So much ground to cover, so little time. It is fast approaching the date to begin my many seedlings even though there is snow on the ground and an impending snowstorm this weekend. Kind of confusing but you just have to cut through it all. For my area and zone (7A), January 12th is 12 weeks from our last frost. There are certain crops that need about 12 weeks to grow to a size where you can transplant them generally without worry about a frost. You do, however, need to have a way to protect your transplanted seedlings in case of a later than normal frost. They are known to happen.
For me, this means that I will be seeding Broccoli and Cabbage into starter containers this weekend. I know, it's a tiny bit late but that really won't affect their growth. Then, on the 19th, I will seed in 2nd plantings of Broccoli and Cabbage with a 1st seeding in of Cauliflower. It's going to be a busy week but that's how things are in Winter with Spring crops. I will be tending these seedlings while also handling the greenhouse plants and my Longevity Spinach plants that I am overwintering in my basement area. This, while cleaning the various pots and planning out where I am going to grow the plants and also determine the placement of my grow pots and my nearly 60 various pots.
Speaking of pots, I recently bought the 7 pots below at a thrift store for a really good price. Around this time of the year, it seems as though people are donating the pots for plants they had over the holidays. I always keep an eye out and have learned where the store generally shelves them. I like to be frugal where I can and pots is one place you definitely can do that. These are very nice given they are larger than what I normally find and again, the price was unbeatable. This type of find plus a very good haul at an auction is why I now have almost double the pots that I had the beginning of last year.
They will come in very handy.
Speaking of thrift stores, I went into one while out yesterday with a family member. We just went in to look around. As we were, I spotted something that I have had in the back of my mind for some time now. I saw it and knew what I would use it for besides the obvious. But, it had what looked like a non-operating adjustment lever. I decided to not buy it right there and think if I could still use it. I woke up this morning and decided to see if the piece was still for sale and if I could get the adjustment piece to work. I took a pair of needle nose pliers and went back to the store. The armature moved with little prodding thankfully. I pushed it a bit and everything seemed to work.
It isn't brand new but it also was nowhere near the new price either. I am going to use it to mulch my leaves in the fall and to cut down the cover crops on my beds in early spring. This way, I don't have to use my lawnmower or trimmer to do the dusty leaves job. This will also allow me to have the cover crops lay directly on the beds instead of being blown about the garden area. And, it will not disturb the soil and the crops roots as much as the trimmer did. All pluses from my viewpoint.
I did decide to try an experiment yesterday. I planted one seed set of Broccoli and two seed sets of different cabbage varieties directly into a garden bed and placed my heavy duty cloches over each of them. I had the cloches in place for about 2, maybe 3 weeks before this. The soil underneath the covers was cool to the touch. The soil outside of the cloche covered soil was frozen. Even with that, I spread the seeds, lightly watered them and covered them with the units. I'm not too optimistic given we're in the direct sights of a winter storm this weekend. But hey, if you don't push the envelope once in awhile, you'll get bored.
Well, that's about all I have at this point. I'm hoping you will dive right into the garden and take a shot at producing for you and your families and maybe a few of your neighbors. If you have any questions, please don't feel bashful. So, until next time - Happy Gardening Everyone.
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