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 8: 2/19/2023 - 2/25/2023
What I am doing:
This week the weather warmed up, and it’s starting to feel like spring is almost here. I was going to write about my trellis construction plans this week, but the warm weather diverted my efforts. There is still plenty of time to plan and build trellises, but I had an opportunity with the warmer weather to get out into my garden, so I took it.
First, I gathered a sample of my soil. I plan to have it tested by the CSU extension. I’ve had my garden beds for a season and a half, and the soil is a mix of bulk garden soil that I used to first fill the beds, organic fertilizers I’ve applied, and layers and layers of compost that I add onto the beds a couple of times each season.
I am using the “no dig” approach to building soil fertility. I learned a lot about this approach from Charles Dowding. The basic idea is that you should disturb the soil as little as possible once you’ve established your beds. By not digging or tilling the soil, you leave all of the organisms in the soil alone to establish a healthy ecosystem, creating a kind of living soil. Tilling the soil destroys this ecosystem, and it can also unearth weed seeds. So instead, fertility is added to the soil by applying a top layer of compost a couple of times a year. The organisms in the soil break down the compost and bring nutrients down toward the roots, where plants can use them. I’ve had a lot of success with this approach, and I’m convinced it’s a really great way to garden.
The plants in my beds generally grow well, suggesting that the fertility is good, but I wanted to get a soil sample tested so I can catch any potential deficiencies and apply fertilizer in a more strategic way. Colorado State University has a lab that will test soil samples. They open again on March 1st. Collecting a sample and mailing it to CSU is an easy process, and more details on how to do this can be found here. We will talk about fertilizers later this year, and knowing if your soil has any nutrient deficiencies is a good way to target how you amend your soil.
While I was out in the garden taking soil samples, I also checked on my experiment overwintering some salad greens and a few other plants. I had mixed results (it was a really cold winter), but there were some lettuces that looked strong-ish! There was open bed space, so I decided to sow some radishes, more salad greens, and carrots to see if I can squeeze in some early harvests.
I really like having the hoops over my garden beds so I can use greenhouse plastic to protect the plants and extend my season well past our frost dates. The plastic covering traps heat and moisture and also prevents the wind from desiccating the plants. Because we have so many winter days that get above freezing during the day, the air under the plastic warms up well, allowing the plants to survive. They won’t thrive through the winter, but they will be ready to start growing again in the spring, giving me some really early harvests. I could see a clear difference in growth of the garlic under the plastic compared to the garlic I planted in a bed that I didn’t cover.
In Colorado, it’s important to have some way to protect your plants from the cold even after our frost dates. Last summer we had a late snow on May 17th, a couple of days after I had planted out all of my tomatoes. My plastic covers saved my tomatoes last spring, which I planted out on May 15th, only to have them snowed on a few days later.
What to do this week:
It’s time to start seriously preparing for the spring season. Hopefully you are ordering the seeds you’ll need in the spring, and you are starting some of your seedlings. Next week we will start talking about how to approach early spring plantings. You should have some clear plans, not just of what you will plant, but also of any infrastructure you might build this year. Building season extending hoops are not necessary, but they are a great investment in your garden that can protect all the work you’ve done. In addition to laying the foundation for any projects, consider taking a sample of your soil and getting it tested.
Here’s what to do:
Take a sample of your soil and prepare to send it to CSU to get tested. This can be really interesting information to find out, and you can use what you learn about your soil’s nutrient and mineral content to target how you apply fertilizers.
Thinking about building a season extension for your garden. There are a lot of cheap and easy ways to do this, and the benefit of being able to start planting in late February and early March is huge!
If you haven’t started your own seedlings yet, I encourage you to refer back to last week’s post for some guidance and try iit out!
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:
Building healthy soil - we will take a deeper dive into no till gardening
Preparing for early spring plantings
Resources:
Resource 1
Here is a great explanation from Charles Dowding of how to get started with this approach:
Resource 2
This demonstration of building a low tunnel over a raised bed is basically the same approach I used for my beds.