What are your plans for your Spring Garden?

[Aubree Taylor]

Today I am starting the seedlings for The Kitchen Community Garden and have plans to share the seedlings with the Grant Beach Community Garden and Mid-town neighborhood. We are so fortunate to have received a grant from the City of Springfield, which went towards purchasing a greenhouse and supplies for the garden. This is such an amazing project! We hope to host more educational opportunities for the public this year and get more community members involved at the garden this year. Today I am starting cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli in the greenhouse and cleaning out the toolshed. I will keep you updated as we move along. What are your plans?

 

 

[Berlan I Crouch]

I have started seeds for cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes and onions.  About 3 to 5 times what I would normally need.  I am going to plant in the outdoors earlier than usual hoping to get an early harvest.  If I get wiped out by frost I will have more seedlings available to replant.  If I don't get hit then I will have extra seedlings to share with friends and family.

Berlan in Barry Co

[Jane Pille']

We have planted also broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and onion seeds.  I have several pots of leek seeds going for the past month and have been surprised how easy they are to grow.  I like the big winter leeks and am raising Caratan, Giant Musselburgh and Bleu de Solais.  These are better than the various leek plants I have ordered in the past.  I still have some in my garden from last year. I did not cover the leeks but just laid row cover on 4 rows of spinach and some parsley and kale and they made it through the two 20 below 0 days we had.   I have also planted parsley, basil, sweet marjoram, borage, garlic chives and some flowers--all these in a cool greenhouse.  My sister, Kate, gave me broccoli, brussels sprouts and sage plants which I have planted in the garden under a little row cover.   I have planted lettuce and spinach in the coldframe and have garlic, shallots, onions, lettuce, spinach, kale and beets planted in the garden.  A good neighbor gave me two scoops of horse manure and I have these in a small greenhouse, where I raised chickens recently.  I plan to plant tomatoes, peppers and eggplants this week and I hope this manure heats the house enough--otherwise I will have to bring in some heat.

 

This is my 4th garden in Arkansas; I have raised lots of food here but have spent  the majority of my time fighting bermuda grass which I almost now have control of--or at least I think so.  I have taken the nice days of winter and worked on my beds--adding rabbit, chicken and cow manure, chopped up leaves, compost and bio-char.  They are looking the best they have although I still have areas of black plastic in my bermuda fight.  I have several beds full of rye, vetch and oats for cover crops and have had really good luck using these.  My soil has improved a lot.  Last year I made an effort to plant flowers to attract beneficial insects and I think it was helpful.  No potato bugs at all last year and the two years before I had tons of them.  We bought some beneficial nematodes from Nitron in Fayetteville last week and plan to spray them on the garden this week.  I am hoping they will help with cucumber beetles and flea beetles. 

 

We have only one damp spot on our 12 acres--right below the garden.  I don't know if it is just garden runoff or if it is a small spring.  My husband dug it out with the front end loader and we have a 4-6 pond--not too big but consistent.  We are going to experiment with planting some rice.

 

I m excited about the prospect of spring.  Hope you all have great gardening luck and fun.

[Kate Starkey]

I have lettuce and spinach up in my cold frame, and broccoli and brussel sprouts that I've started from seed about ready to plant out. I have ordered gooseberry bushes, and have some replacement blueberries coming, along with another apple tree and a pie-cherry tree. I have lots of lettuce seed, as it warms up a tad I will plant a bunch, as I donate bags-full to Crosslines, and also make salads for a homeless shelter when I have the produce. I have basil, sage and some peppers up and growing under a grow light, as well as several flowers I've started. I am going to try  the "no-till" gardening this year, as I added lots and lots of mulch last fall, and hope to make this work. Have plans to do all the usual veggies, and hope to add a few I've never tried before. As the year goes along, I would like to start gathering supplies to make raised beds in my lower garden, as it's always boggy in the spring, and would greatly benefit from some improved drainage, but we'll see what the year brings.

[Alicia Gibson]

I have been ready for spring since January, lol.  I currently have some lettuce seed in a pie pan in my south facing window.  The first attempt didnt do so well because I tried it in woody mulch and didnt keep it moist enough.  This time I planted it in my compost material and boy did it take off.  So pretty.  This year Im doing raised beds in tractor tires and cannot wait.  I have mini bell pepper starts and also a couple varieties of tomatoes in peat pots in the window.  Once it is time I'll have asaparagus beans, short stubby carrots, more lettuce, scallop squash, yellow strawberries and potentially some tomatoes.  If my mom's brussel sprout starts go well I'll have some of those too and who know what else I'll decide I need by then.  So much fun!  Oh melons-- I got some melons that are good for small spaces, woohoo!