It has felt like spring here since January, and I’ve been waiting (mostly patiently) for garden season to kick off! Here’s what I’ve been up to in the pre-season prep.

Planning

Here’s the general plan for the garden this year:

• Peppers (biquinho, Bolivian, chocolate candy cane)
• Tomatoes (sungold, indigo, currant, pink ping pong)
• Herbs (basils, oregano, mint, parsley)
• Flowers (zinnia, poppy, calendula, marigold)
• Greens (chard, arugula, spinach, lettuce)
• Roots (carrots, radishes, beets)
• Cucumbers
• Shady plants (coral bells, … and a search for other survivors)

Seed starting

I have a lot going on, and I haven’t been 100% focused on keeping the seedlings happy. Here’s how it’s going.

Indoors

I’ve lost a lot of seedlings that I potted up, and haven’t had much luck with my allium starters. Luckily I started enough tomatoes and peppers that I’ll probably still have plenty, but so far lots have died off. I may start another round with a little more of a plan, or call this year a loss and buy starter plants for the ones that didn’t make it.

I mostly attribute the failure to simply not having time to keep consistent watering. Lots of dried out baby plants.

Direct sow

So far I’ve sown arugula in a big window box, and radish and carrots in my Greenstalk. I tried out some seed-starting covers on the Greenstalk and I’m pretty sure the radishes didn’t need them. The radish seeds I didn’t cover came up about the same. No word on carrots yet, they’re still asleep. I’m looking forward to sowing peas, beets, and other cool plants this week.

We still have some cool around freezing nights coming up so I’m trying not to let the 75 degree day lull me into false security with the more sensitive plants.

Early projects – greens tunnel

I want to try growing greens in earnest this year, and that means protecting them from bugs. I simply don’t have the patience for chemical warfare, so I’m building a mini tunnel to protect them. I started with a pop-up cover I bought for something else, but I think it looks a little too ridiculous. I’m trying a more traditional tunnel configuration using pieces I’ve used before.

I’m also eager to get this going because the squirrels are digging in all of my containers looking for snacks and upsetting my seedlings.