Each week, this newsletter will contain three sections:
How things are going
I will share an update on my garden as a point of reference for how my weekly tasks are adding up and looking.
What to do this week
Here I will present the 3 - 5 things I am planning or doing this week.
Resources
A deeper dive into information and perspectives that are inspiring or informing my gardening.
If you are coming to this newsletter mid-season, please take a look at the posts from the past few weeks to get a sense of context for where we are at this week!
Week 10: 3/5/2023 - 3/11/2023
What I am doing:
We’ve crossed over into March, and the official start of spring is just a few weeks away. I want to take some time to pause and reflect on what we covered last month, before diving into what to do this week.
In January, we:
We created a dedicated space for making gardening resolutions and plans.
We made those resolutions and plans.
Started browsing seed catalogs for inspiration and ordering seeds.
Began backwards planning any garden projects for the year (e.g., building beds, trellises, improving soil, adding season extending hoops).
Ordered unique seedlings from me.
Drafted garden maps and thinking about plant spacing and density.
Shared our garden plans with other gardeners to get some feedback.
In February, we built on our plans and started taking action:
Created a seed starting schedule to know exactly when we will need to begin growing plants to have them ready to start our gardens and replace crops mid season.
Prepared seedling starting stations, setting up lights and heats mats, and filling up seed starting trays with potting soil.
We sowed some early seeds indoors, starting with cold hardy greens for early spring planting and peppers, which require a long time to germinate.
Sampled our soil and sent it to CSU to get tested to learn about any fertilizer needs it might have.
Started preparing our garden soil for the season by adding on layers of compost.
Built season extensions to protect early spring crops.
Took inventory of our gardening tools and supplies to stock up on what we might need to replace or renew.
We’ve really accomplished a lot so far this year, and hopefully it hasn’t felt overwhelming to you, because you are spacing out this work over many weeks. I think a lot of gardening success comes from off-season planning and preparation, so I encourage you to at least take a few of these steps and apply them to your space.
This week, I am looking ahead to the rest of March and deciding when to start planting out some cold hardy seedlings that I’ve been growing in my basement. Spring is coming, and the weather for the next week or so is looking favorable for establishing new plants under the protection of plastic covers.
Cold hardy plants, like lettuces, radishes, kales, broccoli, and peas can all handle this weather forecast, potentially even without protection from the cold. Under a plastic cover, they should be totally fine. This week, I’ll plant out my seedlings, using my garden maps and cover them with plastic resting on arched hoops. I’ll also directly sow some seeds into the beds, such as peas and carrots. My goal is to have them grow until early May and harvest them just before I’ll need the space to plant my summer crops (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and so on).
With this rotation of seedlings from my house out into the beds, I’ve started more summer crops in my propagation station (including seedlings you may have ordered from me!). In addition to the peppers I started a month ago (some of which are just starting to sprout), I’ve started a large variety of tomatoes, herbs, and flowers.
It’s exciting to get all of these seedlings going, and to start moving some of the maturing ones out into the beds. Normally, I’d harden off seedlings I’m placing outside, however, because they will be under plastic, I feel less concerned about gradually adjusting them to the harsher conditions (they won’t really be impacted by wind or extreme cold). I’ll talk more about hardening off seedlings in early May, because all of these tomatoes, peppers, and other plants I’m starting now will need to go through that process.
What to do this week:
Spring officially starts on March 20th. The days are warming up, and the nights are quite so cold, hovering just around freezing. Now is a great time to start sowing seeds indoors and planting some early crops outside, especially if you have season extending infrastructure.
Here’s what to do:
Review all you’ve accomplished so far this year! Take stock of what you haven’t yet done but think you should and make a plan to do it in the next few weeks.
Continue sowing seeds indoors. Refer back to my week 7 post for some guidance on doing this. Also see the resource I’ve provided below.
Sow or plant in your garden, if this is part of your garden plan for the season. Otherwise, hang tight and enjoy the warming weather and increasing daylight.
Next week:
Focusing on garden space and infrastructure.
Resources:
Resource 1
An excellent demonstration on how to sow seeds to grow your own seedlings for the spring: