February 4, 2014

a good time to start planting seeds

Now that the sweet potatoes are planted, I think it a good time to start planting some onion seeds. Its only 2 weeks early. My husband found my bags of potting soil in the shed over the weekend and they are thawed out by now. I still need to find the seed trays I saved and run them through the dishwasher. Then I need to locate some labels. If I can’t find some little wooden ones from last year, there’s usually something plastic in the recycling bin that I can…

January 27, 2014

draft 2 of my new 2014 garden

This is my plan for my big new garden in my backyard! Lots of room for tomatoes – I’m looking forward to canning enough the last the winter next year. Same with potatoes – I’ll have enough room to grow baskets of potatoes for storage all winter. Lots of room for greens, spinach, lettuce, mustards, arugula, and bok choy. Room for green beans, soy beans and shell beans. Even space for cutting flowers, mostly zinnias and small sunflowers, I think. Since I planted my garlic in my community garden plot…

January 5, 2014

fruit tree planning

I’m working on deciding how many fruit trees I’ll have room for and what varieties to get. I’d like to get a peach, a pie cherry and several apple trees. Along with the peach and the cherry, I think I’ll have room for 3-5 apple trees. I don’t know whether to plant dwarfs, so I can spray, pick and prune them without a ladder, or semi-dwarfs, which I think are hardier, longer-lived and produce more fruit. From my quick measuring of the space, it looks like I have room for…

December 23, 2013

crops for my community plot

Before I map out what to plant where in my new home garden, I need to decide what will go in my community plot. I’ll be keeping my plot at least one more season, mostly because I planted my garlic there this fall (and also since I will stay on as the Garden Coordinator another year.) I’m going to start a list here of crops that have done well in the plot. These are generally ones that aren’t susceptible to pests that thrive in a community garden. For example, late…

December 23, 2013

19 weeks and counting

I’ve started the countdown to my last frost. Should be about May 10 for my new garden. 19 weeks!! All my seed starting is based on this countdown. The first seeds to plant will be onions and celeriac, which get started 11 weeks before the last frost. So I have 8 weeks to get ready. Lights, shelves, potting soil, trays, seeds. It’s exciting to have a date set and a countdown going!

December 20, 2013

first draft of my 2014 garden plan

March 23, 2013

planting list 2013

January 28 (inside under lights) Onions, Ruby Ring Onions, Frontier (did not sprout) Onions, White Wing Onions, Walla Walla Onions, Pontiac Shallots, Prizma Leeks, Giant Musselburgh Celeriac, Brilliant March 11 (inside under lights) Broccoli, Diplomat Eggplant, Tiger Eggplant, Black King Eggplant, Kamo Lettuce, Prizehead Lettuce, Oaky Red Endive, Tres Fine Endive, Galia Kale, Winterbor Kale, Tuscan Radicchio, Red Precco #1 Radicchio, Palla Rossa March 24 (inside under lights) Pepper, Costa Rican Sweet Pepper, Canary Bell Sweet Pepper, Quadrato Rosso D’Asti (Sweet Red) Pepper, Sweet Chocoloate Pepper, Nardello Pepper, Amelia’s Cayenne…

March 15, 2013

vegetable garden i phone ap

I have a new ad I just posted for a vegetable garden Iphone ap. I bought a copy myself to try ($2.99). If anyone else buys one – let me know what you think.

February 17, 2013

2013 variety list

Basil: Genovese, Italian Large Leaf, Lemon Aromatic Beets: Chiogga Guardsmark, Early Wonder, Merlin, Red Detroit Broccoli: Diplomat Carrots: Carnival Mix, Mokum Celeriac: Brilliant Eggplant: Black King, Kamo, Tiger Endive: Galia, Tres Fine Kale: Tuscan, Winterbor Leeks, Giant Musselburgh Lettuce: Oaky Red, Prizehead Marigolds: Burpee’s Best Mix, Cottage Red Mexican Sunflower: Torch Onions: Frontier (did not sprout), White Wing, Pontiac, Walla Walla Parsley: Single Italian Peas: Sugar Sprint Pepper: Amelia’s Cayenne, Ancho 211, Annaheim, Canary Bell Sweet, Costa Rican Sweet, Jalepeno, Nardello, NuMex Joe E Parker, Quadrato Rosso D’Asti (Sweet Red),…

February 10, 2013

2013 garden plans

While snowed in, I worked on my Garden Plan for the coming season. Its just a guide for me, and I don’t follow it to the letter. The most important parts of the Plan are making sure the locations of the potatoes and roots are rotated. Also, reminding me that there is a limit to the amount of space I have and I shouldn’t go too crazy with planting seeds. A couple things I plan to do differently this year: – Move the cucumbers to a bed of their own…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost