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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Soil survivor

At 70, Deer Park gardener makes most of experience

Dave Swett, retired owner of Yesterday’s Farm in Deer Park, has a healthy, productive vegetable garden despite this year’s challenges. Special to  (Susan Mulvihill Special to / The Spokesman-Review)

Even though he says he’s retired, Dave Swett is one of the hardest-working gardeners you’ll ever meet. Born in New Hampshire, he has been gardening since the early ’70s and learned organic practices from reading Rodale health and wellness books and Organic Gardening magazine.

He and his wife moved to their farm in Deer Park in 1986. He started his three-acre truck farm, Yesterday’s Farm, in 1989, and it was certified organic a year later.

Swett retired in December 2007 because the past two years were too physically demanding for him. “At age 70, I don’t have the zip that I used to,” he says, but admits that he’s having a hard time scaling back. He’s now gardening on about an acre and donates his extra produce to the Deer Park food bank.

He starts tomatoes and peppers in his basement in February. He uses cold frames to start broccoli, cabbage and lettuce seeds the first week of March and squash seeds the first of May. The seedlings have a transitional period in a greenhouse, heated by a small space heater, and are covered with floating row cover each night for extra protection. Once weather conditions permit, he moves the plants out to the garden and covers them for three to four weeks.

This year, our chilly spring has been a challenge even for a gardener as experienced as Swett. Many of his plants started the season with pale leaves, which he says is related to lower soil temperatures.

“The soil bacteria that provide nitrogen to plants need a higher soil temperature to function,” he says.

The most important concept he has learned is the value of healthy soil.

“My fertility program is based on using what others consider waste – rotted hay, leaves and manure – to create rich compost,” he says. “I’m convinced the absolute key to success with a garden is the friability and workability of the soil. The bigger a plant’s root system is, the better its fertility and health will be.”

A good example is Swett’s broccoli and cabbage patch. I was surprised to see that these two crops – which have always attracted aphids and cabbage loopers in my garden – were not covered by floating row cover yet were virtually untouched by any insects.

“I have a philosophy about aphids,” he explains. “They are usually an indicator of poor fertility. If the plants are vigorous, it’s harder for their plant juices to be sucked by them. Spindly plants attract more insects.”

Swett has found that by planting cabbage and broccoli together, they benefit one another. “Cabbage butterflies are more likely to lay their eggs on cabbage leaves than on broccoli. The broccoli plants are left alone and the cabbage loopers will only damage a couple of leaves on the cabbage plants which you can just peel off.”

That’s a pretty straightforward approach to growing those crops.

When transplanting bell peppers, Swett pinches off the buds so the plants don’t waste time trying to develop fruits when they should be growing vegetation. He also mulches cucumber plants to keep the fruits dry and clean.

As we stroll through his garden, I am astounded by the size of the plants. His squash, tomato and cucumber plants easily dwarf those in my garden. He attributes this to getting them started early, planting them in rich soil and using a floating row cover for frost protection.

“Had I not been a proponent of floating row cover,” he says, “there would be a number of crops I wouldn’t have been successful growing in our short season.”

Susan Mulvihill can be reached via e-mail at inthegarden@live.com.