lie on the outside of their food reserves (strawberries).

It's a short step from understanding a plant's internal processes to the realization that the part we or our animals consume as food is made up of whatever the plant was able to garner from its surroundings and store in concentrated form. All this is very basic. Let's now insert a wrinkle or two.

Essential Nutrients. While plants utilize approximately 60 elements during growth, at least 15 are absolutely essential for minimum growth and maturity. These minimum elements include oxygen, carbon, phosphorus, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, iron, calcium, magnesium, boron, manganese, zinc, copper, potassium and molybdenum. While most are considered trace elements, needed only in very small amounts, the three "primaries" (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) are required in substantial quantities and are usually added by the gardener - in many cases far in excess of requirements.

Organically-grown vegetables derive nutrition required for development of leaves and storage structures from clean water and air, compost, well-rotted manure and a biologically-alive soil. Healthful, natural substances are gathered, processed and deposited in plant tissues for later consumption by you and I and our children.

Chemically-grown veggies have taken in, processed and stored unnatural materials - some of them highly-toxic in more concentrated form, others suspected of causing various levels and intensity of health problems in humans. Additionally, food grown in contaminated or chemically abused soils (including hazardous wastes, spilled chemicals, heavy metals from old house paint or discarded batteries) may very well have absorbed and stored dangerous levels of those contaminants.

A Personal Decision. Of course, it must be left to the individual to decide whether to allow Nature to produce the food we consume, or to supplement Nature with artificial nutritive substances. Personally, I find serious conflict between two powerful philosophies not only confusing, but disconcerting as well. On one hand, state and federal governments advocate extensive use and reliance on artificial or synthesized fertilizers; on the other side, ever-growing ranks of strictly organic farmers and gardeners proclaim the benefits of compost, soil health, and the abhorrence of anything unnatural in their food or the earth it's grown in.

I believe, and recommend to others, that it's far better to err on the side of caution. Clearly the best method is to rely heavily on improved soil nutrition via the addition of vast quantities of clean organic matter, and the avoidance of chemicals. An exception to this restriction of artificially-produced chemicals occurs when the total crop is threatened (an extreme emergency) and then only in the most judicious quantity sufficient to solve the problem.

Next time we'll take a closer look at mulches (living and artificial), green manures and cover-crops...in short, protecting both our soils and our crops.

Jump to Veggies, Part 3 Mulches, Green Manures, & Cover Crops.

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