Starting Early Crops, the Winter Garden & Seed Starting/Planting Schedule

Today I finally got some of my early crops started! I was planning on starting some crops last weekend. However, cleaning up the basement and fixing my one germinating table took more time than I expected.

Since last year was my first time trying to use soil blocks......and I didn't do all that well with them. I decided to start my first plantings in containers. I am however planning to start my Broccoli, Cabbage & Cauliflower in soil blocks.

 I started Collards, Arugula, Tatsoi, Pak Choi, Baby Choi, 4 varieties of Kale and 6 varieties of Lettuce. All of these will be planted out in the empty cold frames very early.

These pretty and colorful tomato cages are the only thing in the cold frames right now. "The Italian" got them for me for my Birthday in December. I think they are really cool! He had them all lined up in a path from where I park my car to the back door and then a special present in the last one!

 

I didn't get around to planting the cold frames this past fall. Life got hectic and truthfully I think it was best for the soil. Last year I had slugs all winter and lots of bugs all season due to the mild winter we had. Maybe a good freeze will help things out a bit. That's my excuse reason and I'm sticking to it!

 

The overwintered spinach (the only way I can grow it) is doing well. The plants are very close right now. I will space them out once the weather permits.

 

There are some burned leaves. But, we will have happy Spinach this Spring!

 

I also started two varieties of Leeks, Caratan & Large American Flag. Large American Flag is new variety for me. I received the seeds from Seeds of the Month Club and am happy to try a new variety. I wanted to try another variety.....so, we shall see how they do.

 

The Celery was also sown today. This year I sowed my tried and true variety, Golden Self Blanching. I also started another new variety from Seeds of the Month Club, Utah. I'm really excited to see how the Utah celery does. Let's just hope we don't have more celery than last year!

 

Also sown were some Herbs; Rosemary, Basil (for inside), Winter Savory, Summer Savory, Cumin & Lemon Grass.

 

 

 My seed starting & planting schedule for this year is as follows:

 

February 23/24 - Start Broccoli & Cabbage

March 9/10 - Start Cauliflower, Eggplants & Peppers

March 16/17 - Peas Outside

March 30/31 - Start Tomatoes

March 30-Mid April - Potatoes, Onions, Carrots, maybe Beets & Greens Outside, weather permitting

April Mid-Late - Broccoli Outside

April -Late to May-Early - Cauliflower Outside

May Early - Start Squash & Melons

May-Early to Mid - Tomatoes Outside

May-Late - Peppers & Eggplants Outside

May-Late to Early June - Direct sow, Beans, Cucumbers, Squash, Popcorn and any other warm crops that I forgot!

 

I'm sure this will change a bit, as it always does. But, that's the plan for now! How are you making out with your garden planning for this year???

A Sad Day for our Neighborhood

Tuesday morning we were wakened at 4:30 AM by the sound of sirens. They really didn't sound that close to our home, but they were. Through the dark, we could see smoke in the distance and some flashing lights less then a block away. "The Italian" thought it may be our lovely neighborhood restaurant.....and sadly enough it was. Some of you may have read this post. Not only we were sadden by the thought of this 105 year old restaurant burning. We were also sadden by the thought of all of the bee hives that were most likely lost.

We sat and talked about what we could do to help. "The Italian" decided to offer to donate his services to help our neighbor get through all the bureaucracy that lies ahead. After I left for work, he walked down and talked to the owner. "The Italian" is meeting with planning and zoning today to start the process of variances that will be needed to rebuild this historic restaurant in our neighborhood which is now zoned residential.

The fire early

You can still see the tops of the bee hives here

Our brave firefighters in the frigid cold

A later picture of the fire. The section on the right is where the bee hives used to be. Most of the building was torn down later in the day due to structural instability.

At our last Community Garden meeting, we had discussed getting some hives at the garden. I was planning to talk to the owner this winter about putting a couple of hives at the Community Garden. If the owner would like to start some new hives and the committee agrees, we can help each other and have his hives at the Community Garden.

Our Neighborhood will not be complete until this sign is hanging once again.

 

Out with the.......

OLD!!!!!

Yep, this old baby is gone!!!

I think this was the first Jenn Air Range manufactured!!!

It was old and weary......maybe even older then Granny!!!

 

 

It's been a long time coming.....but, I finally got a new range!!!

This baby is Dual Fuel with Two Ovens..... 

and Five Burners!!!

 

Look out.......Mama's got a new stove!!!

Decisions, Decisions.........

It's that time of the year....time to make decisions! My seed inventory has been done for a couple of weeks now. Then I had to decide what seeds I "needed". Once that was done. I placed a couple of small seed orders. Which should have been enough. Then I started reading everyone's blogs. That got me thinking about some other things that I "needed" I mean "wanted". So, I placed just one more small order. Hopefully, I will have enough will power to stop! But, you all know how this is! Maybe I should join or start some type of group.....Seeds Anonymous????

This week I have been updating what varieties I am going to grow and how many of each I should plant. This leads to.....how am I going to fit everything in??? The next thing that came up is my tomato supports. The way I support them at home, doesn't work at the plots. So, I need to come up with something better. That got me doing some on-line research on tomato supports. There are a lot of great ways to support tomatoes. But, I really need to come up with something that won't take me forever to build, doesn't cost a fortune and is easy to store.

So far I have come up with two different supports that I think will work.

This one has really peeked my interest.

It's made out of PVC & Conduit.

 

I also really want some of these

Yes, the Texas Tomato Cage!

I know they are pricey.....but, "The Italian" got me the pressure canner for Christmas.....and maybe I can out live them and make the investment worth it!

 

So, what have I decided???? I think I'm going to buy one 6-Pack of the Texas cages and make some of the supports out of the PVC. I guess I better see how much they are going to cost to make first!

 

If any of you have any great support ideas....I'm open for suggestions!!

 

How's your garden planning coming along????

 

Boy What a Year!

I finally got most of my gardening "things" organized! The seed inventory is done. My Excel Gardening Journal is updated. I ordered my onion plants and a few seeds. I sent in my order to Wintersown. I have most of my pics organized on the new computer and I'm starting to figure out how to use this new Windows 8. Truthfully, I don't like it.

While organizing everything, I started looking at my photos. Boy, what a year it has been!

The Community Garden move was unbelievable! Who would have thought that it was go from.....

this in March........

 

to this

 

in April.....

 

to this in May...

 

and this in July

 

to this in September

 

and this today.

 

 We had a lot of great ....

Harvests!!!!

 

and our Cupboard

 

 is well stocked

 

"The Italian's" daughter graduated from college

in May

Isn't she just beautiful??

And as happy we are....no more tuition!!

 

 

"The Italian" and I had a couple of wonderful trips!

 

We took his daughter to our favorite place

 

New Orleans in May

the sounds on the street

 

our favorite place to sit!

 

We had some Garden Bloggers visit

from Spring Garden Acre

and they made homemade Ice Cream!

 

In October we

saw some beautiful sunsets in Florida and

 

then headed to Mexico

and saw the Mayan ruins in Tulum

 

just amazing!

This stuff is older then Granny!!!

what a wonderful view!

 

Then we headed to Belize.....my favorite place on the trip

and saw the Mayan ruins Altun Ha

when we got back from the ruins we have some wonderful Adult beverages and listened to these two sing. They were great!

 

Next we headed to Honduras

and were greeted by a rainbow

we saw some beautiful scenery

 

 and we walked this bridge

we saw some amazing wildlife

and the female monkeys could keep their hands off "The Italian"!!!

He became know as "The Monkey Man" on our ship!!!

 

While we were on our trip we got to see

how a lot of the world lives

this is a very big home

and how the lucky ones make their living

And we are grateful

 

When we returned to Florida

we saw the after affects of Hurricane Sandy and were stuck in Florida for several days

 

we celebrated the Holidays

with some good food

and Santa brought me a Pressure Canner!!!

and the seed catalogs keep coming in!

They are so beautiful!!!

 

"The Italian" and I wish all of you a  Happy, Healthy & Bountiful New Year!!!