Spring right around the corner for us square foot gardeners

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This is a picture of one box that’s been used for winter. I’ve been harvesting lettuce, carrots, and arugula since late November. Yesterday I was in the process of doing some cleaning up and tugged on a brown top. Out came that carrot. Lots still in the ground, and let me tell you, they’re sweet as sugar! The empty squares you see have been harvested, cleaned out, and have been amended with compost. The other things you might see are not weeds. That’s miners lettuce, and it will start to really grow in the next 2-3 weeks to provide a bounty and tasty addition to my daily salads.

For those interested in having the earliest spring garden possible in the colder climates, I’m having a virtual seed starting class this Saturday at 10:00 AM MST. I had one of these 2 weeks ago with 10 people on. It was a lot of fun. I’ll show you how I’ve done it and what’s been highly successful for me. Don’t wait to have a garden this spring. Decide that you’re going to do it, and then go for it. This class runs 90 minutes and will be highly beneficial. You’ll be ready to plant this week. You can find out more by visiting my Facebook page: the wealthy earth, or you can read about it right over  there on the side of my blog. Spring is getting here quickly.

What you can be doing in the winter to make great compost

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One persons trash is another persons gold. As in black gold. The growing medium that everyone wants in their gardens. Many people in harsher climates may not be aware of what they can be doing during the winter months to prepare to make compost in the spring. For me, it’s only 9 weeks away before I start to actively make compost.

Those who have taken classes at my home and seen my gardens can vouge for my gardening success using 100% compost. Everything grows in my garden. I’ll soon have available a presentation I gave for the community of Park City a short time ago. I’ll show you how I do it and why compost made at home is superior to anything you can buy at nurseries or garden shops. It’s not even close. The benefits of composting speaks for itself. Stay tuned if you’d like to learn more.

Seed starting class coming up

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I know it seems soon but it’s not. If you’re interested in having a really early gardening season, this seed starting class is for you. I’ve opened 2 emails in the past 5 weeks announcing a new recall of food/crops. I get tired of reading this but I don’t worry because I grow all my salad greens and most of my root and summer crops. 

This will be a virtual class beginning at 10:00 AM MST on January 9th. Class will go for 75-90 minuted and the cost is $50. Contact me if you’d like to RSVP or if you’ve got any other questions. 

Right now I’m still enjoying my summer harvest of angel hair spaghetti squash. With my frozen cherry tomatoes I’ve had a few pasta dishes making a quick sauce thats done in about 15-20 minutes. There’s nothing better knowing you can feed yourself and family with things that you grew, watered, and took care of. You also don’t spend a second worrying about chemicals or anything like that. 

Winter planting the square foot gardening

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Winter gardening in northern Utah isn’t really gardening. It’s all harvesting. That means a little extra planning. The important point isn’t really the average first frost date but rather the first day we go under 10 hours of sunlight. For us, thats around November 14th. This is just one of my 4X4 SFG boxes planted for the winter. So far, the timing looks good. What’s in there? Lots. Three different kinds of lettuces, green onions, arugula, minutina, claytonia, spinach, turnips, mache, red pontiac potatoes, and tatsoi. They all love the cold and even freezing weather, except the lettuces. The baby leaf lettuces will easily make it right through the winter months. Get those gardens planted!!! 

Let’s cook

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I don’t think I’ve ever posted a recipe on my site. Maybe I should start? This is my angel hair spaghetti squash. I’ve already had about 12 of them, and there’s 30 out there ripening as we speak. Just from 3 plants! I hate heating up the kitchen in the summertime. And, we’ve had a solid month of temperatures in the high 90’s to low 100’s. So, I try to grill as much as possible when I can. Pizza (that’s right-on the grill), veggies, and things like this.

What I like to do with angle hair is simple. I cut squash in half first (from north to south, not east to west), then scoop out seeds. I then coat the entire cavity with olive oil,  sprinkle with salt, and then fresh ground pepper. I put it on the grill over indirect heat face down for 15-20 minutes. You’ll know its done if you can take a sharp knife and easily pierce the skin. Yes, you will char some of the outer portion but it’s very delish! I take it off the heat, start shredding the squash, and then load with unsalted butter! It’s so good. I might add a small amount of salt again, or I might just sprinkle my recipe of blackening spices over it. Of course, you can always just add your own favorite marinara sauce. I eat mine right in the shell. No clean up.