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: 3/12/2023 - 1/18/2023
What I am doing:
I’ve been busy starting more and more seedlings. I’m starting slightly earlier than I had planned because my basement is just cool enough that I’ve seen seedlings grow just a little bit slower than expected, so giving them an extra week or so will get them to a great planting size.
As expected, many of my pepper plants took a month to germinate! I am still waiting for a few of them to pop up. From what I understand, the hotter the pepper, the longer the germination, especially in a slightly cold environment (it’s ideal to germinate peppers at ambient temperatures between 70 - 80 degrees).
Almost all of the tomato seeds I planted about 10 days ago have germinated by now. I have one heat mat that I used under one tray, and swapped under the other once the first tray had germinated.
Last week, I planted some kale, radicchio, lettuces, fennel, and bok choy in my plastic covered bed. I also threw down some carrot seeds. Until the carrots have germinated, I’ll water at least their part of the bed daily. Carrot seeds need a consistently wet environment to germinate. I’ll water the rest of the seedlings in the bed every three days or so.
With the warmer and sunnier days, I’ve been spending more time outside in my gardening spaces. I’ve been checking soil levels, the mulch around my beds, the rings holding my hoops in place, as well as inventorying the planting spaces I have besides my three main beds.
Out front, I have a small patch of soil immediately in front of my house. In the back, I have a small dirt patch in the corner of an otherwise paved backyard, along with a range of pots and planters.
I’m seeing what I have to do to get these areas ready for planting in the spring. I need compost to refill the area immediately in front of my house. I plan on planting some pole beans in this space, and so I’ll also need some material to build a trellis. I’ll probably use bamboo stakes for the beans, leaning them against the house.
I also know that I need to begin gathering materials to build trellises for the front beds. I go back and forth on whether to build permanent ones or moveable ones, because during the offseason, a trellis out front might be too imposing a structure between the sidewalk and the street.
As I’ve shared before, I am a fan of using t-posts and pvc pipe or electrical conduit pipes to build trellis. This is one I built a few years ago.
It’s cheap to build, it’s very effective, and it can be taken down and reassembled easily. It just isn’t the prettiest looking trellis I’ve ever seen. Last year, I tried furring strips to build a trellis, using a Florida weave method to support my tomatoes.
This was effective for a while, but eventually, the tomatoes overran the trellis and their weight started to collapse the structure.
I learned that I really needed a much stronger trellis in the future. I also learned that the two beds I planted tomatoes in provided them with enough light to grow monstrously, so that’s where I’ll invest in more permanent trellises. I’ll make some decisions this week about exactly the approach I want to take and start gathering materials.
In my backyard, I need some potting soil for all of my pots and planters. I also need a better plan for where they will live in the backyard. The back gets more shade than the front does, so I have to place the pots strategically to maximize sunlight.
The small patch of dirt in my backyard is ready for planting. I’ve been throwing a lot of excess dirt and sand in that area over the past year, so it has a good make up. BUT, this is also my dog’s bathroom, so I’m not super excited about planting any vegetables in the area. This year, my plan is to grow some vining plants and have them grow up and along the fence.
What to do this week:
The days are warmer and sunnier! Take some time to walk around your garden spaces and observe their condition. Does anything need replacing or repair? Do you need more soil? Do you need to build some infrastructure to support the garden plans you’ve created? It’s nice to be outside in these spaces this early in the season and build a little anticipation of the spring growing to come!
Here’s what to do:
Spend time outside in your garden spaces, taking note of what needs to be done. Keep track of these notes in whatever documentation tool you’re using to track your garden this year.
We are almost about 10 weeks out from May 15th (our last frost date), so now is definitely a great time to start seedlings indoors!
Continue to peruse seed catalogs and order seeds for your garden!
Next week:
Continuing to start seedlings and helping them thrive
Resources:
Resource 1
Keep learning! Here are some great tips of early spring activities to do this spring:
Thanks for the assurance about peppers... mine are lagging as well!