As I typed the title of this post, I cannot believe we’ve been growing veggies on The Lot for 10 years already. I’ve made so many mistakes in that time! I’ve also learned a lot as well… the knowledge most retained being what I learned from all of those mistakes. If you haven’t tried growing food before, you really should give it a try. It’s very rewarding.
Succession Planting
Last year I tried for the first time to stagger the planting of the cool weather crops. Since our #carnivorekids do not eat food grown in the garden, the Other Half and I can enjoy all the spoils. In the past, this has led to large harvests of produce at one time than two people to handle. Our growing season is so short, it often does not leave enough time for a second round of food. Enter succession planting. But then we decided to bolt for a 2 week trip and plans for fresh greens didn’t pan out.
The Plan for Continuous Spring Greens
But this season will be different! (says every gardener, every season) We will be home as spring crops come time to harvest. Here’s how I’m making the attempt this year in our two 4’x4′ raised beds:
- Divide beds into sections. We already do this with our practice of square foot gardening, but I also look at how the early spring sun warms the beds. Which areas of the two beds gets the most sun? For me, this results in splitting the beds into 2-3 sections.
- Stagger planting dates by 2-3 weeks. Even if it’s the same crop, I split the planting of that crop. The first planting date I could plant 6 spinach plant seeds. Two or three weeks later, I will plant another 6 spinach plant seeds in the next section of the raised beds. As the first planting of spinach is winding down, the second planting is becoming available.
- Plant fast growing crops. We’ve decided on the Lot we can’t screw around with 90 days crops in our zone. Ain’t got time for that! When choosing between a 30 day to harvest spinach and a 50 day to harvest spinach, we will gravitate toward trying the 30 day spinach.
Sketch out a Planting Plan
When planning what food to grow in the raised beds, I draw out a plan on graph paper. This works really well for me since we plant via the square foot planting approach, and because I am more of a visual person. When creating the planting plan, I draw out the two raised beds on the graph paper and try to note:
- type of plant
- how many of those plants
- size of area the plants require
- planting date
- harvest date
Here’s a visual of the first bed with the first planting from this afternoon. Last year I color-coded the planting dates for a quick visual cue. As I plant the sections, I choose a color for the planting date and then note that on the sketches of the beds.
Growing Greens in Containers
I’ve mixed kale and such into my annual containers with flowers when potting them up in the past. This season I am going to try to do spring greens in containers before the rest of the season really gets going. Some plants I’ll try to start from seed in containers will be ‘Bright Lights’ swiss chard, parsley, snow peas, and kale.
Cold Crops 2019
For record-keeping purposes, this is what I planted.
- (18) Arugula
- (6) Spinach ‘Baby Leaf Hybrid’
- (8) Pak Choi ‘Baby Bok Choy’
- (18) Spinach ‘Bloomsdale Long Standing’
- (4) Lettuce ‘Gourmet Blend’
- (8) Peas ‘Oregon sugar Pod II’
- (8) Lettuce ‘All Season Butterhead Mix’