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!
Reminder: Bring your seedlings to swap, share, barter, sell, giveaway, and meet your fellow neighborhood gardeners. May 4th, 10am - 12pm, Curtis Park, at the corner of 31st and Curtis, we’ll be at the picnic tables!
How things are going:
March has come and gone quickly, with only one major snow storm, and it’s beginning to look like we will have consistently warmer weather moving into April (bearing in mind that we should still expect and prepare for some below freezing, more snow, and hail).
Let’s review what we’ve done throughout March to start off the growing season! If you haven’t followed along precisely, you can use this list to get things started for yourself now.
Review your goals for the year! Spring is fast approaching. Make sure you have your goals clearly outlined, your maps and schedules buttoned up, and you are using them to prepare for the season.
If you want to sow some spring crops, you can start doing so in March, especially with season extensions.
Prepare for sowing your summer crop seedlings toward the end of the month. Make sure you have seeds, soil, trays, lights, heating pads, a fan, and a good place to assemble all of this in your house.
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.
Start some seedlings!
If you aren’t starting seedlings indoors, make sure you are gathering the seeds you’ll need for the summer. You may also want to place an order with some local seedling growers to get more unique varieties. I have bought seedlings from Heirloom Tomato Farms and The Irish Farm, and they’ve provided excellent seedlings! 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
If you’ve grown some spring seedlings, now is a great time to harden them off and plant them outdoors.
If you want to grow spring crops before you need room in your beds for your summer veggies, you really should show them soon. You’ll need 6 - 8 weeks for many of them, and we are getting close to the time they will need in the ground overlapping with when you’ll want to plant your tomatoes, peppers, and other summer seedlings.
One consideration is to plan for interplanting. I’ve provided a resource below on how to think about this.
In March we focused on starting seedlings for May planting, sowing cold hardy seeds outdoors, planting out cold hardy seedlings under some kind of season extension, and generally beginning to gather what we will need to be successful in starting our summer gardens in May.
Throughout April we can continue to sow cool weather crops outdoors (lettuces, kale, radish, peas, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cilantro…). The sooner you plant these, the better, to maximize the time they have to mature before the days become too hot. Be sure to consult your garden map and determine where you should sow these seeds so that you have space for your summer plants to go in the ground early May. You can always intercrop the summer plants, putting your summer crops between maturing cool season crops.
I am looking for gaps in my beds, and filing them in with new seeds where germination wasn’t perfect.
My overwintered lettuces and garlic are really taking off! It’s been so nice harvesting the lettuce this month. You can see how far ahead of schedule the overwintered lettuces are compared to the lettuce I sowed a few weeks ago. Having this early harvest is worth the work!
If you haven’t started summer seedlings of your own, you could still do so, but we are now only 4 weeks until our predicted last frost date (May 4th), and so your seedlings may not be very large by then. It is worth considering whether you want the satisfaction of starting your own seedlings, and being able to pick interesting varieties, or at the points, if you will buy seedlings from a garden center in order to put more mature plants in the ground, accelerating your season.
What to do this week:
Here’s what to do:
If you are just starting to think about your garden for the year, some of the key things we’ve done so far to prepare are:
Setting intentions - what do you want to achieve with your garden this year?
Making a map of your garden space
Starting seedlings (not necessary, you can always buy them later this month)
Ordering seeds (this is fun because you can find unusually varieties to try)
Beginning to gather supplies needed for the garden (see the list in the March recap)
Make sure you have a plan for when you will buy seedlings for your garden this summer. It’s helpful to map out what you’ll need so you can make one trip to the garden center, get exactly the right amount, and then be ready for planting.
If you’re just getting started, also assess your space for where your garden might be best suited. A major consideration is sunlight. For most summer crops, the more sun the better. Cool season crops (like lettuce) do great in partial sun.
Next week:
Prepping bed/pots/ground soil
Resources:
Resource 1
A good guide for getting ready to garden this summer!
Colorado Gardening Basics | Gardening in Colorado | How to Grow a Garden | Gardening Tips
Resource 2
A good guide for thinking about where you should set up your garden this year
Resource 3
A good guide for gathering the tools you might need this summer