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 7: 2/12/2023 - 2/18/2023
What I am doing:
I spent the past week finalizing my garden maps for the season. I made a map for spring, early summer, and early fall plantings. I also made a list of the different succession plants I’ll prepare for those seasonal re-plantings of the garden. So, I’m feeling good about my approach to the season. Of course, things might change. I may get sick of kale or radishes or something, and make some adjustments in what I plant in early summer or late fall. But, having these three maps gives me a lot of confidence to start thinking about the number of seeds and plants I’ll need, and by what dates.
I hope you have been making maps of your own, and you’re starting to get a sense of what vegetables, herbs, and flowers you will plant in your garden, and when. Of course, there’s still time to make these maps, but I encourage you to try to at least have some drafts done soon, because they will help you to really plan out the next month or so of preparation for the spring season.
This week, I’m starting to plant my first seeds! I’m sowing peppers, because they take a long time to germinate and are slow to grow in the house. They’ll need all the time I can give them before May 15th to get a head start on the season. I also started a bunch of lettuces, radicchio, kales, bok choy, and fennel. These I’ll plant out in early March under greenhouse plastic. After only a few days, a lot of these seeds have sprouted.
If you plan to start peppers for your garden, now is the time. If you plan to have an early March garden of cold hardy crops, now is the time to start those seedlings too. I’m going to hold off on starting anything else (including the seedlings readers have ordered) until we are 8 or so weeks out from our last frost date (roughly March 20th). You don’t want to start seedlings out too much earlier than that. They can outgrow their starting cells, and I don’t want to repot them multiple times.
My setup is pretty simple, and yours can be too. I have:
Plastic starting trays
Potting soil (I’m using Black Gold)
A heating pad to put under the starting trays until the seeds germinate
Two shop lights (I use this LED light)
Find lights that are between 5,000 and 7,000 Kelvin
An outlet timer to automatically turn the lights on and off
A table and space that can get a little messy
Watering can
Marker and labeling stakes to keep track of which seedlings are which
While that may seem like a lot, once you have these things set up, you can really propagate a lot of seeds and grow exactly the varieties you are interested in. If you have a south facing windowsill, you can also try growing some seedlings without lights, but there is a risk that they won’t get enough sunlight and will become leggy and weak (seedlings that expend too much energy growing tall and skinny, trying to reach more light).
I keep the lights about 6 inches or so above the seedlings - close enough to wash them in a lot of light, but far enough away not to burn them. The lights are suspended by chains so I can adjust them as the plants grow taller.
And that’s it really. Not too complicated, but when I started out growing seedlings, it felt like a big jump. My first season doing it, I tried just using window light, from a west facing window, and my seedlings were terrible. But I learned from that, and since then have had a lot of success. Just provide them with a little water, a lot of light, and they’ll do great.
What to do this week:
You can absolutely have a successful garden without starting your own seedlings. However, I encourage you to think about trying to grow at least one or two seedlings for yourself. It’s a really cool experience! You can grow them in a solo plastic cup, or really any kind of container you have. Dig up some soil outside to fill it up, plant a seed or two, water it, and see what happens! Just make sure to give it plenty of light.
Here’s what to do:
If you haven’t already, finish up your garden maps.
Get set up to grow at least one seedling of your own! Most seed packets will tell you how many weeks before your last frost date (May 15th) to start seeds indoors. So between now and then, get set up. Create a space with good lighting, and that can get a little messy. Pick out some containers to grow seedlings in, anything from seed trays to solo cups. Get some soil, some seeds, a watering can, and you’re set.
If you really don’t want to grow your own seedlings, 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:
Trellises
Resources:
Resource 1
Check out this demo from Josh Statin, a small scale farmer. I appreciate the simplicity of his approach. Seed starting is really that straightforward. Fill up some trays with soil, water to get the soil wet, make some indents, put in the seeds, cover with a little more soil, water them again, and finally, keep them at a good temperature (68 - 80 degree Fahrenheit).