Are You Getting Excited for the New Garden Season?

 

I am certainly getting excited for the next garden season to get started.  I have already begun planting some seeds indoors at the beginning of the month of March.  The most of the planting was just my flowers that I always start first.  They are usually the first start the season and the last to end the season each and every year.  They are very important for the garden and that is why I love giving them the biggest head start that  I can.  Once they start sprouting and growing they are just about ready to go outside.

 

This does not mean that they are ready to be transplanted into the garden, but they are ready for cooler temperatures than what they have been growing in indoors.  So far the temperatures are still a little bit too cold for them and that is why I will keep them indoors for a little while longer while the temperatures warm up a bit.  So far they are growing well indoors and look forward to getting them outside as quickly as possible with weather permitting of course.

 

With cold frames it is possible to start a spring crop right about now, but I have decided to just have a very small spring crop with some cabbage, kale, lettuce, and maybe some celery.  Still deciding whether  I should be growing radishes and snow peas.  Depending on how some of my seeds sprout will depend if I grow more in the garden for the springtime.

 

Celery is one of those seeds that is best started  in peat pots.  Starting them in the ground is a difficult as starting other small seed plants in the garden.  Some of these seeds include carrots, celery, and possibly a variety of flower seeds which tend to be very small.  This is why I start them indoors in various types of containers depending on what I happen to be planting.

 

In the beginning of the season I start out with dill, alyssum, and a mix of different wildflowers that help get all the insects I need for the season hopefully.  These three I have found to grow best in large containers with hundreds of seeds and plants.  This method works well for me and makes it much easier to transplant them into the garden once all the roots have wrapped around each other.  For now it is just time for waiting for a little bit better weather and spring time is just around the corner.

 

Let’s Start off a New Decade of Gardening Right

Over the Winter I was thinking about some new seeds or plants that I should try out during this new season.   I came up with one idea and decided that I should start trying to grow some hot peppers along with the normal sweet peppers that I grow each year.  That is when thought about growing the hottest pepper on the planet at the moment: The Carolina Reaper.   This is supposed to be the hottest pepper and even hotter than the ghost pepper.  I also bought some habanero peppers to go along with it.

Aside from growing some new peppers this year I also am thinking about growing a larger spring crop this season.  I might be adding some cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts and maybe some celery to this year’s spring season.  This would go along with my normal crop of potatoes, lettuce, spinach, peas, and radishes. 

I am not sure if I am going to do this, but it is an idea I was going to look over.  I will have to make sure not to grow too much or I would not have enough room for my summer plants.  This is just something I was thinking about doing.

For my spring crop I have started planting seeds of both lettuce and spinach.  These are two crops I plan to have growing in the garden within a month or so.  I placed them in a cool place this year since they grow best when in temperatures of 50-60 degrees.  I could place them in cold frames outside, but for now I am keeping them indoors just to give them a little head start.

 Wildflowers, dill, and alyssum are also planted indoors right now.  I planted them about a couple of weeks ago before my lettuce and spinach.  I love using these plants because they are good at attracting some of the best insects in the area and are a great help during the whole season

Lots of Transplanting and Lots of Seed Planting

This week was a week full of seed planting and transplanting of many plants and seeds.  I began with obviously seeds that were made for cooler and spring type weather such as broccoli, spinach, and lettuce.  I wanted to get as many seeds into the ground as possible before the warm and hotter weather arrives which should come in a couple of months or so.  Two full rows of seeds should provide a good amount vegetables if they all sprout.

Transplanting both flowers, broccoli, and brussel sprouts I had to finish today.  I started with my flowers since they are much easier to transplant into the ground.  I placed them in between the two rows above and between the two rows of corn that I planted a couple of days ago.

Above is just some dill that I have planted into the garden and I also put both alyssum and wildflowers into the garden as well.  Some of them between corn rows and some between my spring crop rows.

Although it is still spring it was time to get as many corn seeds into the garden as possible.  Two full rows will provide enough corn that I need to enjoy when they start producing some time July and into August weather permitting. 

Thinning out plants is an important part of gardening and that is what I did with my radishes and my pea plants that I had planted back in April.  They were starting to crowd each other and that will cause some issues in the future if you do not remove all the plants but one in a bunch.  I plant the seeds in bunches and if they all sprout they will crowd up all around each other and that is when you start thinning them out.

The last thing I did today was getting all of my transplanted broccoli and brussel sprouts into the garden right next to my spring crop.  I wasn't sure if I was going to plant them today, but I decided that getting them into the garden as soon as possible was the best possible way to get them out of the way.  This way I don't have to think about them later on and is one less plant that I need to transplant into the garden.

So far this is all I have done in the past week and hope to get some more plants into the garden with the next couple of weeks or so.  I will probably start planting some of my squash seeds indoors including pumpkins and zucchini.  I also have some flowers that need to get outside in the near future once they get a little bit bigger.  I have been placing my tomatoes, melons, eggplant, and peppers outside to harden them off in order to get used to the weather.  It was a little cool today so I left them inside for the moment and hope to put them back outside this week again.

Dill, Alyssum, and Wildflower Plants Ready for Transplanting

It was time for my flowers to be placed into the garden now that the weather is warming up in the beginning month of May.  This is the month that I usually start planting most of my plants that I have started indoors.  Only my flowers are ready for now and all my other plants will have to wait for a little bit more warmer temperatures.

My dill, alyssum, and wildflowers have been outside for quite some time and it was about time to place them right into the garden soil.  It doesn't take that long to transplant them and once they are in the garden you don't have to do much with them for the rest of the season.  You may have to occasionally water and weed them, but nothing too time consuming.

All my lettuce is finally in the ground as well so I don't have to worry about transplanting them anymore and can now focus on possibly harvesting some of the leaves from a few of them.  The ones I planted today I will not harvest for another few weeks and most likely by the end of May.

Taking Advantage of Warm Temperatures in the Beginning of April

It’s that time of the year when warmer temperatures will start to arrive and more planting outside will be necessary.  Today was one of those days when onions need to be added to the garden.  I always aim for the beginning of this month to start planting them since they love cool weather.

I also had some lettuce plants that were getting too big for the Styrofoam coffee cups that I had placed them in back in February.  They needed some more space before they went to seed or showed signs of a sickly plant.  I put only four into the garden for now and very soon I will be putting many more once their roots start poking out of the bottom holes.

 

Hardening off plants is the next phase of having plants grown indoors.  Today was warm enough that I could place them outside.  It was not that windy either which made a great day for giving plants some fresh air.

Melon, Pepper, Eggplant, and Cucumber Seed Planting

It is not time to start planting them outside, but it is time to give them the head start they need by starting them indoors.  I am using peat pots this time because it will just make things easier later on in the season when it is time to transplant all of them.  If they don't take I can always grow them directly in the soil.

I will place a fluorescent light on top of them once I fill the containers they are sitting in with water.  This is how I like to water my plants especially seeds because there is no need to use a spray bottle because the soil will soak up the water from the bottom up.













My plants are looking good especially my strawberry plants.  They have been soaking in water for about a week or so and I will be placing them in there own peat pots.  It is too early for them to go outside and I don't want them to just sit in a container of water for a month.  I will most likely put them into peat pots either this week or by the end of the weekend.

Alyssum, dill, and wildflowers have been sprouting and are just about done with the germination process except for dill which has just begun this process.  It was planted later so naturally it will be a little bit behind my alyssum and wildflower seeds.

Sprouts, Digging, and Soaking

Kind of an odd title, but that is what I have been doing this afternoon.  I am seeing sprouts coming from my alyssum and wildflowers only.  I am hoping that I will begin to see dill sprouting any day now.  I did plant them later than my alyssum and wildflower seeds, so I do still have some time before they sprout.

It was also time for digging now that I have my potatoes and need to get them into the soil as soon as possible.  I am looking to put them in the ground tomorrow all dependent on the weather conditions and temperature.  Although my potatoes may be safe in the ground covered by soil I still would like to plant them on a good sunny day.

Along with digging I did some soaking with my strawberry plants.  It is important to soak your plants in water before putting them outside in the ground.  They need to soak in water in order to get out of their dormant state.  This allows the plant to absorb water and get ready to grow once you put them outside in the garden.

Just Beginning My Indoor Planting With New Flowers

I wasn't sure if I was going to plant some new flowers this season, but in the end I found an interesting flower mix that is supposed to lure hummingbirds and butterflies into the garden.  To be honest I have plenty of butterflies in my garden each year, so I won't be surprised if I get the same amount.  I am looking forward to hopefully get some hummingbirds buzzing around in the garden.  They are rare in my area and it would be nice to see at least one this season.

Along with these seeds I also planted my normal alyssum and some dill for the new season.  I like growing them because they are quite consistent and bring some amazing insects that I will need for the season.  I hope to continue planting through the weekend and finish up in a few days.