Antsy for spring

Hello all. What a balmy day in Massachusetts. By my calculations, there are 45 days (and 2 hours!) until spring, and I cannot wait.

Around this time of year I get antsy. I love to garden, and I am lucky enough to have a backyard and some garden space. Over the past 3 years, I have created 6 garden beds. Every year I tidy them up a bit and deal with the never ending weeds.

Before I moved into this house, I hired a contractor and renovated it. It was much needed, as my house is about a hundred years old. I am glad I got to direct the work myself, but man, what a process! Years later, I am pleased that I got to choose everything: the paint, the floor finish, the tiles, the counter top, everything! But that meant that a lot of old finishings had to go, so we needed to find a place for the dumpster. It ended up going on my front lawn. The next year, as I fretted about the rectangular grass demise, I realized it would be a great place for a garden bed. And that is how my garden plans began.

So now I am six garden beds deep, and I have no plans to stop. I love growing my own food, and especially my own flowers. This year I am planning on erecting a 6X8 greenhouse with the help of bae. In here I can start seeds early and protect some more delicate plants from the elements.

So now I will welcome you to my dumping ground. I affectionately call it the “cat room”, but it is really a great space for gardening. It is an unheated and poorly insulated sunroom off my living room. It gets too cold out there to grow things year round, but it is a great space for propagating seedlings, as long as I monitor the temperature. I also think of it as a giant walk in beverage refrigerator. How lucky am I?

I started with two utility shelves, and I bought two cheap fluorescent light fixtures from my local home improvement store. Then, I bought some 10×20 inch heating mats, which raise the temperature by 10-20 degrees. These make all the difference, although I opted for the cheap ones which do not have a thermostat. In this weather, I leave them on all the time, but when it gets warmer it could theoretically get too warm for the seeds. I also invested in an automatic light timer, so my florescent were on for 12 hours, then off for 12 hours. I have had a lot of luck with this little set up, and each year start my own tomatoes, herbs, cosmos, lupine, delphiniums, etc.

When I first started, I will admit that I just winged it. Some things I started too soon, some things I started too late. Many things didn’t make it.This year I have a plan. If you are interested in doing what I do, here is what I recommend to start.

First, know what gardening zone you are in. In Western MA, we are in zone 5B. Our last frost date is in Mid-May, and our first frost date is sometime in October. This year, I found a free calendar, and used that for garden planning. For example, tomatoes should be started inside anywhere from 6-10 weeks before the last frost. Some varieties cannot handle any amounts of cold, and need to be hardened off. So I will have to be patient when starting them. The year I started them too soon, they survived, but outgrew their pots and space very quickly. This year I will wait until the end of March.

Second, when planning a garden, start small. Think about the things you want to grow, and what you will actually eat. For me, that is kale, peas, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, beans, lettuce and maybe a few others. I would love to grow potatoes, but are they worth it? They take up a huge amount of space and are kind of labor intensive. Garlic, on the other hand, is so easy to grow, and I use it in almost everything that I cook. This year I doubled the amount of cloves that I planted, and dedicated a garden bed to just that. Garlic is harvested kind of late (mid July). When the garlic is done, I will probably plant other things like squash and cucumbers which grow easily when direct sown. Every year I think about things I may want to try next year, but I try to keep my aspirations contained.

Follow the instructions on the seed packet. If it says sow an inch apart, or a foot apart, don’t mess with that. The instructions are written by master gardeners. A tiny zucchini seedling may not look like much when it sprouts, but in Mid August when the vines reach 20 feet long, you will be glad you allowed for some space.

Make sure your growing medium is moist, but don’t over water. If you are using a heat mat, like me, remember that it is basically cooking it from the underside, so you may have to water more often.

My last piece of advice is to know when not to start from seed. I have not had luck with eggplants and certain herbs. There are so many local farmer’s markets that start their own veggies and flowers, and sell them when the time is right to plant.

Even though I am super antsy, I have not sown any seeds. I am taking time to plan. I want to make sure that my space is functional. In the meantime, these two plump ladies follow me into the “cat room” whenever I go in there, because that is where they like to eat.

I will post more updates as I start my seeds. I hope you try a few too!