The the temperatures have been in the 60’s and 70’s during the day and low 40’s to 30’s at night so it is still too early to plant my squashes, tomatoes, and peppers. I have decided to start my spring planting for more cold hardy and frost tolerant plants. This may back fire on me but I think it is pretty clear by now that I am doing a lot of experimental learning this year.
- Beans, I’m not sure why they are so appealing to me I am excited to be growing them. I am doing 4 varieties this year: Tiger Eye, Hopi Purple String Bean, Tongue of Fire, and Hidatsa Shield White bean. I like the idea of being multipurpose so with the exception of the white bean, all of these say they are good as snap or shell as well as dry. I decided to order more of the Tiger Eye and Tongue of Fire beans and was hoping to get more Hopi Purple but those were sold out. The Hidatsa is the only pole bean, all of the others say bush.
2. Lettuce. I’m going to try three varieties of lettuces. Tom Thumb, Romaine Red Cimarron, and Black Seeded Simpson.
3. Greens. Kale, purple Bok Choy and tiny Bok Choy are the greens I am starting with.
4. Alliums. I didn’t get any onions started this spring but I am thinking of trying to do a fall planting. What I did plant were green and red bunching onions that I’m hoping will come back every year. I also had two chive packets that I decided to see if I could get established.
Last fall I planted 3 types of garlic: Chesnok Red (Hardneck), Inchelium Red (Hardneck), and Nootka Rose (Softneck). I’m not sure how that will work as I now know I made quite a few mistakes, the biggest being that I was under the false impression that garlic was a plant it and forget crop. I learned recently from the CSUExtension class I took (Gardening in Colorado for Newcomers) that I should have been watering at least monthly most of this dry winter. I’m also concerned about my raspberries for the same reasons. Only time will tell with this lesson on how things will go. It looks like most of the cloves have sprouted so that is a good sign.
As of this post, I’ve not seen any sprouting with the seeds I planted. In few weeks I will do another round of each of these to have some succession planting. I am working on building a garden journal and keeping track of the results from these plantings so that in the coming years I will be able to better understand my planting times and get the most out of my garden.
Most of the companies I buy seeds from are represented in the photos in the post. High Desert Seed is my favorite company. They don’t have a lot of unusual varieties but they are regional to me which I really like. Seed Savers, MIGardener, Mary’s Heirloom Seeds, and Baker Creek are also companies I like. There also a few in this post that I got from seed swaps with friends and family. The big clear bags were from 2020 I made a bulk purchase from the Great American Seed Up because I was having trouble finding seeds. There seeds are good and I don’t regret it but I probably won’t buy in bulk again unless I’m part of a group wanting to do it. It took me awhile to find others to buy the other shares.
Note: All the links were to share about companies I like, I do not earn anything from them.