The last weekend in February, and I'm looking at seed catalogs and gardening magazines! The first day of spring is 21 days away, but I can get a head start on my summer garden, even in fickle Colorado, with a couple of easy steps.
First I'm going to take stock in the state of my trees and shrubbery. We haven't had any BIG or heavy snows (comparatively), but I know there's some winter 'kill' out there that should be attended to while they are still dormant. This will reduce the chances of disease and bugs from entering the cuts. We're supposed to have sixty degree weather this week, so it should be a perfect time to stroll around the yard and do some trimming.
The second thing that I'm going to do is that while I'm walking in the garden, I'll be wearing Lawn Aerator Shoesto aerate the lawn. These will help air and moisture get to the roots of the grass for a good head start on the growing season.
The third thing I'm going to do this month is check the soil in my garden and designate an area where I can sow some cool-season vegetable seeds. As soon as the soil can be worked I'm going to toss down some spinach, lettuce and Swiss chard seeds right into the garden. Peas and radishes can also be sown at this time, as all these plants will survive frost and flourish in chilly weather. And since my soil has so much clay, even though I've been amending my garden soil with compost for years, I may opt for sowing these vegie seeds in my raised garden bed. Another option for those of you out there who do not have raised beds is growing spring crops in large containers. Salad days, here we come!
Showing posts with label spinach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spinach. Show all posts
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Experimenting in the Garden World
Here it is, the last day of March, and my seedlings experiment has been very successful! The newspaper 'pots' have held up without any degradation or structural problems, and the seedlings themselves are just so darn cute! I'm particularly fond of the lettuces. Raise your hand if you've ever purchased and eaten baby greens. That's kind of how I feel about the baby lettuces...yummy looking! The spinach are hanging in there as well, and I think that both are ready for regular dosing of BiOWiSH™ to determine what difference it will make on the growth of the plants. I've got five seedlings, so I'll start dosing two (one lettuce and one spinach) and leave the other three plants as my test group. I'll keep you posted on the changes and differences I see. I'll even post pictures!
It's always tempting at this time of year to jump the gun and start full scale planting outside. The weather here along the front range of the Rockies has been spectacular this week. Ok, ok, so we had a little snow last Wednesday. But this last weekend and up until today have been picturesque, so I've been thinking more and more about getting out into the garden. Last weekend I started digging a new area in front of the house along side the driveway. I plan a 3 x 3 foot garden there for zucchini. A neighbor had a front yard planting last year that I always thought so attractive when I'd drive by, that I decided to utilize some of that 'dead' space next to my drive for food! It's unconditioned soil, so I'm going to be adding in a good amount of 100% organic, home grown compost...I'll try to hold out until at least April 16th! Goodness knows we get our share of late frosts and spring snows.
Speaking of adding garden space, I've got a question for you woodworking hobbyists out there. I was planning an addition of a raised bed, maybe 4 or 5 x 3 foot in diameter and two to three feet tall. My husband fantasizes about using recycled plastic boards and specially designed and manufactured corner pieces to hold the walled sides together...to the tune of about $200-$400!! Me, I'm more of a "let's see what we have lying around in our garage that we can put together for our purposes" kinda gal. I know that compromise is important, so in that spirit of compromise, any of you have some ideas about how to put together a low cost, functioning raised garden? A free Six (6) month supply of BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost to the best designer of a low cost raised bed garden!
Happy Composting!
It's always tempting at this time of year to jump the gun and start full scale planting outside. The weather here along the front range of the Rockies has been spectacular this week. Ok, ok, so we had a little snow last Wednesday. But this last weekend and up until today have been picturesque, so I've been thinking more and more about getting out into the garden. Last weekend I started digging a new area in front of the house along side the driveway. I plan a 3 x 3 foot garden there for zucchini. A neighbor had a front yard planting last year that I always thought so attractive when I'd drive by, that I decided to utilize some of that 'dead' space next to my drive for food! It's unconditioned soil, so I'm going to be adding in a good amount of 100% organic, home grown compost...I'll try to hold out until at least April 16th! Goodness knows we get our share of late frosts and spring snows.
Speaking of adding garden space, I've got a question for you woodworking hobbyists out there. I was planning an addition of a raised bed, maybe 4 or 5 x 3 foot in diameter and two to three feet tall. My husband fantasizes about using recycled plastic boards and specially designed and manufactured corner pieces to hold the walled sides together...to the tune of about $200-$400!! Me, I'm more of a "let's see what we have lying around in our garage that we can put together for our purposes" kinda gal. I know that compromise is important, so in that spirit of compromise, any of you have some ideas about how to put together a low cost, functioning raised garden? A free Six (6) month supply of BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost to the best designer of a low cost raised bed garden!
Happy Composting!
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