Shaun Giudici

Organizing System Case Study

OVERVIEW In our first assignment, ‘Everything is Organized’, I wrote about the domain of farming and the cycle of resources like sun, water, earth and manpower that in turn become the plants that sustain us as a population. In this assignment I’m narrowing the scope down to a vegetable garden, specifically the one I maintained from my childhood until I moved away from home at age 22. Both my father and grandfather taught me a lot about gardening; in some sense I feel that domain-specific knowledge is a resource. However, for the scope of this paper I will be focusing on more measurable resources and interactions of my vegetable garden. Gardens, especially those used to grow crops, undergo frequent change. After a brief overview of the seasonal cycle, I am going to narrow down to the organization of space and layout of plants in the garden.

A healthy garden requires maintenance year round. Preparation begins in the fall by turning under the previous years crops along with other yard trimmings and lime, to balance soil pH. In the early spring months we begin the germination process indoors, heating greenhouses in the cool New England climate. When warmer temperatures emerge we begin to plant directly in the garden. A lot of organization goes into deciding how to layout a garden for the season, here our adventure begins. A garden ready for planting is a beautiful thing. It is a blank slate, with the exception of some perennials, and the affordances seem unlimited. Oh the organizing possibilities!

WHAT RESOURCES ARE BEING ORGANIZED? We are creating an intentional arrangement of different genus of plants into areas of the garden. Some plants are germinated from seed indoors and later moved outdoors when the weather gets warmer.  Others are planted directly into the garden. A select few are perennial, meaning they occupy their space in the garden all year round and will not be moved. Considerations must be made on the basis of expected plant size at maturity, direction of growth, and environment requirements such as level of sunlight needed. Alternative materials are organized as well, such as grass clippings used for weed suppression; they are placed between plantings to suppress weeds and promote a healthier growing environment.

WHY ARE THE RESOURCES ORGANIZED? We organize our vegetable garden to provide high crop yields in a limited space. We also aim to enable better interactions during the growing season by creating watering zones and walking paths for the gardeners. Another consideration is the harvest. Its easier to walk up and down a row of corn to pick ears than it is if the 50 plants were scattered about.

Arrangement of the garden also takes into account the complementary nature of some plants. Benefits can be had by planting certain plants in close proximity to others. Garlic is a great example as it helps protect other plants from disease due to its accumulation of sulfur, a natural fungicide. Garlic also deters insects such as aphids. There are plants that complement it well, such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. On the flip side, garlic has been known to stunt the growth of beans and peas in its’ proximity.

HOW MUCH ARE THE RESOURCES ORGANIZED? The users of the garden are mostly myself, Dad and Grandpa, who are all considered “power users”. Since we all know what to watch out for, we use minimal markings in our garden. Communal gardens, or those that exist for tourist viewing might have increased markers. This could mean guiding people around plants to avoid trampling, or signage to indicate the name or variety of a type of plant.

We organize the garden to support some basic interactions of walking between rows, bringing in a hose and sprinkler, and harvesting efficiently. Twine and stakes are used during the planting process to mark clear rows. This helps keep plants aligned and maximizes the space while also providing clear corridors for walking. Many of the plants are organized at planting time and then left to themselves to rise up as nature intended. In some cases intervention is necessary. Vining plants, for example, receive “training”, a physical intervention of guiding growth up trellises or away from other plants that may become suffocated. Tomatoes require more attention after planting, as they are grown upwards against stakes and need to be tied to the support as they grow taller, else they risk breaking under their own weight..

WHEN ARE THE RESOURCES ORGANIZED? Planting time is when we do a bulk of our organization. It is at this point that we need to have the proper foresight to know how large a plant will grow, and therefore how much spacing it needs between other plants. Different plants also thrive in different seasons and climates. Imagine its springtime, you hear more and more birds chirping outside each morning, the temperatures at night are getting to the high 40’s and 50’s which is well out of frost territory. Our classification system of plants in our inventory includes the recommended planting time for our climate zone and we choose to start with broccoli and lettuce, because we know that they can still thrive in these cool Spring temperatures. By the time summer hits, much of the lettuce harvest will be complete and we can reuse that space for heat-loving plants such as cucumbers and tomatoes.

WHO DOES THE ORGANIZING? As the gardener, I do the organizing. In the early days I would actually measure out each row, marking lines and digging in uniform rows. Inevitably I would try to squeeze too many plants into a space and my knowledgeable fathers, power users of the garden themselves, would provide their input. In some cases I learned the hard way, with plants that grossly overcrowded each other.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Starting vegetable gardens from seed can be a high-loss endeavor. We must prepare ahead of time for seeds that will never sprout, and plants that will not survive the initial planting. Constant monitoring of plant health and replacement of fallen soldiers is important to maintaining a high-yield and healthy garden.