is now up and ready. This is our favorite spring spinach-a variety by Johhny’s called Space. It’s very easy to grow and it tastes great. I like it not only because of this but also because it’s smooth-as opposed to the semi-or savoyed varieties. This begins the time when we’ll not be needing to buy produce at the grocery stores from now until late November/early December. Soon the veggies will be kicking in for harvest as well. In the past I have over-wintered this variety of spinach. By the time spring arrived I would go out to my square foot garden bed and find it filled with spinach. The only problem, and it was a big one, was that the spinach was very tough and chewy. The reason this happened is because I didn’t cover my gardens during the winter months. The spinach was exposed to all the harsh winter elements. So, if you want to over-winter spinach, be sure to keep it covered during the bad weather months. This will keep it fresh, protected, and tasting good. Another huge plus is that during the winter months(in climates similar to Utah)you have no pests in your garden to worry about. I am thinking about trying this again with a variety that is made for over-wintering. It’s called Tyee-again from Johnny’s. One of the greatest things about growing spinach in a square foot garden is that you could put your boxes in starting early September and still have plenty of time for a good harvest by mid -October! Think of that one! Who starts a brand new garden in September? That’s the time when all your single row garden neighbors are pulling things up and putting everything away until next season. It’s been a busy year of pulling weeds for them and they don’t want anything to do with gardening at this point. You should really consider a square foot garden-put in virtually at any time of the year!…
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I think that’s the objective-visit often for additional ideas
I planted sugar snap peas, radishes, three types of lettuce and potatoes two weeks ago. I was out of town on business this past week but when I returned I found that all of them have now sprouted and are looking great! Thanks for your blog and the timely info it provides!
Chris…glad to hear it’s all working out so well. Just keep enough water on your gardens as we head into the season and you will be very happy..Jim
I had a question about a planting schedule. What do you suggest for figuring out when to schedule the planting of starts and the garden for the season? Is there a good online system to do that? I would like to have everything ready for when this first crop is harvested.
Trevor-I don’t know of anything online only because I’ve gotten used to my schedule with the certain things that we like to grow. For me it’s easy. I use May 15th as the day to count back from. With that date, since it takes about 6 weeks for me to plant tomatoes, I will start my tomatoes from seed on April 1 or so. If I have any flowers that need a longer time to get started, and I only have a few of them that grow, I will do them at the same time. These are things like nicotiana, angels trumpet, and heliotrope. Everything else-herbs(basil and parsley), squash, cucumber, and cantalope or watermelon I will start from seed inside about 2 weeks later. I will at this time plant marigolds,celosia, and nasturtium. This year I added 1 flower-a yellow sunflower to attract bees. I started this the same time I planted marigolds. Everything else is direct seeded into the garden: spinach, lettuce, onions, beets, carrots, radishes, and beans. I start these outside about the second week of March. Because sugar snap peas are to be placed in the ground as soon as the soil can be worked, I start to begin thinking about planting them-directly in the garden, about the first of March. So really, you have 3 dates to think about in northern Utah. March 1st, April 1st, and April 15th. Another thing you can do for ideas is to subscribe to places like Burpee. I just received in the mail(email)their latest brochure on “what you should be planting now.” That should give you some additional ideas…Jim
OK thanks for the detailed info Jim. I think what I need to do is plan it out on paper so I know when to plant what.
Just noticed my spinach sprouted today (day 8 since planting) 🙂 excited to see how it turns out.
Go Trevor!