Good Morning all you lovers of growing things! We welcome everyone who gardens outdoors, indoors, both, knowledgeable and just learning. New visitors always welcome. Stop back in if it’s been a while. SMGB is a 24/7 “gardening diner” of great chats and nice folks. And, as always, WE LOVE PHOTOS!!!
The first thing I did was sort and organize the seeds I had in stock. The headline photo is a mix of a near end of season 2022 harvest. The white looking root vegetables on the left are actually an Eastern European pale yellow Carrot. And there were Collards, Lale, Swiss Chard, and that lovely dark green Tatsoi on the right (thanks, strawbale!). Those funny shaped veggies on the upper left were all the Cucumbers my garden could muster. I still have plenty of most all of these seed.
Seeds saved from vegetables, herbs, flowers last year: Buttercup Squash, Pie Pumpkin, Delicata Squash, Anise Hyssop Herb, Yellow Sunflowers (from a neighbor), Impatiens (from another neighbor), and Yellow Coneflower. The Squash and Pumpkin seeds I saved from some I purchased. I don’t have a lot of space so I will probably grow one of each or plant them in friends’ large community garden plots not far from my house.
Below are all seeds I had from last season that I didn’t use because the near drought was so bad. Some I bought and some that friends (thanks to some of you SMGB seed savers) sent to me. I’ve had good luck with seeds sprouting one or two years after they were harvested. I’ve got Arugula, a couple kinds of Green Beans, Tatsoi, mini Bok Choy, LOTS of Lacinto (Dinosaur) Kale, a Cherry Tomato, Broccoli and Broccoli Raab. And Flowers! I am trying to plan for lots of sun, hot, lots of cloudy days, along with too dry and too wet. I tend to lean towards any vegetable that will tolerate some shade as my yard leans more in that direction. I have found, for example, that cherry type tomatoes are happy with less sun than are the larger sizes. More learning as we go along…..
Two huge lessons learned re. growing conditions: Cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, and root vegetables need a lot more water than I was giving them. The soil around root vegetables needs to be kept slightly damp. And when it’s hot and dry, keep tabs on the moisture level of the first few inches of soil. I noticed dry equals rather hot soil and damp is much cooler. Then “everybody” is happy! This was not so much an issue here in Central NYS until the climate changes became really noticeable. The last two summers have been hot and borderline drought. Our snow fall has again been way under the normal range this winter. So, crossing fingers we get a normal rainy spring and some reasonable rain over the summer.
I also bought….grow bags. There has been discussion of these in other SMGB diaries and I couldn’t resist…..Gardzen 10 Gallon Grow Bags. They are especially used for potatoes but I’m going to try out carrots and beets. Maybe bags of sweet potatoes and parsnips. This seemed like a great way for me to expand garden space without digging up more yard (Mr. CNY turned rather pale at that thought.) The grow bag “plot” will have to be fenced in as there are still a few deer and woodchucks hanging around.
I really had not planned on buying any new seeds other than Collard Greens and more Lacinto Kale. Honestly. But, well….those seed catalogs arrived in the mail. I ended up going with my tried and true company, High Mowing Seeds. They’re in the Northeast, as am I, and all the seeds I’ve purchased have never failed. So, I went with a few new to me seeds….
We love Arugula of all kinds! And it grows like the proverbial weeds in the clay loaded soil here (and I amend with compost). I’m not sure if I’ve grown the Bellezia Arugula previously — dark green, a bit spicy, and stores well according to HMS.
And Beets for one of the grow bags. I went with Early Wonder Tall Top Beets that are more focused on the beet greens themselves but they do get a nice beet, as well. My dad grew beets and my mom made fabulous, tangy pickled beets. I sure miss those.
I went with Champion Collard Greens. They are a Vates-type which appealed to me as I couldn’t get my usual Vates dwarf size. The description says “compact” like the dwarf type so I’m crossing my fingers the taller height won’t overwhelm my small garden plot.
And Red Russian Kale! Described as tender and can be picked as salad size or larger. Cold tolerant so it will last into the fall. YAY!
One of the first to be direct seeded will be Giant Winter Spinach as soon as the soil has thawed and warmed up a bit. I’m hoping for mid April, about a month before the technical last frost in my region. Another cold tolerant plant so I’m hoping an end of August, early fall re-sowing will be productive.
Last of the new items is Parade Bunching Onions. I love scallions and these sound pretty easy to grow and very tasty, too. My plan is to dig a trench is the well drained area of my garden, amend with compost, and then plant. Hoping some will over winter, too.
That’s my plan, at least so far. Always ready to change if necessary. So what are you planting this year???
I have a card sized version of this WWII Victory Garden poster. Let’s have some victory over the “war” against food insecurity!