Garden Planning Series, Day 2

***Note: That time you tried to start a blog, and then as you’re getting ready to upload pictures for your 4th blog post, your computer and/or camera goes completely wonky. And your computer says that it can’t recognize what you’ve plugged into the USB port. So then you try slipping that little SD card thingy into the front of the computer, and it does … well, it does absolutely NOTHING.

 

Yep. That’s me right now. I’m sorry! I will remedy this ASAP. But in the meantime, here’s how I map out my garden:

 

Last post I discussed the what, when, and how much of garden planning. Now I’m going to introduce you to my super high tech, madly complicated, highly sophisticated method of planning out my garden.

 

Graph paper. Pencil. I know, I know.

 

Mind. Blown.

 

Also, this book is a wannabe homesteader’s BFF. I reference it constantly throughout the year. Everything from how/when to prune your brambles, planting dwarf fruit trees, to brewing your own beer, to gardening (soil prep through harvest!), to small scale livestock. It’s the bee’s knees.

 

1. Make a list of what you’re going to grow. As you order seed, put a little check mark next to it.

2. Get your graph paper and map out your garden space. This goes for you too, container gardeners. Measure your containers if you have them already and figure out how many square feet of growing space you’re working with. On the graph paper, I use 1 square for each foot of gardening space. So on my main bed, I’m working with about 12’x17’. On the graph paper, that means I’ll draw a 17x12 square. Does that make sense? Hopefully my highly detailed sketches will clarify.

 

3. Are you doing square foot gardening or traditional rows? I do a hybrid sort of thing. I section off rows or sections of my gardens and then use a square foot garden approach within that space. This chart rocks for figuring out how many plants you can fit into each square foot. Once again, if my babbling is not making sense, I have pictures to help. But if you’re still completely confused, send me a message or leave a comment.  So I have 2’x4’ sectioned off for cauliflower, and according to that handy dandy chart I linked above, I can fit about 6 cauliflower plants in that space. So I draw 6 evenly spaced squiggly circles to remind myself how many cauliflower seeds to plant. I’ll probably sow 10-ish to cover any failures, and then give away or sell whatever plants I don’t have room for.

4. I do mostly winter sowing, so I get to skip over the riveting task of figuring out when to start each seedling. I mean, I know I’m really missing out there. Because what newbie gardener doesn’t like to go back and forth between seed packet to frost date calendars, trying to figure out what date you should start what seeds in order to be on time with starting 4 weeks before first frost date if sowing indoors, but 2 weeks after frost date if starting outdoors? Right? I know. Too lazy, too tired, too busy for that. People, just winter sow. It’s easier. Especially for those of us who are just starting out. Some day when you’re a rock star gardener, totally go ahead and mess with frost dates and grow lamp set ups. Til then, simplify. Ok? Simplify.

 

That’s really it. Do you have questions about garden planning? Leave them in the comments section and I’ll do my best to help!

Garden Planning Series, Day 1

There are a few things to consider when planning a garden. (By the way, I've decided to break this garden planning thing up into a few different posts to save you the riveting experience of reading a garden planning novel. I think it’ll be easier to follow this way).

1. Are you going to start from seed, or purchase seedlings? Consider winter sowing as a frugal approach to starting from seed (allowing you to avoid the hefty price tags of grow lights).

2. Are you doing raised beds, container gardens, or a traditional garden in the ground? A combination? Pinterest houses a wealth of ideas on container gardening and raised beds. Go there and browse!

3. How much growing space do you have?

4. What are you going to grow this year?

A lot of garden planning articles will tell you to start small. Learn how to grow a couple of things, then add more next year. That's cool. If you're patient. I'm not. So, I say go big or go home, baby. That may or may not be the advice of a Type-A, overachieving, run-yourself-into-the-ground, kind of person. I like to just go for it. Some of your plants may not thrive. So what? You'll still learn something and gain wisdom to use next year. Failure is okay. It's actually guaranteed in the world of gardening. You just have to learn from it, apply your new knowledge to next year, and carry on. Each pack of seeds costs a couple of bucks. You probably won’t even use an entire packet in one season for most things, so really, you don’t have a whole lot to lose here.

Watchya gonna grow? Grow things that your family enjoys eating. That's a given. 

Another important tip is to use your space efficiently. Last year I allotted a lot of garden space to growing onions and carrots because we eat a lot of them. In hindsight, organic onions and carrots are one of the most affordable organic produce items at my grocery store and at the local farm stands. I'd rather use my limited garden space for things that are extremely expensive to buy, or that I can't find locally. Butternut squash costs $1/lbs around here (and that’s for conventional, GMO squash that is probably not grown anywhere near me). I was able to grow 60-70 lbs of squash, it was heirloom, it was grown organically. All from 2 vines. I spent about $2.50 for that pack of seeds and I have plenty left for this years garden. That’s a solid investment of my time, money, and space.
 
Plus, I kept pulling my carrots too early because I was too impatient. I wanted to see my beautiful multicolored carrots!! My impatience basically meant a waste of seed money and garden space.

Oookay. Welp. That is one cute kid holding some seriously beautiful, albeit tiny, carrots (those are the caliope carrots from Botanical Interests, btw!). Maybe we’ll grow just a few carrots this year.  
 
How many of each plant should you grow? I always use this chart as a guideline. It's for a family of 4, so I adjust as necessary. Plus I like to grow extra for freezing and canning.

Once you have a list of what you're going to grow, you can choose varieties from your seed catalogs and place your first order! Read the descriptions and take the length of your growing season into consideration (find your first and last frost dates by zip code HERE . I like to break my seed orders up so that it's not a significant strain on my budget to order all at once. I'll start with ordering the first few crops I plan to plant, which would be things like your brassicas, lettuces, carrots etc. Then with the next paycheck, I'll order a few more seed packets.

Alright, that’s it for now! Adios muchachos.
 
Next up: Mapping it out.


I shared this over at: Frugally Sustainable

Winter Sowing

I think most people who are interested in gardening realize that starting from seed is generally the most affordable way to go. Even if you go with fancy pants organic heirloom varieties, you’re still going to save a boatload with starting from seed. Sounds simple, right? Get some seeds, plant them in some recycled containers with some soil, and then put them under … whoa. Wait a minute. Put them under what? You can only put so many seedlings on a window sill. So, what do you do? Grow lamps? A green house?

Some may be fortunate enough to live in a warmer climate where they don’t need to extend their growing season in order to get a decent yield. As for the rest of us? Suddenly, starting from seed isn’t so frugal when you’re talking about spending hundreds on grow lamps or a green house. Sure, it pays off in the end. You’ll get years of use out of them. That’s true. It’s a worthy investment. But what if you don’t have the cash now?

Before you know it, you’re buying half-dead hybrid seedlings from a department store, only to have them refuse to grow, never mind produce. All because you just can’t afford the set up required for starting from seed. Not that I know from experience or anything.

My friends, let me welcome you to the world of winter sowing. It’s amazing. It’s freaking amazing. And you can do it on a shoestring budget, even if you live in a cool climate. You can do it for veggies, flowers, and herbs. You need a few things: Plastic containers that are clear. My favorites are milk jugs and clamshell type produce containers. Soil. Water. Mother Nature. That’s it!

I’ll share some links to websites where folks who are way more experienced than I have already explained it in detail. I winter sowed almost everything last year. Anything that needed to be planted before my last frost date got winter sowed with the exception of peppers and tomatoes. I successfully grew onions, kale, mesclun, butter crunch lettuce, cilantro, thyme, marjoram, sage, and broccoli with the winter sowing method. All the rest got direct planted after the last frost date, including squash, zucchini, pumpkins, cukes, beans etc.

(Pictured above are some mesclun, kale, and broccoli seedlings. These were winter sown in late January last year. This picture was taken outside in April, 6 weeks before my last frost date! Look at how strong and healthy and adorable they are! )

I was not able to successfully winter sow tomatoes or peppers, and ended up buying heirloom seedlings from a local nursery. I’m going to try again this year with different varieties. I’ll update!
Here are some links that describe winter sowing in detail. I used these as a guideline last year:
http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/11/winter-sowing-101-6/
http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/01/what-to-winter-sow-and-when/
http://www.wintersown.org/
What to Winter Sow and When: http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/01/what-to-winter-sow-and-when/

(The same mesclun pictured above, thriving!)

So, basically you create little greenhouses out of your recycled containers. You poke or drill drainage holes on the bottom and vent holes on the top, put in 3-4 inches of soil, plant your seeds, water, and then stick them outside. Yes. Stick your tender little baby seeds out in the snow. As the weather freezes, thaws, freezes, thaws, freezes (… you get the idea), it softens the outer shell on your seeds. When they are ready to sprout, they sprout. As the weather starts to warm, you’ll want to watch the soil to make sure it doesn’t dry out, and water accordingly. This creates plants that are hardier, stronger, healthier, and more productive. Last year I winter sowed my mesclun at the end of January, set them outside, and I had baby lettuce sprouts by late February!

Do you grow kale? You should! It produces like a beast, making the most inexperienced gardener feel like a rock star. Plus, it’s delish and crazy healthy. This kale was also winter sown in January and produced well through November in my Zone 6 garden.

I linked this post to: Frugally Sustainable and the Homestead Barnhop! 

2014 and Garden Planning

Happy New Year!!

We had a busy, yet relaxing Christmas this year. Sounds kind of conflicting, doesn’t it? We were busy in that we spent a great deal of time moving from one family party to another, but it was relaxing because we were so at peace with it. I’ve always found holiday party hopping to be extremely stressful. I really resented it. This year, though, something was different. I was honestly just thankful for the opportunity to be able to visit with so many friends and family. Not that there’s anything wrong with wanting things to be low key. There isn’t. I just really wanted to take this season to be thankful that we have the ability to visit. I know so many live far away from their family. Holidays can get lonely when everyone you know and love is far away. I found more relaxation and peace in my decision to be grateful than I ever did in my resistance in previous years where I sort of dug my heels into the ground about the whole thing. Gratitude … it’s something that I’m working on within myself. Among other things.

So, now we’re on to 2014! I’m not big on New Years Resolutions, but I do have a few goals for the homestead. I want to continue to work towards growing as much as our own food as possible. Maybe get few laying hens. Continue fixing up the house for resale (so that we can some day move onto our dream homestead). Last year I chose a virtue that I wanted to work on, and I really worked toward being more humble. This year, I’d like to work on being more charitable. With my time, resources, talents, personality, in the way I treat others, in the way I perceive others, etc.

We’re in the middle of a wimpy sort of winter storm right now. I don’t really think it qualifies as a storm, but the weather people are issuing severe winter storm warnings. What do you think? Does 3-5 inches of snow sound like severe winter weather to you? I suppose it’s all relative. I remember the ice storm of 1991. I was very young at the time, but I still remember days without power and being huddled around my grandparent’s wood burning stove for warmth. So, most things sort of pale in comparison.

(My daughter got ahold of my camera and messed with the settings…that’s why the date and time stamp are there. And way off.)

Being holed up in the house for a few days while the wind chills are in the negative have me daydreaming about Spring. And this leads me to garden planning. Naturally. I know it sounds sort of crazy to be thinking about a garden in the dead of winter, but I’ll actually be starting planting in just a few weeks. Yep- Sowing seeds in January in Western, New York! More on that later.

So, I’ve got a cup of tea, my box of seeds (I’m pretty sure that there’s a proper way to store seeds from year to year that doesn’t involve an old baby wipes container. Note to self: Research seed storage), my 2014 seed catalogs, and some scrap paper. I’ll do a separate post on garden planning. How I do it, anyway. Have I mentioned yet that I have a notoriously BLACK thumb? Prior to last year, I hadn’t ever really kept a plant alive for long. So, I’m certainly not an expert. I did have an exceptionally successful garden last year, though. So I’m happy to share what I’m learning as I go along.

In the meantime, I recommend ordering seed catalogues from companies who offer HEIRLOOM seeds (aka not genetically modified. You’ve heard of the GMO debate with Monsanto and the like, yes? No? Do you live under a rock?). Anywho, here are a couple of my faves:
https://botanicalinterests.com/
www.rareseeds.com
It’s also helpful to locate a local nursery that offers heirloom seedlings. Last year I had a heck of a time germinating tomatoes for some reason, and I was able to get heirloom tomato starts from a local nursery that saved my behind. Starting from seed is ideal for the budget, but sometimes you just need a little help.

Also: Pick up a pad of graph paper and start collecting clear containers, such as clear milk jugs and the clear clamshell type produce containers. Meet me back here in a few days- I’ll discuss more garden planning then.

P.S. You will notice from my above photographs that I am not one of those bloggers with mad photography skills. I promise to work on that. Maybe. If I can find time.

- Ashley

I linked this post to: Frugally Sustainable and Homestead Barn Hop