New class coming in 2025!

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Already planning for 2025 when we’re not even finished with 2024! 

Do you love to garden but don’t have the space? Living in an apartment? Condo? Trailer home? Or renting a house where the landlord won’t let you put in a garden? I’ve got a solution for you and I’ll be teaching a new class shortly after the first of the year. I’m very much looking forward to this one!

Small space apartment/condo gardening will be the name of the class. This will not be just the usual container garden class. We’ll be talking about grow bags, which I’ve used for 8 years. I’ve learned a lot and it’s taken me 3 years of extra effort to get it just right. What can you use grow bags for? I’ve used them for potatoes, lettuces, all my herbs, tomatoes, potatoes, and many other salad crops. You’ll also learn about another very nifty gadget to use when growing in small spaces. 

With any luck and if I can get the help, I hope to have this ready not only in person but also virtually for purchase. That way you can take your time and learn at your leisure.

Learn how to have a great garden, even if you don’t have a lot of room. As I’m writing this I’m chomping on pizza that was made with my garden tomatoes, garlic, and basil. I’ve not found any restaurant that beats it. Homemade always wins. 

Eat better tasting and healthier food. Enjoy the satisfaction of growing it yourself. Save money, and maybe even pick up a new hobby that you can do for the rest of your life. 

Planting for winter-square foot gardening style

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This and fall are the most fun times for me in the garden. Less work. Anticipating crops that only grow in cold weather. Less watering. No weeding. Pests are leaving. I have very few of those so that’s not really much of an issue. But the late fall/winter garden takes some planning. Today I pulled up most of my existing leeks and also found some garlic that I forgot about. When I tried to separate the cloves I discovered they were mush. Too long in the ground. Speaking of garlic, this is the month. I’m a hardneck garlic believer because of our harsher winters. 

After amending each new square with compost, spinach, arugula, mache, lettuce, minutina, baby bok choi, mizuna, and claytonia were all direct seeded. This is perfect timing for our winters. The lettuce wont be so big that it turns to soup after a hard freeze. Bok choi and its thicker stems hold up well in winter. Arugula grown in cold temperatures lose the peppery edge they normally have. The other greens are just delicious. Next week will be a succession crop of a few of the same and then some addition crops. 

The normal SFG spacings of 1, 4, 9, 16 are a little different for winter. Everything is planted with a spacing of 9 or 16. We just need more in the winter time. 

Prepping and planning for winter garden

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First week of September marks the time when I begin transitioning summer to fall and winter gardening. To make room I’ll need to pull up a few things like beans, kale, and maybe even a tomato plant or two, which really hurts!

I counted 16 different crops that I grow for winter. All do well in our freezing, snowy winters. As long you know how to put up a simple structure for protection and match the crop to the season anybody can enjoy the winter bounty. And, it’s so fun to do. The taste? It can only be described as awesome. Freezing temps turn starches to sugar so your carrots are delicious. The same for spinach and baby lettuces. Arugula is less spicy.

I’ve also mass planted several grow bags with lettuce varieties that will begin to be harvested in 40-45 days and will last until about the end of November, though I will have them under cover when the temperatures get to cold. I continue to discover great varieties that can’t be bought anywhere in the stores that have great taste. When those are done the salad greens planted today and through mid-October will all be ready. Those crops will last our family until about mid-March.

On October 25 I will sown a cold frame with lettuces. Lots of lettuces. That will be ready by the time all winter greens have been harvested-third of 4th week of March. That’s my rotation anyway.  

My small SFG-CSA

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I’ve had so much fun this spring and summer growing the tastiest things ever. And getting ready  to have a great fall and winter garden. I’m able to grow enough in my 184 square feet of garden space to provide 3 local restaurants with things and 4 families. I can never compete with the food vendors to provide all their restaurant needs. Each week they get a small quantities of just picked cherry tomatoes, one wants English cucumbers, they all get different herbs, one gets kale, and two of them get microgreens. They buy because of the superior taste and the chefs know it. Spring time is very different. But, just picked fresh will beat any vendor item. It’s not farm to table for them-it’s garden to table. 

Yesterday my families got what you see in the picture. Enough lettuce for 5-6 side salads, 4 slicing tomatoes, an acorn squash, an English cucumber, and a sprig of basil. Next week they will get the same but with the addition of a small quantity of red pontiac potatoes. 

Is it just me or is inflation at the top of most people’s worry? Why not have a garden, learn how to do it in the most efficient way possible and save money. Lots of money. And have a better eating experience. The English cucumbers are absolutely out of this world. Our two year old granddaughter had never tasted cucumbers. I had about half of it sliced into pieces with ranch dressing next to it. She tasted it and all we heard for the next 15 minutes was “more.” 🙂 The only reason she stopped was because she was all full! 

 

Hot summers and growing lettuce in your SFG.

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Growing lettuce in the hot parts of the country can be a challenge. There are some like me who want that delicious, freshly harvested lettuce when the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes start  to arrive. 

We’ve had a really hot summer. A solid week of 100 plus temperatures, and maybe 2 weeks of 95-100 degree days. More of them are coming too. You can grow continue to grow lettuce if you know a few tricks. First and foremost is the soil. There is no soil as great as what we have in the SFG method. I’ve got an ebook that discusses the points needed to successfully grow lettuce right through the heat of summer. 

This is a summercrisp called Mottistone. I bought it from Johnnys years ago and now I see it’s no longer available on their site. I don’t know why this happens? You find a great variety of something only to return at a later date to discover it’s no longer there. This is a great tasting summer lettuce. Some will think the speckles are disease issues but that’s not the case. You can still find Mottistone seed. I found it on Amazon, which I personally wouldn’t do. Too many complaints from people thinking they bought a variety of something only to learn that it wasn’t at all what they were expecting. But you can find it here: https://viridishortus.co.uk/Lettuce-Mottistone-TZ-0281-615-05g. 

As summer is beginning to leave us, it’s probably a little late for summercrisps. Order for next year. Keep your seeds in the refrigerator and give it a try next summer.