Easy Street Gardening
Weekly, step-by-step guidance for gardening on the front range.
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 5: 1/29/2023 - 2/4/2023
What I am doing:
January is over! We are one month into 2023, building a strong foundation to have an easy and productive gardening season. At the end of each month this year, I want to take time to reflect on what we’ve been working on.
One of the reasons I started this substack is that I’ve heard enough of my friends talk about how they often get their gardens off to a good start, only to lose track of things after about a month or so. A few wilted plants create a downward spiral of discouragement and further neglect. I think this is a fairly common experience. There is excitement and momentum in planning and planting, but then comes the watching, waiting, and tending, which can be easy to put off, leading to a well planted garden to fail.
I want to help prevent this from happening, and I don’t think many gardeners are that far off from having a successful season! The barrier to get over that mid-season slump is not as high as it might seem, and my hope is that a friendly weekly reminder of things to do will help anyone get past these small friction points that can make or break a garden.
All that being said, what have we done so far this year?
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 (Order Form).
Drafted garden maps and thinking about plant spacing and density.
Shared our garden plans with other gardeners to get some feedback.
If you’ve been following along and at least thinking about these steps, you’re heading in the right direction. Ideally, you’ve been actually doing these things! We may be in the middle of a cold snap, and there is snow on the ground, but this is a great time to get these planning activities out of the way so you can stay ahead of things come spring. Breaking things up and doing a little at a time is a great way to maintain a manageable amount of time you have to dedicate to the garden any given week (2 hours or less).
Along with this reflection, I wanted to talk briefly about companion planting. Last week we reviewed approaches on how to plan out the spacing in your garden. This week, I want you to think about what you should plant next to what. Companion planting is another important part of gardening planning and design.
The basic idea of companion planting is that plants do better when they are in a diverse environment. For example, last season I planted basil and marigolds at the base of tomatoes. I also planted some sunflowers throughout the bed that grew up through the tomatoes and attracted pollinators.
For the coming season, here is a current draft of one of my beds. This week, I’m thinking mostly about flowers. Where can I squeeze some in to serve as companions to my vegetables? They’re pretty easy to just throw in wherever there is a little space between things. I’m also thinking about how onions repel aphids, so I’ll plant some near my kale, and I’ve intermixed herbs throughout the bed to deter pests. I’m trying to spread out similar crops as much as I can, so if one gets attacked, the other ones may be far enough away to be spared.
Don’t overthink this! You can’t really go wrong, but there are definitely benefits to being intentional about where you plant things. While there are some well established relationships between plants that you should follow, it’s also good to make your own observations from experimentation.
For example, I’m convinced that planting sunflowers near your garden is a great way to deter squirrels from eating your vegetables. I’ve done this for years, and I’ve never had a problem with squirrels raiding my beds, but I do see them eating the sunflowers near the end of the season. I think of this as paying them tribute for staying away from the plants I want to eat myself.
What to do this week:
Here’s what to do:
Read through material on companion planting. I can’t recommend it enough. Taking some time to intentionally mix together your vegetable plants with herbs and flowers goes a long way to reducing the amount of work you’ll need to do this summer!
Take some time to reflect on your planning so far and how you are feeling about the upcoming season. What is making you most excited? What is filling you with a small amount of anxiety? How might taking some steps now help you feel more confident about getting started in the spring?
There’s still time to order seedlings from me for the spring. Put in some orders for varieties that you won’t be able to find at your local garden centers! I am happy to talk with you about different varieties, so please feel free to reach out!
Next week:
Succession planting
Making plans to prepare your garden space for the spring
Resources:
Resource 1
One of many excellent resources online that outline companion plants.