Garden 2008
Well, the garden is as usual a little late in waking up from its winter slumber. We have several new things planned for this season.
- We are hoping to add another board onto each raised bed. This isn’t as much to allow more soil as it is to prevent soil from being spilled into the paths.
- We would like to add a more semi-permanent watering system for each of the beds. We will try to document what we do as we finalize our plans.
- There will likely be a few new methods of caging plants and blossoms for saving seed.
- We are lastly thinking of an arbor like structure in the long north bed. This is going to hopefully provide for growing space hogs up instead of across our beds.
Other than those items, the garden will remain much the same. Some new plants are going to be grown for the first time. Some are strictly being grown as ornamentals, others for food and seed. Several should not be possible to grow this far north, but that hasn’t stopped us before.
1. Sesame
2. Artichoke
3. Cardoon
4. Pak Choi
5. Cotton
6. Kale
7. Rutabaga
8. Salsify
9. Swiss Chard
10. Fava Beans
Most all plants have been started indoors in cell packs. It helps us to extend the season as well as controlling the germination more closely. I have used wire racks from Sams Club for several years and I absolutely love them. They have a shelf that is 18 inches deep by 4 feet wide and 6 feet tall. They are durable, cheap, come with casters and are the perfect length for florescent lights. I use two lights (4 bulbs) per shelf and I find it provides enough light until I can get them outside in May. Even with 2 lights, it is still important to keep the lights as close to the seedlings as possible. This will encourage the plants to grow stockier, preventing spindly seedlings. In May I will move the flats outside under a small hoop tunnel created by PVC and a large sheet of plastic. This makes a good environment for hardening off the seedlings a little at a time before the actual transplanting.