Spring Garden Planning: The Great Garden Expansion

It finally feels like Spring is around the corner in southern Wisconsin. Although there's still plenty of snow on the ground, green patches are emerging and our daily highs were in the 40s (Fahrenheit) much of the last week. Yesterday the high at our house was 55, and it's forecasted to hit 60 today before returning to the 40s.

This is the time of year I have to actively stop myself from starting my seeds too early. On February 15 I started my onions (Ailsa Craig, Yellow Sweet Spanish, Redwing, and Warrior), leeks, and rosemary. On Sunday I started my parsley after soaking the seeds for 24 hours. Nothing else should be started until March 15, lest I end up with larger seedlings than I have space to take care of.

Since I can't plant, it's a great time to share my plans for the 2021 garden. Since I will once again be working from home with limited work travel (quite possibly none at all), I'm taking the opportunity to expand our garden. The 2020 garden (and earlier years in this space) was approximately 20' x 25'. I could harvest a lot of vegetable from that space, but I had to be choosey about space-hogging row crops. It was adjacent to a terribly overgrown perennial garden created by the prior owner, and during the summer I took advantage of having a construction crew onsite and had them clear the entire space down to the dirt. Suddenly I had a space roughly 35' x 80'. I had them run a water and electric line to make things a little easier, covered the entire space with a cover crop for the fall, and got to planning.

Garden Plan

Here's what I'm hoping to grow in 2021. The full plan, including a plant list, is available here.

I've always grown my in-ground garden in "zones," rather than strict rows, and I'll be trying that again this year. The light gray areas on the plan represent paths that I'll create with either mulch over cardboard or landscape fabric I have available. I've scheduled significant time off from work in May for garden prep, and hope it's enough time to accomplish this. If the layout proves onerous, I'll switch to a more traditional row layout next year.

The dark gray box is where I plant to test the location of a shaded rest spot. I'll probably just use a 10 x 10 pop-up tent this year, but if the layout works and doesn't shade the adjacent vegetables too much, we'll plan a structure there for next year. I want to be able to relax in my garden, in the shade. During the early spring I'll probably place my walk-in pop-up greenhouse there so I can get my plants out of the basement as soon as possible.

I fully expect that when all is said and done the garden won't look exactly like the plan, but that's part of the fun.

What I'm Growing

This includes a lot of old standards, increased production for storage and preservation, and just a few new crops.

• Beans: In addition to pole beans (Kentucky Wonder and Purple Pole), which are standard at our house, I'm growing four 18' rows of dry beans (Black Turtle, Dragon Tongue, Jacob's Cattle, Great Northern). I accidentally grew some dry beans this year and we loved them.
• Beets: A 10' row of spring beets will be Golden, another 10' row will join carrots after the garlic comes out (Chioggia), and a 14' row of Lutz Winter Keeper will get started in July for a late fall/early winter harvest.
• Bok Choy: I'm not sure I've ever grown this, but I love it at the farmers market. I'm planning just a couple of plants in an early spring sowing.
• Broccoli: I love broccoli, and am planning 10 plants of differing varieties, which should mature at slightly different times and provide some side shoots as well. I want broccoli in my freezer! Varieties: Arcadia, Calabrese, De Cicco, Green Magic
• Brussels Sprouts: I'm planning five plants of Long Island Improved, which I will start from seed. I'm not sure I've ever successfully grown sprouts from seed before; the last time they were in my garden, I purchased starts from the local greenhouse. I've got brand new 2021 seed from Seed Savers Exchange this year, so I'm hopeful for good germination and results.
• Cabbage: I've fallen in love with this vegetable. In addition to enjoying sauerkraut and kimchi, we love a crisp summer coleslaw, and I freeze dozens of stuffed cabbage rolls to eat all winter. There are plenty of ways to eat cabbage I haven't explored yet. In order to have plenty of slaw as well as winter cabbage, I'm planting two early varieties (Red Express and Optikd), along with Late Flat Dutch, which I've grown before and has a long heritage of growing in our area. In all I should be growing about 20 heads of cabbage, which would certainly set a record for cabbage consumed in a year for our household.
• Carrots: I'm planning three rounds of sowings. The first will be in mid-April— a single 10' row each of Mokum and Rainbow. I made seed mats out of single ply toilet paper and flour paste for these to ensure proper spacing and minimize weeding. After the garlic harvest I'll plant three more 10' rows - two of Danvers Half Long and one of St. Valery. And in late July if I can keep up with the garden, I'll put in some fall carrots - two 14' rows of Ox Hearts and one 14' row of Karuda. That's a lot of carrots, but I plan to test a variety of storage methods, and if I still have far too many they can go to the local food bank.
• Cauliflower: I had some old seed (Early Snowball) that passed a germination test, so I figured I'd give it a go.
• Celery: In my opinion, no celery tastes as good as home grown celery. After testing germination for my existing seed packs, I've gone with Conquistador.
• Corn: Since we have so much more room, I figured it's time to give corn a solid try. It's still a small patch (about 9' x 5'), and I'm trying to seed three varieties at varying times to mitigate cross pollination. There's a solid chance this crop will be enjoyed by deer or raccoons, but we'll see. Varieties: Incredible, Blue Jade, Bear Paw.
• Cucumber: It's been years since I needed to replace our pickle stores, but we're finally there. I also want to try some different lacto fermentation pickles, and of course have some for fresh eating. Varieties: National Pickling and Swing.
• Dill: Must have this to go with our pickles! I'm planting a 10 square foot patch simply because it's so beautiful to watch grow.
• Eggplant:  Two plants each of Slim Jim and Black Beauty. Mostly just want to make ratatouille. 
• Fennel: My favorite way to use fennel is in a carrot fennel soup that can be pressure canned. With all the carrots I'm growing, some are bound to be fresh when my 5 fennel plants are ready. Variety: Florence.
• Garlic: This was planted in October 2020, purchased from a local garlic farm. Although I ordered some soft neck garlic, I ended up with all hard neck because my chosen soft neck variety didn't do well. I planted 52 cloves of Chesnok Red, 36 cloves of Romanian Red, and 82 cloves of German Extra Hardy. The snow has almost completely melted from the garlic patch.
• Kale: I love kale, and fully recognize that 12 plants may be far too much for my two-person household, but I'm giving it a go anyway. In addition to eating fresh, storing well in the fridge, and lasting longer into the fall/winter than other vegetables, I love to blanch and freeze kale for later use in breakfast beaks and other dishes. Varieties: Curly Roja, Nero di Toscana, Red Russian.
• Leek: I actually had trouble finding leek seeds from Pine Tree, my primary source, so I purchased a packet of the Tadorna variety from Johnny's when I ordered some other supplies. In addition to using fresh and making potato leek soup, I may experiment with dehydrating some.
• Peas: My Cascadia and Knight seeds are nearly a decade old but have continued to germinate, so we'll give them one more shot this year. I'm starting them indoors and transplanting outside after just a couple of weeks to ensure germination.
• Peppers: I'm planning a dozen sweet pepper plants, as well as a dozen hot pepper plants. I love peppers for salsa, freezing, and stuffing. I also plan to ferment some hot sauce. I have lots of pepper seeds left from prior years, so the varieties will be chosen on a whim when I sow them later this month.
• Potatoes: I've only grown potatoes in the ground once, and that was in a raised bed at a prior house. It was a small plot and mildly successful. I'm going all in this year on 170 square foot potato patch, with six varieties purchased from Pine Tree Seeds. Varieties: Adirondack Blue, Eva, Katahdin, Red Pontiac, Superior Early, Yukon Gold.
• Radishes: Most every time I plant carrots, I'll also plant some quick-growing radishes (Purple Plum, Easter Egg, Cherry Belle) and harvest them young as the carrots are just starting to come up. I'm also planting some dedicated rows of Black Spanish and Watermelon radishes for a fall harvest and winter storage.
• Rhubarb: While I have no need to plant it, the Rhubarb will come up like clockwork.
• Rutabaga: These are back after a successful 2020, although I've got new seed, and a new variety: Helenor. I couldn't get the Joan variety from my primary seed source.
• Squash (Summer): I'm trying to pull back on summer squash and avoid being buried with them. I'm growing one hill each of three varieties: Black Beauty, Golden Zucchini, and Zephyr.
• Squash (Winter): I should have plenty of room for winter squash to sprawl this year, and I may also add some vertical trellises (I had great luck with them in 2018). The plan right now is to grow Waltham Butternut, Marina di Chioggia, Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck, Spaghetti, and Table Queen Acorn. I may end up switching these up at last minute; too many of my stored acorn squashes ended up in the compost.
• Swiss Chard: I have multiple varieties of old seed, and I'll end up growing whatever germinates the best.
• Tomatoes. I'll always grow tomatoes, and this year I'm growing almost exclusively varieties I've grown before. The only unknown is Juliet - I couldn't get seeds anywhere. I'll try to pick them up at our local greenhouse, where I got starts last year. I'm planning on 15 determinate or semi-determinate tomatoes, in a single long row. I've always grown them in at least double rows, but I got sick of having to dig through foliage to find the fruits. Hopefully this setup will be better. I tossed all my tomato cages last year because they were falling apart, so I'll need a new way to support them this year.  I'm also planning a dozen indeterminate tomatoes on the eastern edge of the garden. I've always grown them up tall lengths of rebar, but this year I may try the cattle panel method. These will be slicers and cherry tomatoes. Planned varieties: Black Vernissage, Blondkopfchen, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, German Pink,  Heinz Classic Processor, Martino's Roma, Moonglow, Oregon Spring, Riesentraube, Roma.
• Tomatillo: I've had seeds for years and never planted them. I'm going to grow just one plant, with plenty of room, to see how it performs and hope to make a bit of salsa verde out of it.
• Tomatoes. I'll always grow tomatoes, and this year I'm growing almost exclusively varieties I've grown before. The only unknown is Juliet - I couldn't get seeds anywhere. I'll try to pick them up at our local greenhouse, where I got starts last year. I'm planning on 15 determinate or semi-determinate tomatoes, in a single long row. I've always grown them in at least double rows, but I got sick of having to dig through foliage to find the fruits. Hopefully this setup will be better. I tossed all my tomato cages last year because they were falling apart, so I'll need a new way to support them this year.  I'm also planning a dozen indeterminate tomatoes on the eastern edge of the garden. I've always grown them up tall lengths of rebar, but this year I may try the cattle panel method. These will be slicers and cherry tomatoes. Planned varieties: Black Vernissage, Blondkopfchen, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, German Pink,  Heinz Classic Processor, Martino's Roma, Moonglow, Oregon Spring, Riesentraube, Roma.

In a new small bed near my kitchen I'm growing a variety of herbs, mustard greens, lettuce, arugula, and chamomile. Perhaps I'll detail that in a new post when I plant it. I'm also trying to include more flowers in the vegetable garden, including calendula, marigold, zinnia, nasturtium, paper daisies, and sunflowers. Must keep the pollinators happy!

All in all, I think I'm growing about 110 varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers this year. Whenever I tell people I'm a vegetable gardener, they ask, "What do you grow?" How do you think I should answer them?

Weekend Work: We Have Apple Trees!

I went to the local garden center to pick up two bags of potting mix on Saturday. That was all I needed. But then, beckoning to me from the row behind the potting soil, was a sign that read "Fruit Trees On Sale." I poked around, saw some stuff I liked, and then went to the cash register. And when I got there, I turned around and went back to the trees. They were a pretty good deal, and they had some interesting varieties. I called my husband (who was out of town), didn't get him, and left a message. I checked out with my two bags of potting soil and left the garden center.

After driving two blocks, he texted me. He said we should definitely buy two apple trees for the front yard. So I turned around, grabbed two trees, and managed to fit them in my car. I was highly motivated (and had to take the back roads home so I wouldn't damage the trees).

This isn't a great picture, but nothing was going to keep me from getting those trees home.

I ended up with a Snow Sweet and Honeycrisp. They're both planted in the front yard, which happens to meet our HOA requirement of having two trees in front. No one said they couldn't produce a crop! I've never grown apples, and haven't really done much research about them ... so if you have any advice, feel free to share in the comments!

Prior to going to the garden center, I accomplished another gardening task—I put together the large greenhouse my father in law gave us. We only had two small 3-shelf greenhouses, and I figured this would give us all the space we need. Well, it's already full! If I don't start seedlings for friends in future years, I think it will meet our needs.

I took some photos of the garden on Friday after work. Even though the majority of the garden isn't planted yet, there's still a lot going on!

The garlic is looking great! All but one clove came up this spring, and one shot up two stalks, so I got exactly what I planted (the extra stalk will be harvested as spring garlic so it can have sufficient space to form a head).

My mammoth peas are finally doing something! The second round that was seeded a few weeks after this one isn't far behind.

What a beautiful strawberry blossom! Unfortunately, I had to pluck it. We're not letting the strawberries form fruit this year, so all their energy will go into developing strong plants that will hopefully last for years (and produce even more berries next year).

Asparagus is "look but don't touch" this year. Thankfully, every crown has produced shoots, and some of them are a few feet tall already. We planted two-year crowns, so next year we can harvest them for a few weeks.

Other tasks: I pulled a few weeds, planted fava beans, transplanted celery for friends, made my first seedling sale to a friend, and Aaron planted two landscaping bushes in the front of the house (unfortunately, they will not produce a harvest). There was a harvest from the garden, but I'll save that for Harvest Monday.

Spring Garden Update & Lessons Learned

Lessons I've learned so far in 2014, the first year starting seeds and gardening in our new house:

• I need to pay more attention to my seedlings. In the last house, I went down to the basement almost every day for one reason or another, so it was natural to check on them. In this house, the basement is strictly storage so I have to intentionally go down there. I haven't done it enough, and my seedlings have gone dry too often.
• Aaron has a genius idea to solve this problem that includes creating a reservoir that keeps a constant level of bottom water in the seed trays. We'll see if this comes to fruition in 2015.
• I need to water our raised beds more often. One of the benefits of raised beds is increased drainage. The beds at this house are twice as high as the beds at our last house, and it seems like they dry out twice as fast (but they give me more soft, loamy dirt to grow root vegetables in). My ultimate plan is to have a drip irrigation system installed, and water multiple times per day on a timer. Since that includes installing over 100 feet of underground, outdoor plumbing, it's not on the list for this year.
• Adding mulch after direct seeding does more harm than good. While trying to combat the previously mentioned watering problem, I covered newly seeded peas and radishes with straw. It seems to me that they've been very slow to come up. This could be due to a variety of factors, but I think I'll stick with mulching after plants are established from now on.
• I need to digitize my seed-starting calendar. I diligently mapped out my seed-starting calendar, but left it in the basement (see lesson #1). I also packed every week's seed starting activities on weekends. While I didn't miss any major dates, I could have had a less stressful winter/spring if I had done just a little bit of work each day, and had electronic reminders pop up on my phone so I wouldn't forget. Dear internet, is there an app for that?
• Next year, I'm going to try sowing onion seeds in cells. I always sow them by broadcasting in a container and just grow a clump of onions. I bet they'd develop a lot more before transplanting if they weren't so crowded.
• I definitely need to cover my beds (either with mulch or a cover crop) over the winter. The beds that were covered with thick layers of landscaping straw were almost weed free this spring. The other beds looked like small weed forests. If it weren't for the help of my husband and parents, I'd still be weeding those beds. I'm not sure if I"ll just mulch everything next year, or try planting something like rye that should keep the weeds out (and enrich the soil).
• While I'm excited that I'm going to recoup a majority of my seed starting costs by starting seeds for friends, I need to plan that better as well. I should either close orders earlier so I have more time to get a handle on what will be started, or just have a first-come, first-serve plant sale in the spring. If anyone reading this would have a preference for buying seeds from friends, let me know!

That's all the lessons that come to mind at the moment...plenty for it just being the first weekend in May.

Here's what I accomplished this weekend:

• Transplanted 200 onions (8-8'foot rows)
• Transplanted 25 onions to be harvested as scallions
• Transplanted 75 leeks (3-8's rows)
• Transplanted 4 broccoli plants
• Transplanted 2 cauliflower plants
• Transplanted 5 celery plants
• Transplanted some "miracle chives" - they survived the winter in a dark garage!
• Seeded 120 carrots (8-5' rows)
• Seeded approximately 100 peas (2-8' rows)
• Seeded 48 radishes
• Started seeds for cucumbers, squash, zinnias, and corn
• Up-potted some broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce I'm holding for friends

I still have a lot more seeding on my list, which I'm hoping to accomplish throughout the week.

I'm very happy with the soil quality in the raised beds—it's full of wriggly worms! I used a garden blend topsoil mix that had a lot of compost in it, and it seems to be full of life. The garlic (the only thing really growing right now) is kicking butt!

Seed Starting Update: Peppers & Brussel Sprouts

Today was pepper starting day! I used to start peppers and tomatoes on the same day, but I'd end up repotting the tomatoes two or three times before they made it to the garden. I doubt I really got that much of a head start that way, so this year I'm planting the tomatoes the minimum of six weeks before they go out in the garden. I'm giving the peppers the full eight weeks though, because they take a while to size up. It's somewhat depressing to realize that it's still a full eight weeks before I'll be planting my warm weather plants out.

I prepared my seed trays, and the first packet of seeds I opened was Chervena Chushka. This is a new pepper for me this year. It's supposed to be prolific and sugar sweet. I thought it would be excellent for salads and relishes, as well as for snacking. I was extremely disappointed to open the packet and find only two seeds. The packet was supposed to have 25, and I needed to plant 12 to fulfill my needs and my friends that had requested this type. I didn't want to mess around with planting two seeds, so I pulled out a 2012 packet of Big Red peppers from Pinetree and planted those instead. I also emailed Seed Savers to let them know my packet was under-filled. I hope they send me a new one; those peppers sounded delicious!

Here's what peppers got planted today:
Big Red (sweet)
Bull Nose Bell (sweet)
Chocolate Beauty (sweet)
Mini Yellow Bell (sweet)
Jalapeno (hot)
Chinese Ornamental (hot)
Joe's Cayenne (hot)

I'm hoping the sweet peppers do well; I've always had hit or miss luck with them. I'm planting 32 pepper plants total, and at least 24 of them will be sweet peppers. I need a lot for roasted tomato sauce, salsa, and relish, and I want to have a lot of chopped peppers in the freezer to use for chili.

I also planted my brussel sprouts today (Long Island Improved).

It's gorgeous outside (compared to our previous weather; today it's in the 40's), so I might try to stake out the hedge garden border. If I can get a shovel in the ground, I'd like to plant my currant bushes tomorrow.

Seed Starting Update: Alliums, Brassicas & Herbs

Today was the third seed-starting day of the 2014 gardening season. I have now filled an entire shelf on my grow rack.

I planted the onions and leeks on February 16, and they received their first haircut last weekend. They're looking great.

Last weekend, I started broccoli, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, head lettuce, and chives. The celery, eggplant, and chives haven't germinated yet. I put the eggplant seeds on a heat mat today to help with germination. The broccoli & cauliflower are looking great, but the lettuce was easiest to photograph.

Today I seeded herbs, including basil, cilantro, dill, fennel, mint, oregano, parsley, sage, and thyme. Some of the plants don't really need to be started early (cilantro for sure), but I'm looking forward to having an early crop and then seeding successive crops in the garden.

Speaking of the garden, the snow is gone! I haven't walked out there yet, but the weeds that I didn't get to last fall are definitely waiting for me. One bed is planted with garlic and covered in a loose layer of hay. I hope to see some green shoots poking up there soon.

Yesterday I got my first delivery of cuttings for the edible hedge—a dozen red currant plants. Given that we have snow in the forecast tomorrow, and we haven't yet staked out the border, they'll be hanging out in the garage for a week. I'm confident we can stake the border next weekend and get the currant plants in on Sunday. The rest should arrive in mid April.

This is going to be quite the transformational year for the back yard. In addition to the hedge planting, we'll be adding an arbor with a gate, finally having a full season of vegetables, and we'll be adding a patio outside the dining room. It should give us some excellent outdoor living space to enjoy a Wisconsin summer.

Next week, it's time to start peppers!!

Seedlings - Slowly But Surely....

I experimented with my seed starting mix this year. I hate the soil-less seed starting mix. I don't care what anyone says, but I think seeds need dirt. The potting soil I bought was a bit clumpy, so I mixed it with seed starting mix until it reached a softer consistency. It definitely seems that seeds sprout a bit slower in this mix, but hopefully I won't have to repot as often because there are needed nutrients in their soil.

That being said, I've seen basil, broccoli, tomato, thyme, oregano, and zinnia sprouts. The zinnia's are moving quickly, and the basil and broccoli aren't far behind. Tomatoes seem to be taking their time, but every variety other than Blondkopfchen has sprouted at least one seedling.

I tried to take some pictures, but I still haven't mastered the use of my husband's fancy camera. I came upstairs to import the photos and they were all too dark. Oh well.

Seed Starting Extravaganza

Today I started the herbs I planned to: thyme, basil, sage, parsley, oregano, and celery.

I also started plants I had planned to start to weeks later. The weather has been so warm (it's been in the seventies), I anticipate being able to plant things out earlier. So, I also started tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, head lettuce, and zinnias.

I also gave the onions a haircut - they were getting scraggly. Now they're only four inches tall. I wasn't planning to plant them out for another month, but if the weather holds that will happen much earlier.

I also made a run to Stein's and picked up 6 bags of compost, 3 cubes of straw, some bone meal, fish emulsion, and plant labels. Tomorrow I'll amend at least one bed and plant peas and other cool weather crops, which I wasn't planning to plant for another month.

It's possible we'll still get frosts (even snow), but I can always replant. If we don't, I don't want to miss this opportunity to get a head start on the Wisconsin garden season.

First Sprouts

I saw my first onion sprouts this morning. I thought I might have been hallucinating yesterday. When I checked the seed tray, I swore I smelled onions. Now that they have sprouted, I definitely do. Crazy!

The first to sprout was Sweet Spanish (3 days).

Starting Onions, Leeks & Chives

The 2012 Gross Farms garden has officially started. Last year my onions starts were pretty sad. I meticulously put 1-2 seeds in each cell, over watered, failed to fertilize, and started them too late.

Hopefully this year will be different. According to the University of Wisconsin Extension planting calendar, onions should be started indoors on February 15, so I'm only a few days early. I planted each variety in one 4-inch pot instead of messing around with individual cells. Basically I followed the method in this video.

Here's what went into the pots:

• One 2012 package of yellow sweet spanish onion (Pinetree Garden Seeds)
• One 2012 package of red wing onion (Pinetree Garden Seeds)
• Remainder of 2011 package of yellow of parma onion (Seed Savers Exchange)
• Remainder of 2011 package of blue solaise leek (Seed Savers Exchange)
• Remainder of 2010 package of Chinese garlic chives (Botanical Interests)

There's nothing very picturesque to photograph, but hopefully I'll have good news when they start to germinate.

This almost feels like a false start, since after this planting I wait four weeks until I start my next round of seeds.

Pretend this is dated April 23

I have been neglecting the blog for awhile, but only because we've been doing so much work!

The following photos were taken on April 23 towards the end of my indoor seed starting. Everything is now in the garden except the tomatoes and sunflowers...I'll try to get out today and take updated pictures.

The entire seed-starting rack. Not quite at the fullest point of the spring.

Parsley & Chard seedlings. These ended up planted together in containers, since I also planted chard from seed in the garden.

My onions. They're a little sad. Next year I'm starting them in potting soil instead of seed starting mix, since I hate the concept of fertilizing. I've also learned to plant them a lot closer together to save room.

Basil in the front, peppers in the back.

An entire flat of peppers - Blue Nose Bell, Garden Sunshine, Jalepeno, Aurora, Candlelight

Tomatoes. I planted Sheboygan, Amish Paste, Italian, Blondkopfchen, and Yellow.

Leeks, more tomatoes, and some peppers that never made it - started too late.

I got antsy in January and started some lettuce seed to see how it would grow under the lights. It definitely got long, skinny leaves that weren't very crisp. I transplanted these into some containers, and now they seem to be doing ok. It really didn't give me a headstart on my lettuce, though.