Gardening Timetable

This general timetable has been designed to help you plan the many gardening activities, and other projects described in the UNH Growing a Green Generation series. Many specific activities listed can be spread out throughout the summer as you work with the children in the garden while others are quite suitable to do during the fall and winter months.

Because we planned and carried out the Growing a Green generation activities in Durham, New Hampshire, the timetable below is most appropriate for the Seacoast region of the state. Most New Hampshire gardeners can count on a 120 –day growing season, although this number can vary as much as 15 days, one way or another, depending on the specific location and the microclimate of the garden site. To calculate the length of your growing season, count the number of days between the last frost in spring and first killing frost in the fall. If you don’t know the average frost dates in your area call the UNH Cooperative Extension office in your county. You can find the phone numbers on the Extension web site: http://ceinfo.unh.edu.

The Timeline:

November thru January:

What they are and how they grow. (Section 1)

Begin discussions and experiments about plant growth and development. Take this opportunity to show the children details you wouldn’t have time to show them during the busy growing season.

February:

Time to get started. (Sections 2.2 & 3)

Begin discussions about the garden. E.g. Size, shape and design.
Go through various seed catalogs and talk about such things as: days to maturity, soil and light requirements, germination requirements, what you can do with a particular plant or fruit, resistance to pests and diseases etc.
Order your seeds. (See table 1.)

March and April:

Start seeds now. Some seeds need to be transplanted 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost date or the “all safe day” May 30th. Others will need to be started 4 to 6 weeks ahead. Read the packets and plan accordingly. (See tables 2, 3 & 4.)
Start transplanting your seedlings into six packs as soon as the 1st set of true leaves appear. Talk to the children about the vascular system and photosynthesis. You can talk about how the seed leaves are all used up now and, how the soil and sun have taken over the job of feeding the plant. Do some experiments proving the need for nutrients. (Section 8.)

May:

Wake up your garden remembering never to work overly wet soil.

Contact your county extension office for information on doing a soil test. Collect a sample from your garden with the childrens help and talk about why you are testing the soil.
Rototill the garden, mixing in compost and fertilizers following your soil test recommendations. Share what you are doing with the children and have discussions and do activities associated with soil characteristics and fertility. (section 2.5)
Start hardening off your transplants by putting them outside in a sunny, sheltered location. Bring them in on nights (or days) that are predicted to go below 35 degrees.
Take a trip to a greenhouse. (section 4.1)
Talk about growing things in soil less media vs their garden soil.
What’s the same and what’s different about greenhouse growing?
Continue with your seeding schedule.
Seeding outdoors can begin now. Remember most garden vegetables require soil temperatures of 45 degrees or more to germinate. (See table 3.)
Create the hardscapes for the garden i.e. Teepees, Bean tunnels, cherry tomato houses (Section 3). Use your garden design to place them in the perfect spot!

June:

Transfer the plants you grew inside out into the garden. This may continue for a few weeks.
Container gardens can be started now (sections 3.3) so each child can have their own little garden to care for throughout the summer. It will teach them responsibility.
Begin mulching chores. (sections 2.7, 2.8, and tables 5 & 6) Continue these chores throughout the month as you finish planting.
Get your irrigation method worked out and set up. Topic of discussion? Water needs and conservation.

July:

At this point the garden should be all planted. To have a constant supply of some favorite vegies throughout the summer:

Successively plant peas, beans, lettuce and other plants that mature in a relatively short time.
Weeding chores need constant attention now.
Get a weeding and watering schedule sign up sheet circulating so you’ll have the help when you need it.
Start taking walks through the garden with the kids to see “who’s” emerging from beneath the soil, and to talk about how the transplants are doing.
Scout for insects, especially cucumber beetles which seem to emerge as soon as the cucurbits break through the ground. Talk about control methods, beneficial and harmful insects. (All of sec. 5 and 9.2.)
Stake or tie the tomatoes.

August, September and October:

Continue to weed and scout for insects but add diseases to the list. Talk to the kids about diseases and their control. See if you can get a local plant doctor or entomologist to come for a visit. Call Cooperative Extension for help with this.
As plants start to ripen, be ready to begin harvesting the fruits of your labor. This will continue throughout the rest of the summer.
Let some of the veggies go to seed and save them for use in activities during the winter months. (See table 4.)
Start pulling spent plants out of the garden and add them to the compost pile.
Re-till the garden when you’re done cleaning it up, and plant a cover crop. Talk about putting back into the soil everything you used during the growing season.

For any gardening questions and help, contact the UNH Cooperative Extension - Family Home and Garden Center, Monday – Friday, 9am to 2pm, toll free at 1-877-EXT-GROW (1-877-398-4769). You can also contact your local County Cooperative Extension office. The phone numbers for all the county offices can be found on the web site, http://ceinfo.unh.edu/.