The garden planning and preparation has begun in earnest now — much earlier than last year in the hopes that we can get some early crops in and get some succession plantings coordinated. Today we bought seeds, gathered seaweed, prepared some of the beds, and built a frame for starting seeds indoors.
After last year’s disappointing season due to (a) lousy weather and (b) a mix of seeds from past seasons, some very old, we decided it was time to start fresh. We wanted to buy certified non-GM seeds so we went to Dig This downtown because they carry the widest variety of West Coast Seeds. We covered all our bases and then some and ended up spending a little over $100 but that should get us through this season and likely next as well.
Next task on the list was gathering seaweed. Last season it was gathered in the fall then rotted over the winter this year we’re a little late but gathered more of it — Mike and Kiddo braved the cold wind today to fill a garbage pail with seaweed — and we spread it on the bed now; it’ll be dug under in a couple of weeks. Kiddo helped to break up the soil in the bed where I’ll do the first of my plantings (peas, lettuce & spinach) in a week or so while Hubby retrieved the composted soil out of the bottom of the compost bin.
While they did that, I pruned back the plum tree a bit and gathered some of the pieces from the greenhouse frame to make a frame for seed starting indoors. I also dug some vinyl and mesh out of my fabric stash and stitched up a cover for the frame — it’ll be sitting in the office downstairs and I really don’t want the cats to dig up or eat the seedlings! I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out:
In addition to the natural light (more or less southern exposure), we have a grow-light in that room. In the next day or two, I will start tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and cauliflower so they can be babied until the weather allows them to be transplanted.
Next step is to map out what goes where this year, especially as we have selected some varieties we’ve never tried before. I’m looking forward to this season!