Summers like this make gardening difficult for those with already short growing seasons. The weather was so cold that many plantings were delayed by a few weeks. In order to get a bigger harvest from my vegetable garden, I will be succession planting as much as possible! Succession planting is when a gardener plants crops in varying cycles throughout the growing season in order to maximize their harvest. It really only works with specific crops, and is dependent on how…
Category: Minnesota Gardening
Organic Gardening #6 – Layout and Planting
Generally, Memorial Day weekend has been the time I’ve used to get my garden started. It’s normally warm enough for me to plant all of my veggies, but not this year! Our growing season is currently about 2-4 weeks behind schedule, and the only things I have in my garden so far are cabbage, beets, peas, spinach, and onions. I was hoping that by now I would at least have a few good garden planting progress photos for you, but…
Organic Gardening: #4 – How to Thin Seedlings
Despite doing my best to ignore the never ending winter we’ve been having, I still can’t help but feel that summer is really far away! I suppose that’s what happens when it’s May and there’s still snow in the forecast. So while I continue ignoring our terrible weather, I bring to you Part 4 of my Organic Gardening Series: How to Thin Seedlings. Below you can see a photo of my little tomato seedlings, which are doing quite well….
Organic Gardening: Part 1 – Ordering Seeds
This post is Part 1 in my new Organic Gardening Series. The days are getting longer, and hopefully warmer, which means it’s time to start ordering seeds for your garden. When looking for seeds, you will find that seed companies can vary greatly in quality. After starting seeds from many different companies, I can honestly say that I’ve had the very best luck with seeds from smaller companies. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is absolutely wonderful; they are a small family…
My Summer Garden Experience in Retrospect
No matter how many lovely, sun-shiny days we have in Minnesota, the summer always seems to fly by. I’m always anxious to get my seeds and plants in the ground come May, and inevitably end up killing a few because I put them out too soon. Before long, I’m willing my tomatoes to ripen faster, in the hopes that they’ll turn red before the first frost hits. This summer was no exception. I managed to snag an awesome community garden…