Tag Archives: kale

In 148 square feet?

TWE-getting it ready for winter3We’ve had 3 or 4 significant frosts already.  I’m getting ready to cover this structure with greenhouse plastic.  I’ll only then be using a weighted floating row cover to put over the crops.  As we head into winter, this is what’s growing in just 148 square feet of garden space: 20 pounds of potatoes, 108 heads of lettuce, 8 arugula plants, 320 carrots, 117 spinach plants, 36 mizuna plants, 45 claytonia plants, 4 minutina, 24 komatsuna, 27 mache, 80 radishes, 36 beets, 48 turnips, 44 Swissl chard, 9 onions, 36 chives, 16 radicchio, 63 leeks, 2 kale plants, 20 poc choi, 2 parsley plants, 1 rosemary plant, 45 tatsoi, 36 kohlrabi, and 4 plants of cilantro.  We’re ready.

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April 14th square foot garden

sfg 041413It’s hard to believe that this was all planted in the coldest part of the year. In just a few short weeks this will all be emptied out and an entirely brand new set of crops will take their place. I’ve really enjoyed-and so has our family-eating some different tasting(and sounding)greens that I’ve never grown before. This upcoming fall, I’ll be able to share specific information about 15 different cold weather crops that I’ve had experience with. Many of these are items that many might not have tasted much less grown, but are easy to plant. Done right, you should be able to harvest right through the winter in zones 3-6 with just a little extra effort. I don’t mind doing the extra work because the quality and taste of the food is so superior compared to store bought during these months. I’ll be able to share how each of these crops fit into the 1, 4, 9, and 16 spacings. This square foot gardening stuff-it sure is a lot of fun-and a whole lot less work.[ois skin=”below post”]

Under the tunnel

heat in high tunnelThe recorded windchill temperatures at night have been in single digits all week. I haven’t been able to see anything that’s come up yet but I’ve been able to take a quick peek under the plastic to observe what the picture shows if you look hard enough-heat coming up from the ground. The sun has come out occasionally but I haven’t put a thermometer under the plastic to know how warm it’s gotten. Past experience has shown it to be 30+ degrees warmer then the outside air. I planted another square today of lettuce and radishes which means there should be eight squares growing soon-hopefully. I’ve got all cold crops planted under the tunnel so we’ll see if this little experiment works. The towel under the tunnel(previous post picture)has been used to cover the squares that have been planted so far. It’s just meant to provide another layer of protection-especially in this kind of weather.[ois skin=”below post”]