I can’t believe this-it’s been below zero(with windchill factor)for more than a week now. Today was the first day we’ve had that reached a high of 30. It’s been dark and gloomy. This is my experiment box that I’ll talk about at a later date. With it I do all kinds of things that show how easy and efficient it is to have a square foot garden. I’ve got 13(hate that number)radishes growing and 4 heads of lettuce. I’ve peeled back the protection to snap the picture but it’s been covered first with floating row cover, and then plastic. I lightly water it once a week and that seems fine. I’m not completely surprised that it’s growing because I’ve done similar things in the past. But it hasn’t been this cold for this long before. This was planted a little earlier than my regular gardens-which have nothing growing in them that I can see. At least not yet. Maybe that experiment won’t work. But I did receive my new seed packets from Johnny’s and I’m getting very anxious to start planting. In four weeks I’ll begin-President’s Day weekend. I won’t do hardly any work to have my soil ready to plant-one of the beauties of the square foot gardening method. It’ll be in perfect shape by then. The only work I’ll do is to cover my gardens with plastic and let the sun do its magic. In a about 5 days-bingo! If you’re interested in putting in a square foot garden(hope you are), now is the perfect time to start gathering materials-wood, soil components, nylon netting, grid material, and electrical conduit. It’s a one time expense that will serve you well over the years. If you live in Utah and would like a SFG but don’t want to put the whole thing together yourself, my good friend Belinda has a great business that will do it for you. She’s the best.  Her business is called Gardens to Go and you can read all about it here. Spring is getting closer and I can’t wait. I’ve got some terrific new things I’ll be growing for our family and others. Thanks for coming by….

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If you’re anything like me your probably spending just a little less time in your garden at this time of the year because of the heat. This is a good time to plan what you want in your garden as those tomatoes start to produce and ripen. If you can shade your garden at this time of year, you’ll be able to still grown lettuce and radishes. I was surprised that I was able to still grow radishes in temperatures in the high to upper 90’s. Just make sure you water and shade them more and you should be able to successfully grow them. And when those tomatoes come pouring on in a matter of a couple of weeks, will you have any lettuce ready to harvest? Sure you can just purchase store bought lettuce, but you can still grow your own. And it’s better than anything you can buy at the store. When the weather gets this hot, germinating lettuce seeds is the biggest challenge. Once again, shade and extra water will get you what you’re after. Once the lettuce seeds germinate and break the soil, a lot of your hard work is done. It will grow quickly in this kind of weather but you should still keep the sun off it if you can. At least the hot afternoon sun. You’ll keep your lettuce from tasting bitter and will reap the rewards of great home tasting lettuce. The other fun thing that might be showing now in your gardens are flowers. I don’t grow many, but most of the ones I do all have a specific function. Nasturtiums-edible, nicotiana-fragrance, daisy, bachelor buttons, and sunflower seeds-attracts bees(pollinators), and finally celosia. The reason I like celosia is it’s brilliant red color later in the fall. I’m partial to reds and whites, so I place white alyssum at the base of my celosia. They’re all easy to grow and will reward you with great color as we get into the fall season. Come to think of it, we’re not that far off from that. Keep those compost units working so that you’ll be ready to harvest and amend squares as you pull from your garden. And the timing is such that if you’ve worked your compost correctly, you’ll be just in time to prepare for your fall gardens with finished composted material.[ois skin=”below post”]