A Spring Message Especially For New Gardeners

Hydroponic Kale

Spring is here. Ok, it’s not here where I live these days. It was below freezing this morning, but I know many of my readers in Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia and Florida for example, are ready to plant. It fact, some of you in Texas and Florida have already begun planting. Good for you, and yes, I’m jealous.

But most of us are still in the planning mode. Some are beginning to work you beds and build your raised beds. It’s a busy and thrilling time.

My advice to you is: relax and enjoy it. Take time to smell the grass and the flowers. Pick your soil up and let it run through your fingers. Don’t let yourself become so busy that you miss the fun. You are one with creation when you take your time. You can enjoy God’s world in such an intimate way. Don’t let your garden work get in the way. Let it be a time of relaxation and worship.

Oh, and don’t let people make your gardening or farming too hard. It doesn’t have to be. It never has been for me.  First of all, don’t plant more than what you want. If you just want tomatoes and strawberries, have at it. If you want corn, go for it. And don’t think about what you can sell. Think about what you want to eat. Maybe someday you’ll want to grow stuff for other people, but if you’re just getting started, grow the things you’ll enjoy eating. And it you have extra, give it away or sell it. But you’ll increase the fun of your gardening more by growing only what you want than you will ever do by focusing on a market.

My favorite years were the ones where I just planted what I wanted and what my wife wanted. We wanted strawberries and peppers and tomatoes and lettuce and broccoli, and stuff like that. I had so much fun starting early or planting late in the evening. And to be honest, I had better results with the garden.

So, if you’re new, don’t focus on what you can grow and sell, but concentrate on growing, preserving and eating. I promise you won’t regret it. And trust your instincts. Be careful who you take advice from because there are a ton of people who like to do things the hard way. BTW, that especially true for those of you who want to start with hydroponics or aquaponics. There are lots of frustrated engineers who don’t know how easy both of those growing methods can be.

Happy Spring, y’all.

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PLEASE…Resist The Temptation….

Time to transplant into cups, but too early for putting in garden

As winter comes to a welcome close, it’s time for me to fire up all engines and get this site moving for the season. I do hope you had a great off season and are ready for spring planting; but not too ready!

Here in our part of North Georgia (zone 7b), we’ve had a glorious end to February and an even better beginning to March. As I understand it, other parts of the country have had similar experiences. As a result, the seedlings in our greenhouse are way ahead of schedule.  They’ve had lots of sunshine and nice weather to keep them happy in their nursery.

Our snap peas are already starting to climb their trellises and our tomatoes look about three weeks ahead of normal.  It will be near 80 here today, with gentle breezes and a good mix of sun and cloud. It’s hard not to love this. I’m not even going to try. It’s awesome.

The problem is, I’m already hearing people discuss putting out their gardens.  Please don’t.  Sure, your kale and cabbage, etc. will be ok, but keep those tomatoes, peppers, squash and such inside until you have passed the final ‘frost date’ for your area. You can GOOGLE your dates or you can contact your local extension office.  Here in Bartow County, GA the last frost date is April 15.

We are blessed to have a small greenhouse where we can keep seedlings and young plants to give them a head start, which makes it easy to be patient, but I remember the days before the greenhouse when early spring weather saw us out in mid to late March setting tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupe and all the other starter plants that should have waited another month.  More than once, my wife and I have had to rush out and cover plants because we heard the weather was changing. And, more times than I care to recall, we’ve been surprised by sudden frosts that have forced us to start over. Starting over can get pretty expensive.

Cucumbers will stay safe in the greenhouse until Mid April

urge you to enjoy early warm spells. Get outside and get your hands dirty. Prepare your beds, build new ones. Get your compost bins going. Work up the soil, but don’t set out anything that can be damaged by frost.  Frankly, even though I could put out my brassicas, I tend to leave them in the greenhouse as long as possible. Because we grow mostly in containers, it’s easy to do. Alternatively, I can bring my containers inside at night and put them out during the day.

I’d love to here how you handle the temptation to set plants out early. Feel free to share your successes AND failures. Just hit the comment button and join the conversation. And…if you need me to talk you down, just ask. After all, we’re in this together.

 

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