- 1). Dig the garden area down to one foot. Turn the dirt over and work in compost and other organic matter like leaves, straw and hay.
- 2). Rake the surface even and break up any large chunks of dirt. Remove any rocks.
- 3). Plant heritage seed at the depth and spacing recommended on the package. Plant tiny seeds like lettuce on the surface, but plant larger, heavier-shelled seeds like pumpkin one inch beneath the soil.
- 4). Water the seeds daily until the second set of leaves appears on the seedlings; skip this step if it has rained.
- 5). Water and weed plants weekly after they are established. If it rains at least one inch per week, you do not need to water.
- 6). Hand-remove caterpillars. Release lady bugs and praying mantis into the garden to reduce insect pests.
- 7). Give a balanced fertilizer to all but grains and greens such as lettuce. Lettuce and grains such as corn require higher nitrogen fertilizer. Skip this step if you've added manure to the garden.
- 8). Harvest crops as they ripen. Summer fruits and vegetables do not stay table-ready as long as hybrid varieties that have been bred for shipping and storage qualities, but they may have more flavor.
- 9). Save a portion of the fruit to store as seed. Allow the seed fruits to fully ripen on the plant. When the seed is ripe, harvest and clean the seed and let it dry. Cleaning methods depend on the crop. For instance, you need only shell peas and dry them, but you must remove tomato seeds from the fruit, wash them and spread them out to air dry.
- 10
Include old-fashioned and native flowers as well as vegetables in your heritage garden. Flowers will attract bees and butterflies to increase pollination. Heritage flowers often have single, rather than double, flowers that allow insects easier access to the flower nectar.
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