Gardening 2012!

[smalltowngirl]

You have to count backwards from your last frost date to figure out when to plant stuff inside. It really is not great to have them in too long, or they can get leggy and you end up transplanting them a bunch of times, which is annoying.

So like, if the packet says start your tomatoes 4 weeks before the frost date, count back four weeks or so from whatever your frost date is, and plant indoors at that time.

I hope that helps...sorry what I said before was not helpful.

My dad used to hunt coyote for their pelts. He’d sell them to Canada I think but I don’t know much beyond that. I just remember being scared of the pelts!

[knittykat]

[Chiquita]

[smalltowngirl]

[quote]just poking in the garden makes me feel good[/quote]

THIS

[walk_on_by]

I had terrible luck last year with tomatoes and peppers getting infested with some strange bacteria...the folks at my local organic gardening shop had never seen anything quite like it before, so that was awesome. I was also planting in what was basically just overturned lawn dirt, so I'm sure that didn't help. I ended up just throwing in the towel and yanking them all, as none of the recommended treatments helped...

This year, I think I am going to concentrate on herbs and greens. My herb garden is already kind of amazing all on its own, with little to no help from me, so that's all set (four kinds of thyme, sage, two kinds of oregano, rosemary, lavender, lemon balm, mint galore). I usually grow basil from seed and that's been easy-peasy/no maintenance, too, so yay for that.

Greens are more of an experiment, but I eat tons of spinach and swiss chard, so I'd like to try my hand at them and maybe build a small greenhouse-type cover for one of the beds in a effort to keep them producing for longer into the winter months if all goes well.

I'm also going to do a cutting garden for the flowers, so I can have pretty bouquets of zinnias and snapdragons and cosmos around the house. I grew a bunch of perennials from seed two years ago for my front flower beds, and I am expecting great things from them this year, too.

Garden planning is one of the best things about February in my Zone 5/northern hemisphere neck of the woods!

[Chiquita]

IF I get off work at a decent hour today I'm going to run by the garden center and see if they have any herbs for sale. It looks like our winter may be coming to an end a little early and MrC would love a bigger herb garden.

This weekend:
- cleaned up a bunch of weeds and added a bag of organic garden soil to one bed
- planted more spinach, arugula to replace what we have used
- put in radish seeds in beds that will hold tomatoes later in the season
- put out the cat-repellent around the perimeter of the garden, I'm still covering the newly seeded beds with chicken wire just in case
- added lots of dry leaves to my compost (was too wet)

Didn't:
- start seeds inside for later, best time would have been a couple of weeks ago, (oh well, been crazy busy)
- mow all the weeds in my front yard, nor did I edge (lawn maintenance isn't my priority this time of year)
- make a quick sketch of what went where, hopefully I can do that today and remember what I did too!

Plan on:
- maybe putting in one more raised bed before it really gets to be time to plant tomatoes
- stopping by the amazing nursery that isn't too far away and has perfect plants for our area at exactly the right time of year

[Chupacabra]

Started 2 types of tomato seeds last night. Here's hopin'!
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Etsy!
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[mohawk]

My husband has lost his mind and has found another set of double lights to accommodate 6 more trays of seeds.

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P1050209 by akuhlrock, on Flickr
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She believed she could, so she did.

[crookedtree]

I love reading about everyone's garden plans!

I went to a free all-day gardening forum last Saturday sponsored by a local network of community gardens, extension agencies, urban farms, and more. I attended workshops on building raised beds, 4-season gardening, canning, and composting. They had a free seed giveaway at the end and I picked up some parsnips, turnips, brussels sprouts, arugula, basil, and flowers to add to what I already have.

We had some crazy warm weather this week. We took a walk to our community garden and saw that some plots already have some really good-looking spinach and broccoli. We planted a few mache and spinach seeds in a self-watering window box to see what happens, but I'm planning to do the big spring dig after next weekend. I can't wait for fresh veggies!

[Chiquita]

Radishes are popping up, we even have a strawberry or two.

Picked up sage, parsley, and dill earlier in the week and planted immediately. Today I found tarragon at the grocery store, locally raised even, and picked up 2. Started seeds for: tomatoes (3 heirloom varieties), 2 different eggplants, and some cucumbers. Went ahead and got 1 large tomato plant and put it in a pot, in case we get a cold snap and it comes inside.

Not looking forward to a hot summer but LOVE being able to work in the veggie garden.

[IrmaVep]

We've been eating cherry tomatoes for a few weeks now, and this morning MrVep found that the first of the black krims were ripe. They were so good on toast for breakfast! If you're still thinking about tomato varieties, I totally recommend them.

[crookedtree]

Radish, lettuce, arugula, mache, broccoli, and spinach seeds are in the ground! Will probably sow some carrots tomorrow.
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"I tried watching downton abby. mistake. switched to ru paul's drag race." - Lacey Marie

[killr]

I was just telling my husband how I love gardening this time of year. Before it gets to hot, before the bugs and weeds settle in.... then I found little green worms eating my greens! argh. I wonder if with our mild winter if that means a terrible pest season this summer.



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kale, collards, and radish seedling


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onions planted last fall


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lettuce, spinach, radish and an overwintered swiss chard

[Figwit]

Last year I had a baby right at peak harvest/gardening time (which meant a completely neglected garden!), so this year will be better no matter what the outcome :)

So far:

We cleared out some space in the backyard for peas, radishes, carrots and lettuce.

I planted chard and kale in some big terra cotta pots.

I have a ridiculous seed collection from the past 3 years of gardening, so I went through and found 27 packets of tomatoes, peppers and tomatillos and planted ALL the types into this awesome root-watering mini pot tray (gaah I love that thing).

Our friend gave us kale and tomato (black krim and early girl) starts which are enjoying some sunlight in our front window.

Harvested a big basket of lemons from our tree in the backyard.

I need to go pick up my grow light set up from storage, but I found my seedling heat mat so it's time to start all my medicinal and culinary herbs.

I created a really visual, easy to use organization system for my seeds which I'm pumped to use... link to my newish blog where I show how I made my seed organizer.

Our front yard is just a big weed patch right now but there are some sunflowers that are volunteers from last year's HUGE sunflowers. Must weed/till around them then plant melons, beans and flowers that will grow up the railing. I need to figure out how to make a little fence because people's dogs and cats get into it all the time. Last year I planted gourds, zinnias and sunflowers and the front yard looked AMAZING (all the zinnias bloomed right after my baby was born!), so I want to make sure to plant lots of flowers again.
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good, clean, fair.

small is possible.

[killr]

figwit, my seeds are in something similar. Separated by type of seed, not by week. I may add monthly cards to my box. I always push things too early in the beginning of the season (eager!) and wait too late in the end of the season (burn out!)