Seedling Progress

I'm not sure if it's apparent here, but the tomatoes are pretty much shot.  I don't know what happened- they look dried out, but given that I watered everything well I'm not sure what the issue is.  The mass of green you see is cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.

I need to harden these off and get them into the ground under the frost blankets, but I'm procrastinating pretty hardcore because it's such a pain to get into the closet where I'm growing them, and my back is still bothering me.  I do know better- it's not really that smart to spend time procrastinating when it comes to gardening stuff, but I suppose a couple more days before I can get them planted won't hurt me *too* much.

I didn't get to the garden today like I had planned, because I'm just too sore- I am doing core strength exercises and stretching to try and get my back in working order, but we'll see how that works.  Yesterday I went through all my seed packets and marked the square foot spacing on them.  At least I'm feeling semi-productive!

Early Planting- with Photos!

This is what the front yard raised bed looked like on Monday at around noon.  Please excuse the horrible state of the lawn- we aren't lawn people, and it's not really growing from winter yet anyway.  The snow from Sunday was mostly melted and though you can't see it from the photo, there was moisture from the melted snow slowly seeping through the row cover, which is specifically meant to allow sunlight and water through it.

We had a group meeting on Monday evening at the garden to discuss the early season, and there are a couple people there who've had things planted since the beginning of April, and are starting to see some sprouting.  I am HOPING to get down there sometime this week to start planting, but we'll see how the weather and my back fare.

My back has been bothering me for a few weeks now, to varying degrees of severity and as of right now I can still move around and sit and sleep and such, but it's worrying.  I am really hoping it doesn't become an issue this summer, given that I've taken on a much larger load gardening-wise.

First seeds in the ground- And snow

I really need to take photos of all this stuff, and I promise I will- but I did not do it today, so I don't have them for *this* post.  Anyway, when we moved into the new house there were a couple wooden garden beds already built- one that I think is probably about 2'x4' (based on the relative size to the one we've actually measured), but since I'm bad at estimation of size I will update you later on the actual size of it.  Anyway, the other bed turned out to be 3'x6', and is situated under one of the conifers we have in the front yard, but gets a decent amount of sun.  After finally getting some row covers and a couple bags of garden soil to fill the 3x6 bed in, I got some cold tolerant items planted yesterday, on Saturday. 

In the 3x6 bed, I did an entire half of it (3'x3') in the Rocky Top Lettuce Mix, with 5 per square foot- arranged as the 5 dots on a die would be.  I was a bit generous with the seeding, so thinning will have to happen, but that's good anyway since you can eat the plants you thin!  If it hadn't been so windy I may have just very thinly scattered the plants around, but it's Great Falls and we're known for our wind.  So much so that when I bought the row covers, the nice woman at Big R was very careful to inform me that the U-stakes would not be enough to keep the row covers anchored and to make sure I used some extra means to keep them secure.  We used some rocks and tucked the edges of the row cover into the bed.

In the other 3'x3' area of the bed, we did 3 blocks (1' square) of 'Ching Chang' Bok Choy, 3 blocks of 'Dwarf Blue Curled' Kale, and in the final 1' x 3' strip we did a row of half 'Dwarf Grey Sugar' Snow Peas and 'Golden Sweet' Snow Peas.

I'm still pondering what to plant in the other raised bed and the pots that came with the house.  I may have my Pea Pods planting setup completely set up, but here at home I'm having much more indecision about the whole thing.  Also, I'm seeing what sorts of spring plants we have already with the house- already I've been surprised by crocus and what look to be tulips popping up!  I know for sure we have Daylillies as well.

I also found out that Big R, where we got our row covers- has seed potatoes (their claim that they carry almost anything really isn't that far off)!  So if the potato experiment works out this year (Planning on using rubbermaid containers and layering to grow them), I will be able to economize a bit next year buying more locally.  Not that the $16 I spent for the seed potatoes + shipping from Fisher's Garden Store is unreasonable, especially considering I did not have to buy like 20+ pounds of seed potatoes- but being able to just pick up a few is much more ideal for our limited space, especially if we end up doing something like this rather than rubbermaid bins.  Though considering this family, the bins may end up being the go-to.  We seem to always have an abundance of them.

Tomorrow if the snow happens to melt, we'll be going to the community garden to get some planting done, but I heard we're supposed to get a couple more inches overnight (on top of the 2" we got already), so we'll see.  If not, I'll find other things to occupy myself.  I did not get the very early start that I was hoping for, but this is good enough, so I'm not going to sweat it too much.  And at the very least, the row covers/frost blanket will keep the critters from chewing on my peas.  And I didn't get ANYTHING in the ground till the second week of May last year, so we're not doing too badly.

Mammoth Russian Sunflower

Purchased from:  Fisher's Garden Store for $2.50
Type: Sunflower
Growth: TALL

This package of seeds did not even get opened last year- I just did not have a place to grow sunflowers.  This year, though, I do.  Right outside our kitchen door, where there were hollyhocks last year.  The area gets plenty of sun.  Hollyhocks are coming out, sunflowers are going in!

I love sunflowers, though I haven't grown any myself in ages.  At least, none that I got to look at- the ones I grew in Rochester got ripped out before I got back from visiting my fiance one fall.  I have some video of one of the many fields of sunflowers that we ran across when we drove from NY to MT, but it's not very clear, so I'm probably not going to share it on the blog.  I just think Sunflowers are so COOL, though!  Don't you?  The seeds are a bonus, though it's always a race to get to them before birds do.  The coolest thing about sunflowers is that they're an aggregate of many tiny flowers.  Each of those little pokey bits in the middle?  A whole flower in and of itself!  The petals on the outside?  Modified aesexual flowers!  HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Okay, enough nerding out.  I hope these get as big as the package says, because I love tall things.

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own.

Montana Green Bean

Purchased from: Fisher's Garden Store for $3.60
Type: Green Bean
Growth: Bush

This, unlike the past few posts, was one of my great successes from last year, and I've talked about it previously.  Seriously.  This green bean is going to be a yearly addition to my garden because it is amazing- and it's really well-suited to Montana, though I imagine, of course, it will do well elsewhere, too.  Homegrown green beans are amazing anyway, but I really enjoy this variety and it was easy to grow and surprisingly productive even after I had determined the plants must be 'on their way out.'  The darned things produced all season!  And I only planted two blocks- I think I could have been happy with an entire bed full of these wonderful beans.  This year I'm definitely planting more.

Beans do pretty well in square foot gardening, but I will say that the bush type do have a bit of an issue with crowding.  This did not seem to affect my harvest at all, but it did make me think that the plants were on their way out when they were still quite productive- which is why I'm glad I did not just rip them up like I initially planned.  If this is something you worry about, you could do only 4 plants per square foot instead of 9- but if you don't care how it looks and you are willing to maul the plants a bit to get to the good stuff, don't sweat it.

These were a perfect example of why Square Foot Gardening is really only suited for small levels of production, though.  It was way harder to get in there and pick the beans than it ever was when I picked beans from my grandfather's rows.

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Lemon Cucumber

Purchased from:  Fisher's Garden Store for $2.25
Type: Cucumber
Growth: Vining

This is another leftover from last year that I didn't have much luck with, mostly because I think my cucumbers ended up being shaded out and were never able to get going.  I'm going to plant some at the house this year as well as at the garden, so hopefully between those two places I will have at least one area that gets enough sun to produce.  There were some of these cucumbers planted in one of the public beds, so it wasn't a complete disaster- that was a pleasant surprise!

"Lemon" cucumbers are called such not because they taste like lemon, but because of their shape and color, which is small, round, and yellow.  They taste just like a regular, mild cucumber- but the shape makes them more fun because the slices are bigger, so if you wanted to do sandwiches or something they could be larger, etc.

I love cucumbers just raw and sliced with a little bit of italian salad dressing.  Sadly, my stomach doesn't love me as much for eating them this way, but if I moderate that, it should be OK.  I'm looking forward to having some of my own homegrown cucumbers this summer to eat raw and possibly make fridge pickles with.

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Jackpot Hybrid Zucchini

Purchased from: Fisher's Garden Store for $2.95
Type: Summer Squash
Growth: Bush

All jokes about locking your doors during zucchini season aside, I love this stuff.  I still have some shredded and frozen from last season, and I didn't even grow my own!  As such, I'm only going to be growing a single bush, but that's going to take up a good chunk of one of my beds, so one is more than enough.

Zucchini (and summer squash in general) is one of those things that I do enjoy eating, but I grow mostly because it is satisfying.  There's not really a way to screw up here- except maybe planting too late, like I did last year.  But in general, summer squash will take off on its own and before you know it, you're having to dive in every day to harvest the fruits before they get too big to eat, and even then you're going to miss one and the next thing you know you have a giant 3-foot zucchini and after you pick that sucker you do like 5 loaves of zucchini bread because despite the name, the main ingredient isn't zucchini, so you always have leftover.

Not that I'm speaking from experience, or anything.  *shifty eyes*

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Green Goliath Broccoli

Purchased From: Fisher's Garden Store for $2.65
Type: Broccoli

Broccoli is my favorite vegetable, and it's also one that I've had no success whatsoever actually getting to grow.  I think I have a block from childhood, because my mother declared that we wouldn't grow it in our garden because it was "difficult."  I've had to overcome a few of those types of things, mostly related to crafts rather than gardening, but I'm determined to someday get broccoli to actually grow.  Maybe this year will be the one?

There's always lots of talk on the broccoli packet about getting a second crop, but I don't really know if we have the kind of weather to allow for that- brassicas in general (broccoli being no exception) enjoy it a bit cooler, and the hot hot summer weather that we get here can be a bit of a downer.  Since our spring and fall aren't really mild and long, that puts another damper on things.  We're one of those climates that people describe as "Almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction."

I have these started in my seed flat, though they're not germinating very quickly.  Hopefully they'll be ready to go by time I get the early plantings in, though!

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Fisher's Earliest Sweet Corn

Purchased From: Fisher's Garden Store for $6.50
Type: Sweet Corn

Yet another leftover from last year.  The thing about Square Foot Gardening?  You don't use nearly the entire package of seeds, and if you don't have a ton of people to share with, you are definitely going to have overlap.  The good news there is that you can usually get 2-3 years out of a packet of seeds.  Each year will have a lower germination rate, as the seeds become less viable, but you generally get a good rate for a couple years in my experience.  The only important thing to do is to keep the seeds someplace dry, cool, and dark.  I've even seen people keep seeds in their own freezer!  Definitely make sure that the packets and seeds themselves are completely dry if you do this though- and put them in an airtight container that won't let any moisture in.  Your mileage may vary with that method, but it can extend viability for some things.

I did not have a lot of luck with this one last year- I think it got a bit of a late start, and it started to form ears when the corn plants were kind of stunted.  I think this may have been due to my attempt at three sisters- this year I won't be doing that.  Just corn.  And I'm going to see if starting earlier under a row cover helps at all.

In general, Corn isn't terribly well-suited to square foot gardening, but I know it's possible to do, since there were a couple people last year who had a decent fruiting.  Since corn is wind-pollinated, it can also be a bit of a hassle when you have so much growing close together to get full pollination.  A vigorous shaking of each plant when the tassles at the top of the plant have formed and silks are starting to peek out of the immature ears can be really helpful for that.

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Dwarf Gray Sugar Snow Peas

Purchased From: Fisher's Garden Store for $2.60
Type: Snow Pea
Growth: Dwarf Vining

So, these are the peas I tried to grow last year.  They did not really work out.  I think I planted them a bit late, and that the bunnies at the community garden decided that the shoots tasted quite nummy.  Because they were getting chewed down to the nibs.  I'm going to plant these midway through April, hopefully an earlier planting will result in a much better result this year.

These are the type of pea that supposedly can self-support, but I'm going to use a small trellis anyway, because I hate the point when the peas start falling over.  Plus I think a trellis will make the pea plants less of a mess, so picking peas will be easier.  I really hope this year works better, because I adore fresh peas.  And it's always so satisfying when something works out rather than not.  I'd hate to have another empty area in my garden this year.  I want the spot to be completely overgrown!

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own. 

Dwarf Blue Curled Kale

Purchased From:  Fisher's Garden Store (Catalog) $2.55
Type: Curly Kale

I grew this last year, and while I wish that Kale took up a bit less space, it was easy to grow, and of course tasty.  Well, the way I use kale- I make chips.  I'm not really a fan of bitter greens raw, and I didn't get a chance to let the kale sit through a hard frost to see if it sweetened up like I've been told- I will be growing some at the house this year for those purposes.  Yum!

Kale isn't terribly suited to square foot gardening, as you can only grow one bunch per square, but this one is a bit smaller so I may be able to squeeze 2 into the block this year- especially since my blocks are slightly bigger than they were last year, as I believe I mentioned in my first planning post.

It should be noted that I bought these from Fisher's Garden Store, which doesn't have its own website, but you can go to this post to find out how to get a catalog.  Once you make an order, you are on the mailing list for the following year as well, so if you buy from them every year (this year I've ordered seed potatoes), you'll not have to pay for the catalog again.  They really do have great customer service, since we're talking about that.

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own.