I'm starting to plan my next garden!
Its much too cold to go outside. But inside a warm fire, leftover Christmas food and piles of new seed catalogs.
I figure with my new cold frame I can move up my planting dates. Since the frame extended my harvest by 2 months this fall, I'm guessing I can start two months early in the spring for as much as I can fit in the frame. (I have to remember that I still have plants in there and I want to see if they will survive and start growing again in the spring.) I'm setting up a planting calendar with March 1 as a "last frost date" to use for greens and onions. This calendar says I should have planted celery, celeriac and onions already - on December 23! Broccoli, kale, lettuce, escarole and other greens can go in the second week of January! Great. I will check on the seeds I have left over and the planting trays and soil I have. And I'll get ready.
Here's my first order. Its from Territorial Seed Co.
Giant Musselburgh Leek - 1/2 gram
Winter Density Lettuce - 1 gram
Oaky Red Splash Lettuce, Organic - 1/2 gram Organic
Victoria Lettuce, Organic - 1/2 gram Organic
Palla Rossa Special Radicchio - 1/8 gram
Perfection Fennel, Organic - 1/2 gram Organic
Rhodos Endive - 1 gram
Ruby Streaks Mustard - 1 gram
Kyoto Mizuna Mustard - 1 gram
14 comments:
I love planning! I started yesterday. My plots total over 1500 square feet (between my house and my dads) so I have a LOT of meticulous planning to do- actually, done. I'm a bit insane and plan-crazy. I used a square inch grid to even plan where each darn plant is going! I love it :)
You, among many other amazing bloggers, have inspired me to attempt to document my gardening experiences this year. Good luck, I look forward to reading all about your garden!
Great! I love planning too. I'm meticulous about drawing everything out, but come spring I'm not so good about following my plans.
Thanks for the sowing calendar Kathy! I've been cozying up to the fireplace with my seed catalog. I'm making my list and checking it twice. Looks like your calendar is telling me to get a move on. My onion needs to be sown at the end of Jan. I may start early and do successive planting as I hear onions are finicky. I've never grown them before. Thanks again!!
This will be our third year planning our vegetable garden. I appreciate your blog post on planning. It helps a newbie like me get more organized.
I've gotten some of my new seeds in, and posted pics of them on my blog. It should be a fun year! http://www.mysuburbanhomestead.com/seed-orders/
Hi Kathy -- The sowing calendar is great. Thanks for sharing. Why did you pick Territorial? Was it the varieties, cost, service or something else?
I picked Territorial because their catalog arrived yesterday and was still on the kitchen table. The rest of my stack of 20 catalogs or so that I've already received was on the shelf.
Unfortunately if I go through them all, I'll end up ordering way too much.
Territorial is good. My favorites are Johnny's and Fedco. Also Botanical Interests and Sand Hill Preservation Center.
I was also thinking that I know most of the varieties from my favorite growers, and I thought it would be good to try some new varieties. The ones I ordered from Territorial are all new to me.
I ordered my garlic from Territorial last year and it did super, but I don't usually order from them.
Now that you mention it, I may end up getting out my Sand Hill catalog and placing another order soon. I have some favorites that they carry that I would like to buy again.
My theme this year is going to be to plant a little bit of lots of different things. Lots of variety. No big long rows of one thing.
Before I place more orders, I need to dig out my old seeds and see what's left over. Right now, I'm just working on the greens, celery, and onions. Its nice not to have to figure out the entire garden yet.
Good luck with the onions Holly.
I've grown them a couple years now. I did terrible the first year, but great last year. I think the difference is LIGHT. Put the grow lights really close, right in the leaves. Touching them is fine for fluorescent bulbs. And when planting them out, they again need light! I mixed them in with my peppers and tomatoes two years ago - not good. They need their own bed with nothing blocking their light.
I am just finishing eating my last home grown onions this week. I grew purple and yellow ones last year of 4 or 5 varieties. I like the ones that store well. My preference is the big yellow ones, Ailsa Craig and Frontier (from Johnny's). I thought I grew way too many, but it was a perfect amount. I'm hoping for a good crop again this year.
Haha! I'm glad I'm not the only one who already has seed orders in the works!
I got a gift certificate to Pinetree Garden Seeds for Christmas, so I'm going to have lots of fun choosing.
I love your enthusiasm for getting your garden prepared. I have been reading your blog for the past month and I particularly enjoy the photos of growth on your sidebar. They are spurring me on in my early days of vegetable gardening. We just built 3 raised beds, filled them with soil, and last night I sowed a heap of snap beans, spinach, topweight carrots, and sweet basil.
http://thriftnestsew.blogspot.com/
It's Summer here in Australia and we have yet to irrigate the beds... that's the next step. So thanks for the inspiration to grow my own veggies!
Kathy -- I like your idea of planting a little of everything. I'm going to do the same. I think it's better for avoiding pest problems, but it does make it more complex if you want to rotate plant types to protect the soil.
Happy New Year, Kathy!
Thanks for the onion growing tips. I'm still on the fence between growing seeds and starting sets. I was looking at the walla wallas and maybe candy?
Please consider buying your fresh vegetable seeds for 2011 from The Galation Farm, at E-Bay. Online shopping and payment with Paypal, plus the time saving convenience of having your seeds delivered!
Jonathan L. Gal, The Galation Farm, jlglex99@gmail.com
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230559043904&var=&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_1156
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