Starting a Garden
Alright, who has ever felt overwhelmed when you sit down to start a garden? You get seed catalogs in the mail, you stroll through the seed aisle, you get that complex feeling of inspiration and being overwhelmed all at the same moment. I am going to break down the process that I go through when starting a garden. Now I am going to focus on flowers, but this can be applicable to vegetables as well.
Decide where your garden is going to be. Pots on the patio or plot in the backyard?
If You are putting in a new garden plot, make sure that you don't have any ground wires running through your property. If you live in Minnesota, contact Gopher State One Call ( https://www.gopherstateonecall.org/ ) to mark your lines for you. I have found that their online form is the most efficient way. They were fast for me, Having filled out the online ticket before bed and they were out first thing the following morning.
How much sun does your space get? Be sure the seeds you selected will tolerate your garden plot. Most seeds need 6-12+ hours of direct sunlight.
Choose plants you love to look at, or love to eat. Don’t waste time and energy on plants you don’t enjoy.
You have your plot, you have your seeds; now you need to know when to plant them. Most seed packets say on the back how many weeks you are to start them before your last frost. If you are unsure when your last frost date is, you can go to https://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-calendar and look up your last expected frost date for your area. I was zone 3B but it recently changed to 4A., so my average last frost date is May 18th. Now that I know my last frost date, I look at the seed packet and see how many weeks out from my last frost date I need to plant my seeds.
For example, I am planting snapdragons this year. On my packet it says to start them indoors 8-10 weeks before my last frost. So I go to my last frost date on my calendar and count back to 10 weeks. For me, that is the week of March 3rd. Then, I write it down on my calendar. Now go through all of your seed packets and start marking them on your calendar.
If you are like me and struggle with forgetting things while at the same time being a visual person, I use a photo storage case. It works perfectly for my set up. I then mark the week from the last frost date and the calendar days that I need to plant them out from. This helps me stay organized and my seeds safe from my little flower farmers in training.Now that you have your seeds starting dates planned out, you just need to decide on your planting mediums and start playing in the dirt! I have used plastic seed trays in the past but after doing some research on organic gardening practices I have converted to soil blocking. I posted a blog on the reasons why I love them so much. The space saving, healthy root systems that develop and the ability to cut back on plastic was enough to convince me to make that change. But I also am a firm believer in using what you already have and recycling. I have a friend that reuses old jugs and take-out containers and it has great results for her! So again, use what you have!
Now you’re set to go get your scratch paper and buy your seeds! See you soon for some soil blocking tips!
