Lack of Sunshine

With the weather being so cloudy (and unfortunately, snowy), I've had to place my seedlings under grow lights to make sure they are getting enough light each day. I also started some sweet Italian basil and red cherry tomato seeds today. So far the germination rates have been pretty good. I think I've only had one broccoli and one tomato plant not germinate. Hopefully the grow lights will help them grow strong and not leggy, although I think my broccoli plants already look a little leggy. I can't imagine having the garden going in a month, as its still covered with a few inches of snow.

In other news, we bought a tiller! Just a small, electric one, that should be the perfect size for our small garden. Hopefully with some deeper dug soil, the garden will drain better and the plants will be happier!





Planning, planning, planning

Since we still have about a foot of snow on the ground (and more on the way...) the only gardening to do right now is planning and starting seeds. We're being ambitious with the number of plants we have this year, and we're also having our children start their own gardens. I'm excited about the variety of plants, and hope that we can lay everything out so that it fits.

This year we're going to try growing:

The start of the garden! Broccoli, cauliflower and onions.

True lavender
Snowball cauliflower
Waltham 29 broccoli
Beefsteak tomato
Green pepper - Yolo wonder
Early jalapeno pepper
Valencia onion
Red cherry tomato
Sweet italian basil
Black beauty zucchini
Yellow crookneck squash
Marketmore 76 cucumber
Cherry belle radish
Spinach - bloomsdale
Hollow crown parsnip
Sugar snap pea
Carrot - Imperator 58
Romaine, crisphead and buttercrunch lettuce
Golden bantam corn
Green beans
Brussels sprouts - Long island

In the past we've only done a few types of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, beans, broccoli and zucchini, so this is a big change for us. 

Spring Fever

After this long, brutal winter, I'm itching to get my hands in the dirt. I've got some seeds started indoors to help me get over my case of spring fever. I've always purchased seedlings from a local organic farm, but this year I've decided to put more time and effort into my gardening, and I'm hoping that will produce greater results.

I purchased organic seeds on Amazon and from a local store that included plant varieties that are supposed to grow well in my area, 5A. We have a short growing season, so starting seeds indoors is pretty much the only option for many plants.

The past two or three years our garden has not produced well, for various reasons. We didn't till, like we should have. We did turn the dirt over and add topsoil, but that was it. Now that I've spent some time reading online and in books about proper gardening, this year we're going to invest in a small tiller. I'm also going to experiment with some raised beds for my kids to grow plants in, based on the square foot gardening method.

I'm hoping that by summer, we'll have lots of fresh produce to eat, right from our own backyard!