Gardening Time

It’s frugal prosumer gardening time. Actually, it’s anyone gardening time. We choose to do it the four foot square way. We now have 21 boxes prepared for planting. But wait, 4 of them already have the last year fall planting of garlic coming up. One of them houses our chocolate mint. Two are holding various greens. Half of one is stocked with peas who have been peeking out within the last few days. Well, one of them has two gorgeous rose bushes and two have strawberry plants. One has 5 chive plants. So the rest are yet to be planted.

This is the second year of intense experimenting with what grows well here in the north by the lake in a flood plain. And I must say that the chard did well last year. Along with the peas, salad greens,cucumbers,kale,carrots,beans and what have you.

We have found this 4 ft. square gardening to be efficient and easy to care for. With good size paths between we can get wheel barrels and lawn mower down. But at the end of the summer last year we came across a good load of wood chips that made both us and the wood chipping man happy. So now we have raised the land up a bit and have weed free paths.

The picture shows you my tidy box with what I planted today. Well, you can’t see see them. This box has spinach, lettuce, kolorabi, radishes.

The seeds are shivering in their earthy little beds. But listen to this. Being the fine parents we are we provided our babies with a heating system. John covers the box with windows he got somewhere on his frugal prosumer outings. It toasts them up during the day and keeps the wind off them at night. I planted one box of greens a couple days before Easter and when I came back a week later they were showing up. And that’s because of the glass. If ya don’t have glass then just make a wood frame and staple heavy clear plastic on it.

Valuable resource of the day: All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

More to follow on the progress of my garden. And don’t be afraid to ask me about it or share your thoughts and gardening experiences.

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