February 12, 2018

updates for our Planting Calendar Apps

An update for Skippy’s Vegetable Planting Calendar IPhone app will be out in the next few days. It will fix bugs including saving input frost dates and crops. Also vegetable planting information is updated. if you purchase the app now, you can use the update at no extra cost. Also anyone with the app already will be notified to download the update (no cost). The Vegetable Planting App is here HERE. I’ll be using this app to start my onions and celery this week. Be sure to email me any comments…

February 7, 2018

early seedlings

The planting season is starting up!! I planted a bunch of greens to fill my winter tunnel since mice ruined my fall planting. I finished transplanting them today. They were growing 4 or 5 to a cell of a 6-pack, now they each have a cell to themselves. I hope to plant them out in the tunnel at the end of the month. I started my regular garden planting a few days ago by planting a few asparagus seeds. They need to go in 13 weeks before the last frost.…

February 1, 2018

new varieties for this year!!

I have a lot of new varieties planned for this year. Why not be a bit adventuresome! Planning for fun in the garden takes my mind off of this winter. Not that it’s a bad winter, but I really want to get back outside in the dirt. Some of these are new varieties of plants I’ve grown before. Some are whole new plants that I’m trying for the first time – like artichokes, celery, and cumin. Artichoke, Tavor, only 95 days to harvest – I’ll grow some for flowers too…

January 31, 2018

2018 planting list

I’ve started early with seed sowing this year since my winter tunnel was cleared out by a mouse (arrgh). I’ll replant it in late February with early seedlings. This will be my link for my seed sowing list for the year. January 14, 2018 (planted indoors under lights for my winter tunnel) Lettuce, Rhazes (red mini romaine) Spinach, Emperor (semi savoy) Escarole, Natacha (broad-leaved Batavian) January 20, 2018 (planted indoors under lights for my winter tunnel) Lettuce, Cherokee (red summer crisp), Crispino (green iceberg), and Rouxai (red and green…

January 25, 2018

seed catalogs

I received the Adaptive Seeds catalog today. Excellent reading. It will keep me busy at least several days to read all the way through it. A few days ago I got FarmTek, Johnny’s Seeds, and McMurray‘s Hatchery. If reading catalogs brings the spring on sooner, I’m there.

January 22, 2018

when to plant spring seeds

To time when I plant my seeds, I use an app that I’ve written. Skippy’s Vegetable planting calendar. We’ve been working on this for a few years and a new update is due out next month. This update makes the app retain settings and fills in some missing planting information and is free for any previously purchased apps. I have about 100 vegetable varieties that I’ll plant this year. The app is a very simple way of planning when to plant vegetable seeds. This year I entered info from all…

January 22, 2018

today’s indoor garden work

Today I planted seeds for 3 types of lettuce and a cabbage. Just a few of each. Seedlings will go into my winter tunnel in 4 weeks. By then we’ll be getting on to the end of February. If temperatures aren’t warm by then, at least there’ll be enough light to warm the tunnel and for plant growth. Right now the seed pots are sitting on the side of my bath tub. It’s too cold for germination in the room with my plant lights. The bathroom is warm, but there…

January 19, 2018

my tried-and-true, old favorite vegetable varieties

Bush beans, Jumbo, big flat pods Mini broccoli, Happy Rich, broccolini that keeps producing all season Green storage cabbage, Murdoc, a big storage variety, very mild Popcorn, Robust 997, super yields, great popping and taste Pickling cucumber, Salt and Pepper, small white cuke, chartreuse inside Seedless cucumber, Diva, my favorite cuke for many years, can be finicky to get started Asian mini eggplant, Hansel, awesome yields of small black Asian type fruits Black round Italian eggplant, Barbarella, low yields but the best taste ever Broad-leaved Escarole, Natacha, a beautiful plant…

January 15, 2018

2018 garden plans

January 13, 2018

mouse traps in the winter tunnel

All our snow is gone now. We got a couple inches of rain last night. In one night we went from a foot of snow to almost no snow at all. I had opened my winter tunnel to the rain and air for the past couple days. The soil looks nice now. Unfortunately, the plants are still mouse-eaten and frost-killed. This morning I pulled all the damaged plants. The mice ate parsley roots, lettuce and spinach stems, and entire chard plants. My husband was up early this…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost