Seed catalogs are arriving.
I would place seed orders early as they will run out again, even earlier this year.
.
And IMPATIENT!!
But alas - I will WAIT until February or March to get seeds started
in seed trays and pots indoors along the south-facing windows.
(I have not built the new greenhouse yet.)
But I can daydream, remember, fantasize and PLAN can't I? (For now...)
Meanwhile, I've been busy cutting back roses, this is the very last of them:
My irises seem to be going crazy this season:
And, my daughter's Bernadoodle puppy sporting her new raincoat:
This past year I used two experimental planting techniques. “Scatter and Till” and “Living Mulch”.
Scatter and Till was a rousing success. Everything grew, even the things I thought hadn’t sprouted.
Living Mulch had mixed results. Everything took longer to grow than normal. There were some crops that were so stunted I thought they hadn’t sprouted at all. At the end of the season when I was clearing stuff out, I found a lot of plants that were still in the seedling stages. This included all of the tomatoes, carrots, and basil. With some crops I chose the wrong plants to use as living mulch, and they ended up competing enough there wasn’t much of a crop. While this technique has potential, it still needs a LOT of work.
Next time I intend to plant in narrow bands so I can reach in without trampling things. As the main crops grow, I’ll remove the “mulch” plants nearest them so they get enough room without having to fight for it.
The legumes, which were all planted without a mulch crop, did outstandingly well. Including the chickpeas, which grew better than I’ve ever seen before!
And...HAPPY NEW YEAR to all...may your gardens be a bright spot in 2023!
Am I remembering something right? Are wood ashes OK on a vegetable garden except the asparagus?
Happy New Year, Diana!
Oh boy, just had to look at Baker Creek’s website. Now I have 20 tabs open with 14 of them being tomatoes, 2 sunflower and the other 4 peppers.
Harris Seeds catalog, meh, mostly F1 hybrids and their supplies are high priced.
(Vita wrote some great descriptions of roses didn't she! :)
Some of these are a little too spot-on!
https://cheezburger.com/18025733/a-garden-variety-of-plant-memes-for-green-thumbs
Measure twice, cut once; plant three times, harvest once.
Once it warmed up Christmas week, I checked the bees: they survived it in good shape. I was amazed at how well my weatherization project worked for them. R-5 foam insulation all around.
It was also nice that the tarp 'roof' over them meant not having to remove snow before removing the cover.
Many thanks for these threads over 20+ years. From greeneyes to Diana. These threads have been so helpful. Growing food is a noble vocation. Even more great is to share that food and teach others. Every year it becomes more important.
To you greenhouse owners; How much does having a greenhouse reduce the amount of stuff you would do indoors if you didn’t have a greenhouse?
Got the room cleaned out that I’ll be using for a seed starting room. Trying to figure out how many new trays and grow lights to buy.
I’ll have a high tunnel this year so Indoors >> Greenhouse >> High Tunnel would be the order that plants would shuffle through I would think.(if I buy/build a greenhouse)
Greenhouse would be against the house and I’d put black plastic drums full of water in it to soak up heat by day and keep the temp up a little by night.
Just trying to figure out where money is best spent and wanting to reduce as much indoor gardening activity as possible. High tunnels only add 5-10 degrees and it will be hundreds of feet from the house. A greenhouse against the house with water barrels should be warmer and will be right here.
Once again the plants in my greenhouse have tricked me. I thought everything was dead after that below zero crap we had Christmas weekend, but I was wrong. The spinach has perked up and looks no worse for the wear. The radishes are making a comeback. Some of the lettuce is making a comeback. The more I ponder Pete's idea of using pipe heating tape in the planter beds the more brilliant the idea becomes. I'm going to grab a couple or three of those things and try it myself.
I took full advantage of the warm weather over the New Year's weekend to frame the ends of my tunnel house. Now it won't be much work to get the plastic back on and properly secured.
Diana’s 2022 Lessons/Successes/Failures
1. Plant more Jalapenos in 2023. I am ADDICTED to Poppers, LOL!
2. A few less tomatoes. More determinate varieties so I get my canning done all at once, and a few more Heirloom slicers for FLAVOR.
3. More salad greens. Work on planting in succession through the whole season versus just spring and fall. Do that with beans and zukes and cukes as well. There is NO reason I should buy ANY produce in the summer months. Duh.
4. More use of the Greenhouse in Fall, 2023. Start a few cherry-types in pots for later transfer to the greenhouse and see how long I can keep them producing.
5. Light tilling and compost added to older beds this spring. It’s time. Top dressing on perennial beds. Production was down just a wee bit, but we had a very COLD Spring in 2022.
6. Keep a diary of foodstuffs eaten from the garden for all of 2023. (A ‘Challenge’ coming up for us all in a future post.)
7. More flowers. One full bed dedicated to cutting flowers. Food for the SOUL!
8. Use up seed from 2022. Start as much from seed as possible, versus being TEMPTED at the Garden Centers.
9. Stock up on favorite fertilizers and potting mixes earlier this season; there were some shortages last year of things I needed to keep going in the fall.
10. Plant potatoes and popcorn in my raised beds, versus the Big Garden, or the garden down below the barn. Raccoons get corn and popcorn down there every. d@mn. time. Enough! Half of The Big Garden is going over to perennial wildflowers for pollinators. Beau can have the rest of it for whatever he wants. It’s too much work for me to do both gardens plus all the lawn chores. If I hate doing it, WHY am I doing it? It doesn’t make me the least bit happy. Duh.
11. BEHAVE with the 2023 seed catalogs. Buy the AAS varieties and my ‘Tried and True’ varieties that never fail me. Don’t get all fancy about things. Back to the BASICS. Production is key for 2023.