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 11: 3/10/2024 - 3/16/2024
Question:
I am interested in putting together a seedling swap/sale this spring. We would get together, and bring extra seedlings we have to exchange, barter, or sell with each other.
One of the great things about starting your own seedlings is that you get to grow interesting varieties that you don’t see at local nurseries, and this swap would give us a chance to see what interesting plants this community of gardeners have started.
So, I’m planting this seed in your heads now, with the hope that by early May, we can get together for this exchange. It would likely take place on an early weekend morning, in May, in the Curtis park neighborhood. If you’re interested, please indicate in this poll, so I can get a sense of what kind of space we might need.
How things are going:
Gardening on the front range is a wild ride. Last week, I planted out my third bed with spring crops, in 60 degree weather, and this week, I have that bed covered with my plastic hoops to keep the snow and cold off. These swings are to be expected. I hope you all are managing the heavy snowfall as well as possible, and that if you’ve already started plants outside, your season extension systems are working.
Thankfully, the temperatures were not too cold, for too long. The soil did not really get a chance to freeze. Most cold hardy crops should be ok, even left exposed through this storm. The most damage I saw was some heavy snow pushing down on my garlic, bending the leaves, which I don’t think will cause problems in the long run.
I spent this week indoors, tending to pepper seedlings, which are coming along well. I started a second round of pepper seedlings, even though it is kind of late. I wanted to see if I could accelerate their germination time by placing a plastic dome over the trays, bringing them upstairs, and using a heat mat. If I can get them to germinate within 10 days, then I think they will be ready for a May planting.
I’ve also started preparing my seedling starting space for my summer vegetables. My main focus is on tomatoes. I’ll start at least 40, with the plan to use about 30 in my beds. I like having backups. Redundancy in gardening, as in nature, is important.
In addition to tomatoes, I’m very interested in beans this year, so I’ll be starting a lot of interesting varieties. And of course, I’ll have a range of herbs ready for the spring as well.
What to do this week:
Here’s what to do:
If you are going to try to grow some summer crop seedlings (tomatoes, greens, eggplant, herbs, beans, cucumber, melons), now is the time to gather supplies. You should plan to start those seedlings before the end of the month.
Soil
Seeds
Lights
Heat mat
Cover to trap moisture
Fan
Towel or tray to capture spilled water
Labels
Seedling tray/containers
Prepare the space in your house where you want to grow your seedlings. Preferably you should plan to use a grow light of some sort, but if you do have a south facing window with a lot of direct sunlight exposure, that’s worth a shot as well.
Next week:
Starting summer crop seedlings
Resources:
Resource 1
This is a great walkthrough of the things you need to have ready to start seedlings indoors.