Garden
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Gardening in April (Zone 5)
Gardening in April can be a lot easier when beginning your gardening journey for the first time. All you really need to do is start getting seeds into the ground and begin the fun season of fresh food. Although, if you have a space and light to start seedling indoors, you can get a major head start in the growing season. I like to have indoor and outdoor seeds started as soon as January. By the time I start gardening in April, I already have over 200 seedlings ready to be planted outside. I haven't always started seeds indoors. In fact, I love to winter sow many seeds. Winter sowing…
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Preparing the garden bed
In the fall, I like to make sure my garden is as ready as possible for the spring. In the process of preparing the garden bed, I layer up many things I find in the yard that will compost over the winter. Things include leaves, twigs, chicken manure, vegetable scraps and dirt. I find that it is easier to accomplish the layering when the items are readily available and not frozen. The first step is cutting back all dead plants in your garden bed. If there are weeds, I will bag those up and dispose of them but if it's just dead vegetable plants, I cut them up into small…
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Gardening in March (Zone 5)
Gardening in March can feel overwhelming but rewarding. Many, many seeds can be planted mid-march if you have a last frost date of May 15th. I like to start most of my flowers and some secession seedlings indoors. While also having plants in my outdoor winter sowing containers. This gives me many plants with my limited space indoors. Growing seedlings indoors helps control the environment in which seeds can grow. Gardening in March indoors can give you a head start while your outdoor winter sow seeds are still warming up. This creates a nice secession or garden that will continue to have different plants ready at different times. Lets say…
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Gardening in February (Zone 5)
Gardening in February can be a busy month. There are many plants that can be started indoors and winter sown outside. I have always done "the lazy way" by winter sowing my seeds. However, I do like starting some seeds indoors to help get a head start on plants I want to be bigger in the cooler months. Cool season crops should be started now. Gardening in February includes the brassica family (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.), salad greens, herbs and flowers. All of these seeds can be planted directly into the garden soil in the spring but to get a hard start until then, we need to grow them indoors…
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Winter Sowing
One of the easiest ways to garden is winter sowing. It's the process of planting seeds in a container with dirt and setting the container outside to sprout when it's ready. I have had great success with this method for the past 6 years. Plus it is a way I can reuse milk jugs. Winter sowing seeds a the most natural way for seeds to get ready to grow. Many seeds like having a cold season before they are willing to sprout. These plants are called hardy annuals and perennials. In my zone 5, it can can very cold in winter. Hardy annuals and perennial plants don't mind the cold…
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Gardening in January (Zone 5)
If you live in zone 5, gardening can start in January. I like to start some seeds indoors under a grow light and I also like to winter sow seeds outdoors. Now that the holidays are over, I like to think about and plan my garden for this year. It may seem too soon right now to start seeds but it can definitely be started in January in zone 5. Start by collecting seeds that need a long time to grow or are cool season plants that will be ready before the last frost. Make sure to plan your garden space and include areas that might be used for different…
