Garden planning

The countdown begins. We have approximately 17 days until spring. In the meantime we are supposed to get 6 to 10 inches of snow tonight.

My real countdown is actually until our last frost date, which is around 5/13 in zone 5b. For gardeners, the last frost date is pretty exciting. It means you can safely put your plant babies outside.

The last frost date is a prediction based on prior years. It is prudent to monitor the temperature for a few weeks after for any late frosts. If you have put your frost tender plants outside (pepper, tomatoes, eggplant, etc) you can cover them with a sheet or something.

In past years, I started my seeds way too early out of excitement. They outgrew the space! So this year, when I got antsy, I planned.

I took all of the seeds I would like to grow and thought about which ones should be started inside. Not everything does. I have had good luck direct sowing beans, cukes, summer squash, radishes and green beans. Then I used my calendar to count back based on the directions on the seed packet.

So far I started my pansies (all kinds of cool varities!) and carnations. Pansies are frost tolerant, so I started them early in my dark basement. It didn’t take long before they popped up from the dirt and started looking for light. Now they are in my little grow space with a heating mat tucked under them, and flourescent lights om for 12 hours a day.

Carnations need 10 to 12 weeks before the last frost, so I sowed them last week. No signs of life yet. According to my timeline, I will be starting cabbage soon too.

Being patient also helps me to think about what problems I want to tackle this year. A big one is weeds. Not sure what to do about that one yet. It is too soon to start preparing my garden beds, considering they are covered with ice. This year, I may try landscape fabric for my flowers.

Last night I had a vision of turning my front yard into one big garden. That would require a lot of work, but the thought makes me happy.

Above is my front garden after my first year. Not too shabby, right? The pots lined up are full of dahlias. Since then, the dahlias always make it into the ground.

My next post will be about my successful overwintering of those same dahlias. Stay tuned!