These are my current plans for the 2012 season. All of the garden beds are deeply dug and, mercifully, already prepared, except for adding supplements (composted manure, etc.) and doing a final mix/dig. Since I do all the digging by hand, I start preparing the soil in the fall, one bed at a time, and take my time.
The number of varieties is too large, approaching the scale of a botanical garden, but 2013 will be different, I swear. But I really want to get a broad picture of which varieties are most suited for my needs, which are pipe tobacco and cigars.
The crazy dense planting of Xanthi Yaka (1.2 sq. ft. per plant) is to see how that affects the quality of the product, since this is close to the planting density in Xanthi, Greece. If you find me complaining about how difficult it is to manage with such close spacing, just ignore it.
Most of the large varieties are provided 3.75 sq. ft. per plant, while a number of the smaller varieties get 2.75 sq. ft. per plant.
The Garden Layout
The Beds
The strange triangular beds are located at the ends of existing bramble beds, and were planted in October with garlic. This should be out by early June.
In planning for the huge number of varieties, I find that the greatest difficulty lies in managing the required number of extra seedlings in order to guarantee enough viable transplants and replacements. I haven't yet decided on what method I'll use for germination.
For all the fuss, the total number of plants is only 171, encompassing 39 varieties, 34 of which are new for me, and will be bagged with Agribon-AG15 for seed. There are also a number of crossing experiments with Little Dutch (known N. tabacum), Cornplanter (known N. rustica), and the pair of Mt. Pima and Papante (uncertain species).
Bob
The number of varieties is too large, approaching the scale of a botanical garden, but 2013 will be different, I swear. But I really want to get a broad picture of which varieties are most suited for my needs, which are pipe tobacco and cigars.
The crazy dense planting of Xanthi Yaka (1.2 sq. ft. per plant) is to see how that affects the quality of the product, since this is close to the planting density in Xanthi, Greece. If you find me complaining about how difficult it is to manage with such close spacing, just ignore it.
Most of the large varieties are provided 3.75 sq. ft. per plant, while a number of the smaller varieties get 2.75 sq. ft. per plant.
The Garden Layout
The Beds
The strange triangular beds are located at the ends of existing bramble beds, and were planted in October with garlic. This should be out by early June.
In planning for the huge number of varieties, I find that the greatest difficulty lies in managing the required number of extra seedlings in order to guarantee enough viable transplants and replacements. I haven't yet decided on what method I'll use for germination.
For all the fuss, the total number of plants is only 171, encompassing 39 varieties, 34 of which are new for me, and will be bagged with Agribon-AG15 for seed. There are also a number of crossing experiments with Little Dutch (known N. tabacum), Cornplanter (known N. rustica), and the pair of Mt. Pima and Papante (uncertain species).
Bob