Podcasts about garden plan

Dream to Garden Sign Up: https://journeywithjill.net/dream2garden  Show Notes: (*links below contain affiliate links, which means if you click through and make a purchase, we will earn a commission at no extra cost to you.) Organic REV The first thing to understand about REV is that it is not an ordinary humic acid product that is chemically-extracted from leonardite, lignite, or other coals.   Rather, it is a 100% naturally-occurring carbon, humic acid & fulvic acid source - along with exceptionally high levels of naturally-occurring microbial biomass  that can increase nitrogen efficiency by up to 25%.  REV replaces depleted soil carbon & bacterial biomass - and absorbs nutrients to make them more readily  available to plants via their root systems. Promo Code for 10% off JILL10   Garden in Minutes These garden grids take about 1 minute to set up, worry free watering: waters all of your plants evenly at their base so none of them go thirsty, Garden Grids™ ship in pre-assembled sections! No messy emitters or tangle of tubing. Just connect & grow! https://journeywithjill.net/gardeninminutes CODE JILL for 7% off your purchase   My Products: 2024 Complete Garden Plannerhttps://journeywithjill.net/shop/ Vegetable Gardening for Beginners Book: https://amzn.to/3TZeJux Products I recommend: Recommended Brands & Products page: https://journeywithjill.net/recommended-brands-and-products/ https://www.amazon.com/shop/thebeginnersgarden Connect with Jill:    Sign up for Friday Emails: https://journeywithjill.net/gardensignup YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/JourneywithjillNet/videos  The Beginner's Garden Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeginnersgarden/ Link to Beginner's Garden Podcast past episodes: https://journeywithjill.net/podcast  

Better Lawns and Gardens Hour 2 – Coming to you from Summit Responsible Solutions Studios, Happy New Year from Teresa, Lizzie, and special host emeritus, Tom MacCubbin with a special show for the holidays. Segment 4 has Tom and Teresa discussing their garden goals for 2024 and more.  https://bit.ly3c1f5x7 Photo and graphic credit: Teresa Watkins Listen every Saturdays from 7am - 9am EST on WFLA- Orlando. Call in with your garden questions and text messages on 1-888.455.2867 and 23680, Miss the live broadcast? Listen on Audioboom podcast 24/7. https://bit.ly/3c1f5x7   #WFLF #WFLA #FNN #WNDB #BetterLawns #gardening #Florida #planting #gardeninglife #radio #southflorida #northflorida #centralflorida #Deland #SHE #Orlando #Sarasota #Miami #FortLauderdale #BLGradio #WRLN #WiOD #gardening #SummitResponsibleSolutions #QualityGreenSpecialists #BlackKow 

GARDEN PLANNING In this weeks episode.... 03:00 | Digital & Offline Garden Planning 05:00 | Creating a Garden Plan with Canva 10:00 | Garden Centre Tips: Come Prepared 17:50 | Consider your outdoor living arrangment 18:30 | Aesthetic & Function 20:00 | How thorough do I need to be? 22:20 | Garden Planning Record Keeping 24:50 | When garden planning doesn't go to plan... 27:20 | What obstacles can you plan ahead for? 32:40 | Mix & Mingle with Veggies for the pollinators 34:40 | Perennials: Spacing & Bloom time 36:20 | Staggering growth and what is your "why"? 38:20 | Question of the Week 41:50 | Next Week....  *************************  BRANDI'S GARDEN PLAN MADE WITH CANVA *************************  QUESTION OF THE WEEK  Our question of the week comes from Steve who asks, "Should I consider crop rotation?" Do you have a question or a comment for the Helpful Gardeners? Send us an anonymous voice note HERE send us an email social@goldenacre.ca or find our question of the week every Tuesday on our Instagram   NEXT WEEK  Plants around the World --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/golden-acre-home-garden/message

I had plans! But some wicked roots go in my way. Time for Plan B. This is the story of what gardening is about! Adapt and pivot. Today's Garden Bite is a lesson for all gardeners, the new Green Thumbs, the Brown Thumbs and all of us in between!

Go check out the This Prepared Life podcast premiere with Allison. You can find The Funky Farm Girl on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube. Email your questions and feedback to jenny@thefunkyfarmgirl.com.

We'll listen back to how landscaper Susan Van de Riet designed a time and budget-friendly garden plan with plants native to St. Louis in this encore discussion.

Susan Van de Riet is the owner of St. Louis Native Plants, a landscape consulting and design company that helps locals figure out the ideal way to grow a garden in their yard. She recently designed a native garden plan with the local chapter of Wild Ones Natural Landscapers. It’s time and budget friendly and totally free to download.

In today's episode, we are talking about a framework or a system for your edible landscape design and I can think of no better example than JoJo.

Today we are going through my garden planning guide and how to plan out your entire year.

Today we celebrate the botanist who discovered the Rhododenrun minus growing in South Carolina. We'll also learn about the young German botanist who died on the Niger Expedition after valiantly trying to keep his plants alive. We’ll recognize an Irish doctor who was one of the first people to discover the greenhouse effect. We salute the naturalist of Germantown, Pennsylvania, whose love for wildflowers and nature was unsurpassed. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a downhome book dedicated to helping you with the family garden to make it a resounding success. And then we’ll wrap things up with the brilliant plantswoman who understood the subtleties of gardening and design.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to “Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.” And she will. It's just that easy.   The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring: A personal update from me Garden-related items for your calendar The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week Gardener gift ideas Garden-inspired recipes Exclusive updates regarding the show and more. Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.   Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org.   Curated News David Domoney’s Fencing Guide | David Domoney   Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community.   So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you’d search for a friend… and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events December 4, 1788 On this day, Andre Michaux made his way from Georgia into South Carolina by crossing the Tugalo River. In his journal, Michaux wrote: "At dawn, I went to look at the banks of the river, and I recognized the yellow root, [a new species of rhododendron], mountain laurel, hydrangea, [and] hemlock spruce. . . ." Now Harvard's Charles Sprague Sargent remarked on the significance of this moment because it was the first time that Michaux laid eyes on the Rhododendron minus. Rhododendron grows naturally in the South from North Carolina to Alabama. With its soil and climate, Rhododendrons are perfectly suited to grow in South Carolina. The blossoms of rhododendrons have a wide color range from white to deep purple and blue. A versatile plant, Rhododendrons can be planted as specimens or even as hedges in gardens or natural settings. If you have oak or pine trees on your property, Rhododendrons are ideal for underplanting due to the filtered light from the tree canopy, the soil pH, and natural mulch. As the mulch breaks down, the organic matter provides the rhododendron with the perfect mix of nutrients. Finally, Rhododendrons need well-drained soil, and you should consider taking advantage of that fact by planting them on a slope.   December 4, 1841  On this day, the German botanist Theodore Vogel was laid low with dysentery. After joining the Niger (“nee-ZHER") expedition, Theodore recorded in his journal the difficulties of traveling without the benefit of a Wardian Case on board a naval warship called the Wilberforce: "As soon as I got on board... my first care was to… the plants gathered since we arrived at Cape Coast Castle. But though I had taken all possible care, much was spoilt and almost everything in a bad state. It has been my lot ... after endless labor. I mention this, on purpose, that in case my collection comes into other hands, I may not be accused of negligence. I have sacrificed every convenience to gain room and spared no trouble to overcome the dampness of the ship and of the atmosphere, but without success. The general arrangements of a man-of-war do not give many opportunities for such experiments. When will the time arrive, that ...naturalists [will receive] the appropriate and necessary support?" When Theodore became sick on this day in 1841, his friend and fellow German, the mineralogist, Charles Gottfried Roscher, tended to him for thirteen days and never left his bedside. On December 17th, about mid-day, Theodore woke to ask Charles if everything was ready for their excursion, and then he peacefully passed away.   December 4, 1893 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Irish experimental physicist John Tyndall. In 1859, John discovered the link between atmospheric CO2 and what we call the Greenhouse effect. And Although John was often attributed as the first person to discover the Greenhouse effect, today we know that a female scientist named Eunice Foote discovered it in 1856 - a full three years earlier. That said, John is best known for learning why the sky is blue. It turns out that light scattering through molecules suspended in the atmosphere creates the color, which is sometimes referred to as Tyndall Blue. As all gardeners know, there is nothing more beautiful than the garden set against the backdrop of a brilliant blue sky. All in all, John was one of Ireland’s most successful scientists and educators.   December 4, 1903 On this day, the Germantown historian, botanist, and writer Edwin Jellett wrote his final column for The Independent Gazette. Edwin’s charming column in The Independent Gazette appeared for forty weeks and shared his thoughts on his two passions: history and botany in Northwest Philadelphia. Gardeners will appreciate that every one of Edwin’s columns wrapped up with a list of the 30 to 40 plants shared in the post, along with both the Latin and common names. And if you'd like to read Edwin's work, you can - thanks to the Awbury Arboretum. In honor of its centennial in 2016, the Awbury Arboretum digitized all of Edwin's columns.  Here’s an excerpt from his last column published today in 1903: “To me, the vale is stored with memories, and one of its most pleasing and tender is Thomas Meehan’s connection with it. In this region dwell many of our fairest and rarest wildflowers… Usually, about the middle of January, [there is] a new color in sweet-birch, sassafras, red maple, and many small plants... and the blushing glow is evidence of a renewed circulation. Hazelnut, if not in bloom at Christmas, is always so shortly after and is closely followed by alder, pussy willow, and silver maple; in favorable seasons, these always bloom before February first. In gardens, ice plant, sedums, and euphorbia appear early above ground, and evergreen native and exotic, Adam’s needle, Scottish heath, Japanese euonymus, retinospora, native and Chinese arborvitae, box and Japan privet, laurel and rhododendrons, holly and yew, cedar, juniper and evergreen cypress, fir, spruce, and pine, and other... evergreen plants, cast shadows upon the snow to remind us of pleasant days past, and of warmer, brighter ones to come.”   Unearthed Words The way that leads to winter Will lead to summer too, For all roads end in other roads Where we may start anew. — Arthur St. John Adcock, English poet and novelist (1864-1930), The Travellers   Grow That Garden Library The Family Garden Plan by Melissa K. Norris  This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is Grow a Year's Worth of Sustainable and Healthy Food. In this book, Melissa shares her expertise after growing up gardening - and now gardening with her family on almost 15 acres of land in the foothills of the North Cascade mountain range in Washington State. Melissa shares hard-won knowledge from decades of trial and error. She is an expert heirloom gardener, preserver, farmer, cook, and homemaker. Her book is personal and Inspirational. Melissa shares inspiring bible verses, family stories, and photography from her very own garden, which gives her book an authenticity that many garden books lack. Melissa’s book is meant to be used as a reference. She includes helpful tips and suggestions to keep you and your garden growing. This book is 224 pages of downhome advice from a genuine gardener with a passion for helping others. You can get a copy of The Family Garden Plan by Melissa K. Norris and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $19.   Today’s Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart December 4, 1896 Today is the birthday of the charismatic Australian gardener, designer, and writer Edna Walling. Remembered for her gorgeous garden designs, Edna wrote some wonderful books on Australian gardening & landscaping. After working nonstop for four decades between the 1920s and 1960s, Edna created over 300 gardens. Today many Australians regard Edna as the most excellent landscape designer that Australia has ever known. An ardent conservationist, Edna was ahead of her time. By advocating for native plants, Edna’s favorite plants were naturally drought-hardy - a must for Australia’s harsh climate. Peter Watts wrote about Edna’s work and legacy and said, "[Enda] was a gardener’s designer – a brilliant plantswoman who understood the subtleties of gardening and design… [She] always thought gardens should be just a bit bigger than they needed so that you couldn’t control them entirely." It was Edna Walling who said, "Nature is our greatest teacher." And, there’s an adorable story about Edna. In November of 1941, Edna received criticism from a friend for sharing her preference for perennials over annuals. "[I got] a letter from a friend the other day who addressed me: ‘Dear Anti-annual!... If you can't grow them yourself, you needn't be snippy about them.’ Oooooh, what have I said? Something rude about Iceland poppies or asters? How narrow-minded of me.”   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

With winter well and truly set, Sab and Jamie share a glass of red and discuss how to create a plan for your garden. With tips on how to save money and not become overwhelmed with the job at hand, Sab breaks down the dos and don'ts so your garden will be a place to enjoy and relax. Also, with many of us travelling around WA, Sab has some great ideas on how you can bring the state to your backyard!

In today's episode, I am talking about rethinking my 2020 Garden Plan; especially in regard to my seed strategy.https://edifulgardens.com/2020gardenplan/https://edifulgardens.com/foliohttps://edifulgardens.com/Start/

It is that time of year again: it is time to make My 2020 Garden Plan! I have been looking at my snow-covered garden and getting the itch to grow something, taste something fresh and make some delicious pickles, relish or salsa. Who is with me? This long slog from January to April in the northland really gives a gardener cabin-fever, but it is these quiet, cold nights where we come up with new ideas and our garden plans for the new season. It is also almost time to start growing those seedlings! If you are new to gardening, you might feel overwhelmed. Maybe you want to grow everything in that shiny seed catalog! Maybe you just don’t know where to start. For veteran gardeners, you are probably so used to growing the same stuff that you don’t think about it too much. You might be curious how other gardeners “DO IT,” and by that I mean creating a 2020 Garden Plan. You can get your mind out of the rain gutter now! In this podcast episode and post, and I am going to talk about the following: • Looking Back at 2019 • My 2020 Garden Plan Step 1: My Ultimate Garden List • Step 2: Reality Check: Reducing the List • What is Whole30? • Step 3: Finalizing My 2020 Garden Plan (List of Vegetables and Herbs) • Next Steps For show notes, pictures and links, head over to Small Scale Gardening site for more information! (https://www.smallscalegardening.com/my-2020-garden-plan/)

Not sure what seed shame is? Well... stay tuned because today I'm going to take you behind the scenes for an insider's view on exactly what seed shames is...how you get it and how you conquer it.edifulgardens.com/2020gardenplan/

Announcing the winner of the Family Garden Plan Book and if you didn't win don't forget to preorder today because it is released tomorrow and you want to get all the great bonuses that come with this book! I ordered a copy for me just for the bonuses. You can order a copy at https://melissaknorris.com/familygardenplan/ (https://melissaknorris.com/familygardenplan/) Support this podcast

What's your preference?Do you like long show notes that transcribe the full episode or do you like shorter versions? I made 2 copies of Golden Seeds From Melissa K. Norris. One I actually took notes by hand, 13 pages worth and then I typed them off. The other I just transcribed while listening. Which is your preference or do you just like to read it on the  (https://organicgardenerpodcast.com/podcast-2/pioneering-today-podcast/) ? Would you like a printed copy delivered to your home each month? (https://mikesgreengarden.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/gsi16melissanorrishandwritten.pdf) (https://mikesgreengarden.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/gsi16melissanorrispioneeringtodaypodcast-1.pdf) I'd love to know which you like better if you cold just hit reply and say long, short or website I'd really appreciate it! Don't forget to sign up to (https://mailchi.mp/9fc2f7aa40ff/familygardenplan) and leave her a 5-star review when you're done reading it! Happy New Year! Support this podcast

On today's show, we are talking about some really cool tips and tricks for using Pinterest in the garden and in the Kitchen that no one else is talking about. Tip 1: Use the image recognition feature to trade out an ornamental plant for an edible. Tip 2: How to Organize your Boards and Pins to help you build a plant folio and design.Tip 3: Use the search bar in various combinations and get creative with what's in season. Got Pampass Grass? (HeHeHeHe!)Nannette@edifulgardens.com https://edifulgardens.com/www.facebook.com/edifulgardens/ https://www.pinterest.com/edifulgardens/

The Garden Plan, Continued with the Garden Map So now that you have your list with quantities, you are ready to draw out your garden plan. Take a pencil and paper and make what I call a garden map. For example, I have about 50 4-by-4-foot beds. I like to store carrots so I plant 2 beds of that and I mark it off in my garden map. I like broccoli, so I plant 24 plants of that AFTER I check to see where they were planted last year and the year before. Crop rotation is important and helps avoid pest problems. The only way you'll be able to do this is by marking it down on your garden map. I love pesto, so I plant 16 basil plants and I mark that down on my garden map. The garden plan and map are essential to a successful garden. 

Why Have a Garden Plan? The Garden Plan is a very important tool for gardening and should never be skipped. To determine what to grow, I suggest start with your grocery list. What do you already buy? From that grocery list, make your garden list and see what you could feasibly grow at home. You can skip tree fruits like oranges, but salad greens and root vegetables are great for home gardens. If you don’t like Kale, don't grow it. But don't be afraid to try new things. Once you have a list of what you want to grow, come up with a realistic quantity. Start small because it's very easy to get excited and have too many plants and become overwhelmed and discouraged.

Original Air Date: May 5, 2018 The Garden Notebook is Important as a Rake and a Hoe One of the most important tools for a gardener is a garden notebook. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t sound like much of a ‘tool’ but it is as much a necessity as a rake and a hoe.  Since we are now eyeballing the garden plot it is time to plan.  For you experienced gardeners you probably have a good idea what you are going to plant, still, keeping track of what was planted where is important information when you rotate your crops. What's Inside? In my garden notebook I have a section for each of these: The Garden Plan, and Garden Map, a List of Seeds and Notes for Next Year.  I keep Past Years Plans and Maps, also it is helpful to record Harvest Stats, and I like to keep a Picture Scrap Book.  Helpful but not necessary is a Planting Log, Bed Journal of individual beds, an Inventory of Seeds, and it might be helpful to keep records of Temperature Highs and Lows for your location. The Garden Plan and the Garden Map are two different things.  The Plan is what you want to grow.  How many Broccoli plants, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes do you think you need?  How many Brussel Sprouts or Green beans do you want to plant.  But the if nothing else the Garden Plan and the Garden Map will help plan your garden. How to Start To begin with, to decide what you want to plant in your garden I suggest that rather than starting with the beautiful seed catalogs that flood your mailbox in January, start with your grocery list.  What do you and your family use every week, what do you buy, then from the grocery list, make a garden list.  Decide what you can grow from that list.  Obviously, you can skip the oranges out of hand!  But salad greens, veggies, root vegetables, tomatoes and cucumbers, peas, green beans are all easy to grow and if your family likes them start with those things.  If no one like kale in your family, don’t grow it, that is unless you are attempting to add more leafy greens to your family diet then experiment by all means, try new things.  Once you have your list then try to come up with a realistic quantity.  I talk to a new gardener recently who told me he was planting 100 tomato plants, I just about chocked, even I don’t plant that much! Start small and add because it is very easy to start starry eyed and get overwhelmed with large quantities and get discouraged. So, plan your garden like you plan your trip to the store with a simple list of what you need for seeds and plants.  Drawing a Garden Plan Once you have your list of seeds and plants, from your grocery list, now you are ready to draw out a simple garden plan.  If you are a beginner it is hard to know how much of each vegetable to plant.  Sometimes you have to work backwards or in a sense from both ends of the puzzle at once.  How much room do you have for a garden and how many permanent beds do you plan to put in, those decisions will help to determine how much you CAN grow.  Draw a simple map of the garden, I use graph paper, but notebook paper works just fine.  Sketch out your map.  Lets say you decide to start with 6 4x4 beds.  Sketch the bed and the start to place the veggies so you will quickly see how much you can plant. Mapping Your Beds I have approximately 50 4 foot by 4 foot garden beds.  It is a big garden and I have a pretty good idea what I want from it.  I like to store carrots so I plant 2 4x4 beds for fall harvest, I mark that on my garden map.  Broccoli and it is a cut-and-come-again crop so it lasts until mid-November and it's delicious, I plant 24 plants after I check to see where I planted the last year and the year before so I rotate that crop.  I plant 6 trellis’ with cherry tomatos, six per trellis and mark those on the map. I plant 4 4x4 squares of garlic in the fall so I have already filled in that planting on the garden map.  Also in the Fall I plant several 4x4 beds of spinach for the next Spring, again that goes on the garden map.

Welcome to Spring 2018!  Believe it or not considering it was snowing on the first day of Spring. It is only a matter of time before we can get into the yard and get into the garden.  Before you can do that, you need to plant seeds and grow some seedlings!  In this post and episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am going to discuss setting up an indoor gardening area and starting seeds indoors for spring gardens. Have you planted seeds yet?  I did on St. Patrick’s Day, and I have some great news to share with you about that! Introduction – How to Start Seeds Indoors for Spring Gardens If you have been following along over the past few weeks, we have been going through the general process for preparing for the 2018 Gardening Season.  We have done the following steps so far: Developed a garden plan – Developed a list of plants we want to grow) Ordered your seeds – Selected a reputable seed vendor and purchased seeds for our garden. While there are many seed vendors out there, I focused on four big vendors that members of the Small Scale Life Facebook Group and MN-WI Regenerative Agriculture Group use most often. Finally!  It is the moment of truth!  It is time to stop thinking and start doing!  I grabbed my seeds and some soil and got ready to get down to business…. Not so fast! Before I could start planting seeds, I had to some additional planning and prep work. Setting up the Indoor Growing Area Part of my planning and preparation work was to select an area in the house to grow seedlings.  In our previous house in St. Louis Park, I grew seedlings on two shelves in a cold and dark basement.  I discussed how I started seeds and some lessons learned after have some failures over the past few years in the following articles (on smallscalelife.com): How to Garden Indoores 8 Steps to Starting Plants Indoors Lessons Learned from Growing Indoors Four Lessons Learned from Starting Seeds For the 2018 Gardening Season, I had to find a new space to plant seeds and grow seedlings.  While I knew I would be regulated to the basement, it was a much different situation in this house in Minneapolis.  The basement is not as warm as the upper level, but it isn’t as brutally cold and dark as the St. Louis Park house.  I attribute that to the fact that half of the basement is insulated and finished, and that does help retain the heat!  Having more heat retained in the basement should help with germination, and I am hoping that having a warmer basement reduces the potential for damping off disease! I had to select my indoor growing area, and it really came down to three choices: the built-in near the television, the bar area or the workbench near the furnace.  I would not be able to use a shelf in this house simply because we have gear and things on all of our shelves.  We just do not have the extra shelf space! The biggest concern I had as I was evaluating each location was the availability of power (for grow lights, heating pads and a timer) and the impact on other basement users (like my son and wife Julie).  Each spot had power, so really it came down to finding a spot that would be out of the way and not bother anyone. The best spot was the workbench near the furnace.  While losing the workbench for potential projects is not ideal, it is important to remember that I would only need part of the workbench until mid-May.  What could possibly go wrong?  Besides, if we needed to use the workbench, everything can be moved quickly. Of course, that might mean that the trays go on top of the freezer, but I would only use it temporarily (I promise, Jules). The workbench is 27 inches wide, and that easily beats the narrow 18-1/2 inches on the St. Louis Park shelves.  In case you are wondering: yes, in this case, size does matter!  The extra width easily accommodates both seed trays in a side-by-side configuration on the workbench. On the shelves, I had to use scrap pieces of plywood to get over the lip of the shelf to get the trays to sit side-by-side.  This is much, much better! Equipment Needed Part of getting your equipment might include buying soil and seeds - March 2018 With seeds in my hand and a growing area selected, it was time to get my “equipment” out of storage in order to start seeds indoors.  My equipment consistec of the following: Seed trays 9x9 plug flats (or cells, as I like to call them) 5 gallon bucket or kitty litter bin (to hold the soil) Pro-Mix soil Heating pads Grow lights Timer Surge Protector Jumbo popsicle sticks or other labels for your seeds Most of these materials had been in storage for the winter.  I had to rummage around the garage to find what I needed, and then I realized that I had thrown away my 9x9 plug flats last season!  I had used these plug flats for a three seasons, and they were showing some age, wear and literal tears.  I wanted to get new plug flats, so I got rid of them. I went to the big box store and found that they did not have the 9x9 plug flats anymore.  I decided to pick up two McKenzie Pro-Hex Plug Flats instead.  They were relatively inexpensive: $5 per kit included a plug flat (72 plugs, tray and acrylic dome).  I would later throw away both of the domes (I feel they encourage damping off disease). On the same trip, I also picked up the Pro-Mix soil.  While I did pick up a package of Coir for the 2018 Soil Challenge, I wanted to have a more controlled experiment using smaller plug flats.  I also wanted the 2018 Soil Challenge to focus on the best soil for growing greens.  More on my thoughts and how I am going to conduct the 2018 Soil Challenge in a separate post! Armed with all of this gear and the seeds, NOW it was time to plant! Start Seeds Indoors: Time to Plant! Plug trays are loaded! St. Patrick's Day 2018 As I discussed in my Garden Plan, I want to plant at four distinct times this year.  I called these times “Stages.”  The first stage is early spring, right when the soil is starting to warm up.  There are plants that do well in those conditions, and I want to have a crop ready to put in the beds to take advantage of the season.  Plants that do well in the Early Spring Stage (when there are some cold nights) are: lettuce, spinach, Swiss Chard and green onions.  I added one more to my Early Season Stage: broccoli.  Most of these plants are quick-growing, and I decided to hold off from planting them on St. Patrick’s Day because I wanted to get the Late Spring Stage plants started. The Late Spring Stage plants are the vegetables and herbs that will be in the ground in mid-May and grow until late August.  These are the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, squash and herbs that are listed on my plan.  Because some of these plants take 80 days or more to for fruit to be ready, I wanted to get them started as soon as possible.  For other plants such as zucchini, squash, potatoes, green beans and cucumbers on the list, I will sow them directly into the beds or planters in May.  The real critical ones are the tomatoes, peppers and herbs, so that is where I wanted to begin. On a beautiful St. Patrick’s Day, I poured a drink, put on some music and started planting seeds in my new plug flats.  I had so much fun getting my hands in the dirt and planting over 144 vegetables and herbs on my potting table outside!  It was fantastic!  All in all, I planted the following: Cherry Tomatoes (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved San Marzano Tomatoes (3 rows) Opalka Roma Tomatoes (2 rows) Jalapenos (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved Red Bell Pepper (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved Pepperoncini (1 row) Banana Peppers (2 rows) Sweet Bell Peppers (1 row) Yellow Bell Peppers (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved Orange Bell Peppers (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved Dill (1 row) – seed I saved Basil (1 row) Oregano (1 row) Rosemary (1 row) Broccoli (1 row) I made sure to label the rows with jumbo popsicle sticks.  With three different varieties of tomatoes and seven different varieties of peppers planted, I did not want to make a mistake this year! Finally, I brought the trays inside, put them on the heating pads and added water to the trays.  I figured I had 7 days before I had to hook up the grow lights, so I started working on a system to support the lights when needed. Again, it does not need to be expensive, sophisticated or fancy; it just needs to work! I have something almost ready for prime time, but I figured I wouldn’t need the lights for a few more days, right? Putting It All Together It is time to get planting those seeds for your 2018 garden!  You don’t have to have the most sophisticated equipment or a greenhouse start seeds indoors.  If you are overwhelmed with this whole process, you can buy plants from the big box store, from a greenhouse, or from a friend, but it isn’t that hard if you break it down into the following steps: Developed a garden plan Purchase Seeds from a Reputable Vendor Purchase Some Equipment (i.e., soil, grow lights, timer, heating pads and trays) Put the soil in the tray and put the seeds in the soil Label everything Add water to the tray Put the trays under the grow lights and on the heating pads Wait! Now, you see Number 8 above?  Tom Petty was correct when he sang, “The waiting is the hardest part.”  However, if you do all of these steps right, you DO NOT have to wait long…. I went downstairs after dinner and looked at the seedlings. I was shocked: After 4 days, I have seedlings!  Tomatoes, basil and broccoli have punched through the soil. I guess there is something to this starting seeds indoor thing! This is great!  Of course, I need to finish the light system as soon as possible (which is now complete and operational), but I am very excited for this season.  It should be a great year!

Now that you developed your garden plan, it is time to start planting seeds for our gardens! Yes! It is time! Before you plant, you need to buy your seeds (unless you saved some from last season), and there are a lot of options out there. It can be confusing and overwhelming. In this post and episode, I am reviewing top seed sources for your 2018 garden. The best part about this: I am using feedback from the Small Scale Life Facebook Group and Minnesota-Wisconsin Regenerative Agriculture Group about seed vendors you use! You, my dear friends, your story are part of the show! In case you are new to our podcast and blog, Small Scale Life is all about removing stress from our lives by living simply through: • Gardening, • Healthy living, and • Having adventures along the way We are thrilled you are here and listening to our show or reading our blog. That means a lot to us, and frankly we wouldn’t do this if you weren’t part of our Small Scale Life. Thank you so much! Before we begin this episode, let’s hear from some friends of Small Scale Life: Friends of Small Scale Life • Aussie Flame Weeders – My friend Mick at Aussie Flame Weeders is offering flame weeders to reduce your non-revenue producing workload. If you want to eliminate weeds from your garden beds, a flame weeder is an efficient way to do it. I mean, who doesn’t want to burn pesky weeds with fire? Mick’s flame weeders are perfect for 30 inch (80 cm) garden beds and feature five stainless steel burners, 16” wheels and an ergonomic design that carries a propane tank so you don’t have to. Even if you don’t purchase a flame weeder, sign up on the Aussie Flame Weeder e-mail list to get access to videos and information. • Tommy Cakes – Midweek Mindset and the Small Scale Life Facebook Group Thank you to our friends of Small Scale Life. Remember: if you have a product or a service that you would like to be discussed on Small Scale Life, contact me at realsmallscalelife at gmail dot com or use the contact us page on smallscalelife.com. Introduction – Seed Vendors As we roll through February, it is time to get planting seeds and getting our seedlings started. As you have been finishing up your Garden Plans, I am sure you are finding that you need some seeds! If you type “seed vendors” into Google, you will be overwhelmed with companies and vendors selling all kinds of heirloom and genetically modified seeds. Where do you buy your seeds? This was the exact question I asked the two groups I manage on Facebook: • Small Scale Life Facebook Group • MN-WI Regenerative Agriculture Facebook Group I wanted to get the perspectives of urban farmers, homesteaders and gardeners. The great thing is that this is input from across the country (Small Scale Life Group) and locally in Minnesota and Wisconsin (MN-WI Group). I wanted to see if there might be differences in how small scale gardeners buy their seeds versus more commercial operations like Michael Bell’s Half Acre Farms or Scott Hebert’s Flavourful Farms. The results in each group are summarized below and will serve as the basis for reviewing top seed sources. Small Scale Life Facebook Group We had some good participation from group members, and I appreciate your thoughts and feedback in the poll and on my direct messages. Here is what the results are telling us: • Johnny Seeds is the clear leader for growers in the Small Scale Life Facebook Group. • Baker Creek is in second place with Seed Savers in a distant third place. • A few of our Small Scale Life members were very interested in saving their own seeds. Homesteader Greg Burns told me that his goal is to plant using saved seeds and not purchase any. New to gardening, Jacob Heinberg is starting his garden this year, and he is very interested in seed saving. While I won’t get into specifics in this post, I will have some posts about it in the near future. MN-WI Regenerative Agriculture Group The MN-WI Regenerative Agriculture Facebook Group is a smaller group composed of farmers, homesteaders and gardeners in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I wanted to set up a local network of people to replicate the Ohio Get Stuff Done Group, and there is a great group of people there. I plan to start meeting people in this group, but that is for another time. From the people that participated in this poll, we have the following results: • Seed Savers Exchange was the leader. • Burpee is second. • Saving your own seeds is in third place. Top Seed Vendors In order to help reviewing top seed sources, your humble correspondent went a little above and beyond and ordered seed catalogs from Johnny Selected Seeds, Baker Seed Company, Seed Saver Exchange and Burpee. I wanted to briefly review top seed sources from our polls and show the differences between their seed catalogs. While you can get a lot of information off each vendor’s website, seed catalogs provide a wealth of information about the seeds, produce or herbs, time to maturity, yield and some history about the origin of that particular plant or herb. One seed catalog provides specific information about resistance to certain blight (and that might be one of the reasons they are a leader). Johnny’s Selected Seeds Started in 1973, Johnny Selected Seeds is based in Maine and is 100% employee owned. They offer a variety of vegetable, herb, fruit and flower seeds. Johnny Seeds also offers a variety of tools and supplies for gardeners, market farmers and farmers. I am impressed by the information that Johnny Seeds has compiled beyond the description, days to maturity, what to expect at harvest and price options. The disease resistance information and germination guides are great! They also have some suggested planting program information for market farmers to follow during the “Stages” of the growing season. There is a lot to like about Johnny Seeds. What about cost? Johnny Seeds seems to be more expensive than other seed vendors; however, they offer seed packages for commercial producers (i.e., farmers). Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company printed its first seed catalog in 1998 when the owner was 17 years old. Baker Creek has three stores: Petaluma, CA; Mansfield, MO; Wethersfield, CT. They offer a variety of heirloom vegetable, herb, flower and fruit seeds, and if you are interested, they host events at their stores. Looking at their seed catalog, it is a straight-forward affair: history of the particular item, description of what to expect at maturity, days to maturity, amount in the packet (selected items) and price. Unlike Johnny’s, Baker Creek does not seem to have larger packages for commercial producers (i.e., farmers). What about cost? Baker Creek seems to be less expensive than Johnny’s Seeds and seems to be in the same range as Seed Savers Exchange and Burpee (depending on the item). Seed Savers Exchange Seed Saver Exchange started in 1975 and is based in Decorah, Iowa. They offer a variety of heirloom vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruit. They promote their seed saving community and seed saving movement. Their seed catalog includes history of the particular item, description of what to expect at maturity, days to maturity, amount of seed in each option (all items) and price per seed option. Unlike Baker Creek, Seed Savers does offer some larger packages for more commercial operations. What about cost? Seed Savers seems to be less expensive than Johnny’s Seeds and seems to be in the same range as Baker Creek and Burpee (depending on the item). Burpee Burpee is big, and it is everywhere: Menards, Walmart, Home Depot, grocery stores, etc. Started in 1876, they are headquartered in Warminister, PA. They have vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruit, gardening supplies, seed starting supplies and lots of other items. Their seed catalog includes days to maturity, description of what to expect at maturity, amount of seed in each option (all items) and price per seed option. Burpee does not seem to have larger packages for commercial producers (i.e., farmers). It is a one-size-fits-all approach, and you can easily purchase their products at big box stores near you. What about cost? Burpee seems to be less expensive than Johnny’s Seeds and seems to be in the same range as Baker Creek and Seed Savers (depending on the item). What About Saving Your Own? Perhaps you don’t have the funds to spend on all these vendors. Times are tough for some, and there are ways to get gardening without breaking your bank. Seed saving is a great way to get your own seed collection started on the cheap. While I am not going to go into detail in this post about saving seeds, it is as easy as saving those pepper seeds in your bell peppers or jalapenos. Instead of composting them (and maybe growing vegetables and herbs in your compost pile), save the seeds from peppers, squash, cucumbers and other vegetables on a plate and let them dry out. Just make sure you label them or it could get messy! Saving tomato seeds is a little trickier. Tomatoes have a gelatinous membrane around the seeds, and you need to break that down by “fermenting” the seeds for a couple days. It isn’t hard, but I am planning to write a post about that. Of course, if you have a tomato you like, you can take a slice with seeds in it and plant it in soil. You will generate tomato seedlings! We will cover seed saving in another post. Other Seed Sources Be on the lookout for other sources of seeds. Some groups and organizations have seed exchanges and offer seeds. These can be great sources as well. The only potential drawback is that you might not get the particular variety you want, but you might get something unexpected! Putting It All Together After developing your Garden Plan for this year, it is time to purchase seeds. There are a lot of vendors out there, and it can be overwhelming to sort through all of them. The key is to use your Garden Plan to identify the seeds you need, and purchase your seed according to availability and price. Maybe you want to get your seed from one vendor that has them all? Perhaps you want to try a couple different vendors? Keep in mind that I only listed the big four from our poll. There are other vendors out there. You can save seeds from vegetables from the store or from your garden. That will save money and get you going this year, but you might not get the variety of tomato, pepper, bean or other vegetable you want. The benefits to saving your own are gaining that experience and saving money. Be on the lookout for seed exchanges or offers for free seeds. These can be ways to add to your collection. There is no right or wrong answer. The key is to get moving and collect your seeds because it is time to plant! That is next week’s topic! Thank You That’s about all for this post and podcast. I hope you found that reviewing top seed sources was useful and helpful. If you have comments or questions, please leave them as a comment to this post on Small Scale Life, use the Contact Us page, or send me an e-mail at realsmallscalelife at gmail dot com. Thank you again for listening to the Small Scale Life Podcast and visiting smallscalelife.com. We appreciate you and your time. Our wish for you is that you remove some of that stress in your life and live simply this week. This is Tom from Small Scale Life, and we’ll see you next time! Take care, everyone!

We have hit mid-February!  It is time to get planting seeds for our 2018 garden!  As many of you know, I have been starting seeds in my basement for a few years now.  I learn something new each year, and last year was no different.  Like everything in life, you learn the most from your failures, and I had a couple last year.  I am not afraid to admit it!  In this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am going to discuss Four Lessons Learned from Starting Seeds in my basement last year. Happy Valentine's Day! Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!  I hope you had a great day yesterday and had some fun. Julie and I went to a winery in Waconia, Minnesota, for some wine and jazz with our good friends.  It was a lot of fun to catch up and enjoy some really good wine and food!  We even made some new friends who just purchased 20 acres north of the winery and are making a really cool place out of the wetlands and woods on their land. I am taking Tommy Cakes’ advice from last week’s Midweek Motivation: enjoy local events and make real, authentic memories with friends, family and your community. Update: Developing Your 2018 Garden Plan In the last show, I discussed Developing a 2018 Garden Plan.  Your garden plan will serve as your foundation for gardening success this year.  I did get some feedback from folks about that show, and I wanted to add two points for narrowing down your “Pie in the Sky Plan” to a feasible, realistic plan: Climate - Consider your climate and what grows there. If you live in Minnesota like me, you do not want oranges, avocados and lemons in your plan if you don’t have special climate controlled facilities to grow them. Actual Layout - To help with planning your garden, it might help to actually plan out where everything will go using a piece of graph paper, wipe board or computer. The key is to get realistic sizes for plants and your garden (to scale).  I will have another post on how to do that in the near future. Those are great suggestions, and I have added them to the show notes from the last episode. 4 Lessons Learned from Seed Starting I have been starting plants from seed in my basement for a few years now.  I learn something new each year, and last year was no different.  Like everything in life, you learn the most from your failures, and I had a couple last year.  I am not afraid to admit it!  Let's discuss four lessons learned from starting seeds in 2017. Why start seeds yourself? I started planting my own seeds in 2014 or so.  Back then, I was buying plants from big box home improvements stores, but I found that I was getting frustrated with the following: Quality – Plants at the local big box home improvement stores were just not healthy.  Some were wilting or had blight, others were terribly stunted and looked “bad.”  I usually could nurse them back to health but it always took some work to get them growing in the right direction. Selection – Big box home improvement stores just did not seem to offer a wide enough selection of plants.  Some had a couple of varieties of tomatoes, but I didn’t want to grow that particular type of cherry tomato, big beefsteak tomato or “summer salsa” tomato.  I wanted something a little different.  I found the same applied to peppers as well.  When I started growing my own, I had control and picked the type of plant I wanted to grow. Cost – The final reason I started growing my own plants from seed was that the cost was simply too high.  Typically, you are paying at least a dollar for each inch of height of seedling, and some of the more mature plants can be six to ten dollars a piece.  If you have a big garden bed or several beds, gardening gets very expensive very quickly!  I had a 12-foot long bed with 16 tomato plants in it, the cost for these 3-inch tall plants could be $48 (plus tax)! I decided to start growing my own seeds, and I found that the materials to start growing were fairly inexpensive.  I had articles and a podcast about that last year in the following articles: How to Garden Indoors 8 Steps to Starting Seeds Indoors 9 Lessons Learned from Starting Seeds Indoors - Season 2, Episode 6    4 Lessons Learned from Seed Starting That said, I am going to need to set up a new growing area since moving to this new house.  Regardless, I need to keep the following four lessons learned from last year in mind as I begin growing plants this year. 1. Label, label, label Make sure to label everything as you plant seeds and later transplant your seedlings. One of the problems I ran into last year was how I labeled seedlings when I started growing them.  I was trying to be clever with the Potting Soil Challenge by using masking tape on the seed trays.  It worked great initially when I had the grow lights a few inches above the soil, but as time went by and the seedlings grew, I needed to put some kind of marker/label in the seedling cell.  Over the course of growing, I move cells around to check the plants, take off the first leaves and eventually transplant them.  If I take out several of the cells, the cells get mixed up, and I lose track of what is what.  Labels are cheap, so take the time to buy some popsickle sticks or plastic sticks to label each plant.  If you don’t label plants, you garden will be like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates: “You’ll never know what you’re gonna get!” 2. Keep a Journal Life is busy, and as much as we like to THINK we are going to remember details about our growing season, things and life happens. We actually forget what happened!  Keeping a simple journal will help you remember: What worked What didn’t work How you tried to fix problems and/or counteract plants and blight One thing that I have tried to track is germination rates and growth for different types of seed in the different types of soil (part of the 2017 Potting Soil Challenge).  While my intentions were good, I fell behind last year and eventually abandoned the log.  This was unfortunate because I could not draw solid conclusions from the 2017 Potting Soil Challenge.  I will do a better job this year as part of the 2018 Potting Soil Challenge! 3. Transplant Seedlings Earlier I traditionally have planted and transplanted seedlings according to the following timeline: Late February – Plant seeds in cells and seed trays Mid-Late April – Transplant seedlings into cups Late May – Transplants seedlings into garden beds I want to change this timeline this year.  While it has worked out “ok” in the past few years, I find that the seedlings’ roots become tangled messes by mid to late April.  While the seedlings usually survive the transplanting process, I want to see if the seedlings will be healthier and stronger if I transplant them earlier. The last frost date in Zone 4B is typically around May 10th, and that date defines when I transplant plants into the garden without fear of a killer frost.  I cannot change that date (it is due to climate), but I can change when I start planting seeds in the garden beds.  Because I live in Minnesota, I need to push to get every day that I can for plant growth.  By delaying to late May or early June, I have lost valuable time and produce from my plants.  Getting these plants in the ground might result in a late harvest from some of these plants! 4. Using Coir…Effectively I used Burpee’s Coir product for the first time last year in the classrooms and with my own seedlings. I had never used it before, and for those of you who have never used it, coir is made from recycled coconut fibers.  It comes in a small brick.  Once you add water to it, the material is ready for your seeds.  It is important to know that coir holds up to 150% of its weight in water and, most importantly, retains that water. For me, I was used to my traditional methods of growing seedlings: add soil to the seed tray cells or cup, plant the seeds, and water from the bottom.  It never occurred to me that coir was already a saturated medium and would not wick up more water.  In fact, it would start to rot in the cup (anaerobically) if it got too much water! I realized this because the coir soil began to smell horribly.  Some of the seedlings growth slowed, and some seedlings died because of root rot. I used coir exclusively with my school outreach in 2017.  The two classes that I worked with last year did not have this problem.  In fact, their plants thrived and did quite well because they watered the plants from the top where I was watering from the bottom. I am going to try growing more seeds with coir this year and track my results as part of the 2018 Potting Soil Challenge. Putting It All Together I have found that planting seeds improves the quality of your plants, provide better selection of plants and is cost effective (especially if you have larger gardens).  Over the years, I have learned a lot of lessons.  Last year, I learned the following: Label everything Keep a journal Transplant seedlings and plants earlier Use coir more effectively Even if you don’t start your plant from seed this year, you can implement some of these lessons in your own homestead, garden and flower beds.

It has been an incredible two weeks. Julie and I moved all of our gear out of a storage locker and into this little house in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am glad to be back on track with a Tuesday Gardening Show, and I think I have a good show for you today. After a couple weeks of short posts and podcasts, including the introduction of a new regular show called Midweek Motivation by the Coastal Cosmopolitan Tommy Cakes, we are gearing up for Garden Season 2018! In this post and podcast episode, I am going to discuss How to Develop A 2018 Garden Plan: what I am going to grow and how I am going to grow it. I am making some adjustments to my planting strategy based on conversations with Michael Bell, Scott Hebert, Doneil Freeman, Drew Sample, Greg Burns and other market farmers. While I am not going to grow commercially, I am going to adopt some of their concepts and principles to make my garden very productive in 2018. That is the plan, anyway! In case you are new to our podcast, blog and social media platforms, Small Scale Life is all about removing stress from our lives by living simply through: Gardening, Healthy living, and Having adventures along the way We are thrilled you are here and listening to our show or reading our blog. That means a lot to us, and frankly we wouldn’t do this if you weren’t part of our Small Scale Life. Before we begin this episode, let’s hear from some friends of Small Scale Life! Friends of Small Scale Life A Bee Friendly Compamy - Michael Jordan Are you interested in bees, beekeeping, honey or mead? If you are, you need to check out A Bee Friendly Company out of Cheyenne, Wyoming! Michael Jordan, who is on The Survival Podcast Panel of experts and has been on the Small Scale Life Podcast, is an actual bee whisperer. I am constantly amazed by the work that Michael is doing to improve apiaries and communities in his backyard, at the local school and across the country. Michael is broadcasting information on Facebook Live every Wednesday at 5:00 PM Mountain (5 minutes at 5 PM), so check him out. If you are interested in bees, beekeeping, honey or mead, check out Michael Jordan’s A Bee Friendly Company on Facebook! Nature’s Image Farm – Greg Burns Great news, everyone! It is time to start planning for spring. Are you looking for comfrey, bees or trees? Greg Burns from Nature’s Image Farm has what you need. Nature’s Image Farm has Comfrey Bocking 4 and Comfrey Bocking 14 cuttings available for you today. Looking to start beekeeping and are looking for bees? Natures Image Farm has 5 frame nucs available now! Keep in mind that there is a deadline of February 10, 2018, so contact Nature’s Image Farm today. If you want to add trees to your property, Greg will also be updating tree bundles next week. Nature’s Image Farm will once again have exciting bundles availavle soon for urban homesteaders and farmsteaders including pawpaw, seaberry, rugusa rose, apple, pear, American chestnut, butternut, elderberry, mulberry, service berry and more. They have everything you need to start your own food forest or family orchard, which is pretty cool! Remember: Use code “SSL” for Small Scale Life for 10% off and free shipping, and let a real American hero Captain Lumbersquatch Greg Burns know that you heard about Natures Image Farms on Small Scale Life. Check out naturesimagefarm.com today! Tommy Cakes – Midweek Mindset and the Small Scale Life Facebook Group Thank you to our friends of Small Scale Life. Remember: if you have a product or a service that you would like to be discussed on Small Scale Life, contact me at realsmallscalelife at gmail dot com or use the “Contact Us” page on smallscalelife.com. News Before we begin, I want to go through some news items. First off, I am working on things behind the scenes to improve the Small Scale Life experience. It feels like we are getting momentum and starting to focus in on the message and direction of the blog and podcast. As part of that, we are going to start digging into Wicking Beds and launching Wicking Bed Nation, so stay tuned for that. Next, I get excited when I can connect groups of people. A great example of this was connecting Michael Bell with Michael Hingston from Aussie Flame Weeders, and I think these connections are happening in our Small Scale Life Community (on the blog, Facebook, and Instagram). To help connect people through Small Scale Life, a number of us are running or starting small businesses, and it is great to connect with folks and get your name out there. To help with that, I am working on developing a business directory on smallscalelife.com. We want to connect people. We want to connect our audience to your quality businesses and products. If you want to be included in our business directory, let me know. If you want to be included, contact us at realsmallscalelife at gmail dot com or use the “Contact Us” page on smallscalelife.com. Finally, I do have some exciting news! A company that makes the Coir product for Burpee heard my Potting Soil Challenge Podcast from last year, and they have reached out to me. This company would like to donate some Coir product for the school outreach I do each spring. I tried Coir bricks for the first time last year in the classroom, and the kids loved watching this brick of material turn into a growing medium. I really appreciate their interest, and I am really excited to work with this company and report on this in the future. Wow…that was a lot, but it good stuff to talk about with you. Enough of all that; let’s get back to the show! Introduction The Super Bowl is over, and we are almost to the middle of February. For gardeners, homesteaders and farmers in the northland, people are in high-gear planning and plotting for this year’s Growing Campaign. I know folks down in Texas, other southern states and our friends on the other side of the world in Australia and New Zealand are already in high gear, and I always need to keep that in mind! I am no exception. I have been planning what plants I want to grow this year and how I am going to fit everything in these limited gardens! For those of you who are new to the show, I moved last June to a relatively small urban lot in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At this new house, I inherited two four-foot by six-foot square foot gardens. These raised beds do need some love and attention because the wood is rotting, and I have a plan to replace them with Wicking Beds in the near future. Developing a Garden Plan Planning what vegetables and plants you grow feeds right into your overall gardening strategy and seed purchase. It is almost time to get those seeds ordered and started! If you are here, you fit into one of three categories: New gardeners who have never grown anything before. Somewhat experienced gardeners and really didn’t get the results we were hoping for. Seasoned veterans who have had literally tasted the success of gardening. No matter where you fall in the Gardening Spectrum, we all start at the same place at the beginning of the season: The Garden Plan. The Garden Plan is the foundation for your season’s success. It helps guide you through the seed catalogs, websites, seed kiosks and tables of live plants at the local greenhouse or big box store. Your Garden Plan is all about you. What do you want to grow? Where do you want to start? This can be overwhelming, and I have acted like a therapist talking with people who are overwhelmed by choices and options or talked with people who want to plant it all. The fact is: we can’t plant it all. We can’t grow it all. After all, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, there are 25,000 tomato varieties. Other sources say 10-15,000 varieties being actively cultivated worldwide. That is a lot of tomatoes! We can’t grow it all, so you might be asking, where do you start? Grow What You Eat When you start your 2018 Garden Plan, you really need to think about what you and your family will eat. It doesn’t make sense to grow a ton of tomatoes, eggplant or squash if no one in your family likes to eat them! Focus on what you eat and grow those things. For example: If you like salsa, you should look to grow tomatoes, peppers, onions, and cilantro. If you like dill pickles, you should look at growing cucumbers, dill, onions and maybe some jalapeno peppers (to spice it up a bit). If you like pesto, you should grow basil and maybe some parsley. Think about what goes into your favorite dishes and recipes. Grow the things that you use often or can preserve for that long march in the winter between December and April. If you have trouble thinking about vegetables and herbs you use, take a notebook and keep a food log for a couple weeks. Write down the key vegetables and herbs you use on a daily basis. That can be a starting point for not only your Garden Plan but also your plan to prepare for tough times (some folks call it prepping or modern day survival). Write Out Your Garden Plan Once you have thought about those dishes, recipes and preserved foods, you can start to write down a list of vegetables and herbs that you want to grow this year. Start big; write them all down. I am serious: write all those vegetables and herbs down on a piece of paper. We will start with a “Pie in the Sky” Garden Plan and then start to hone it down to a manageable, realistic plan. How do you do that? Look at your available space in your growing area. Remember: your space in the garden might be very limited. Some of these plants can get pretty large (i.e., squash, zucchini, pumpkins and tomato varieties). You will need to balance your “Pie in the Sky List” with spatial realities (i.e., you want to grow pumpkins but are limited to a north-facing condominium balcony). I cannot emphasize this enough: do not waste your time and very valuable space for growing things that you and your family don’t like or won’t eat. Grow what you eat; otherwise, you will be making compost out of plants, herbs and vegetables that you do not eat. If you are tight on space or want to experiment with new vegetables and herbs, I recommend buying those items at the local Farmer’s Market, buying from a local farmer or finding a local gardener or friend who will trade with you. If you like those items, maybe you will expand your garden or work those items into your plan next year. If you have an opportunity to expand your growing area and grow more, there are a lot of options. We will discuss that in future posts and podcasts as well. My 2018 Garden Plan I started planning my garden in late January 2018. I sat down with my secret Small Scale Life Notebook (it has nuclear codes in it, trust me) and started roughing out my “Pie in the Sky” Garden Plan. As I wrote everything out, I started to think about how the gardening season has gone for me over the past few years. I plant everything in one shot in mid to late May, and certain plants just don’t fare well in the hot days in late June and July. Some plants, like spinach, lettuce, sugar snap peas and other greens, actually prefer cooler weather. I decided to develop a two stage approach to my Spring Garden Plan. As you can see in the image, I am going to plant greens, green onions and sugar snap peas in the early spring (i.e., April). These plants tend to grow quickly, and I can get a harvest before the Late Spring Stage kicks off. In the Late Spring Stage, I am going to plant the bulk of the other vegetables and herbs after the first frost date (May 10 in Zone 4B – Twin Cities). I will intercrop the Late Spring Stage Plants with the Early Spring Stage Plants. That means I will plant tomato starts next to sugar snap peas, and I will use companion guides to intercrop the peppers, onions, and greens. The other thing you might notice is that I don’t have enough room for all of the Late Spring Stage Plants. I have two four by six foot raised garden beds, and while they can handle a lot of plants, I am going to need more capacity. It is time to show you my plans for constructing and operating wicking beds. It is time to launch Wicking Bed Nation! Putting It All Together Newbie or experienced gardener, we all start at the same place in the Long March of Winter. Before you get overwhelmed with the seed catalogs, websites, seed stands or plants available at the local greenhouse or big box store, do some planning! Develop that basic foundation that will set you up for success this year by following these steps: Develop your Pie in the Sky List Narrow the Pie in the Sky List down by visualizing your available growing space and what you and your family actually will eat If you want to experiment with new vegetables and herbs, plan to purchase them at the store, farmers market, local gardener or trade with someone If you can expand your growing area, go for it! We will discuss some ideas that you might want to try this year! Your Turn I am curious about your 2018 Garden Plan. How do you plan your garden? Have you completed this process yet? Have you purchased your seeds yet? Put your thoughts and experiences in the comments section of this post on smallscalelife.com or join the Small Scale Life Facebook Group and share your experiences there. What’s Next? In our next Gardening Podcast, I will be walking us through some seed catalogs and purchasing seed. It is time to move ahead with my 2018 Garden Plan and take it to the next level. I will also start discussing my Wicking Bed plans, so stay tuned for that. In addition, we are lining up some more guests for the podcast. I am going to talk about Minimalism with my wife Julie, Homesteading with Greg Burns and the Urban Farming on the February Bellcast with Michael Bell. Stay tuned, I feel that we are off to a strong start to the year and really starting to get some great momentum! Thank you again for listening to the Small Scale Life Podcast and visiting smallscalelife.com. We appreciate you and your time. Our wish for you is that you remove some of that stress in your life and live simply this week. This is Tom from Small Scale Life, and we’ll see you next time! Take care, everyone!

A Garden, A Gardener, and a Garden Plan by Cornerstone Presbyterian Church Franklin

I continue a discussion from last episode (which got cut off) about fatigue and how the raw food diet solves this problem. I also talk about a new product I tried called Adya Clarity, which is supposed to precipitate heavy metals and other things out of water, and help detoxify your body.  Plus...more than you probably want to know about colon hydrotherapy.  ;-)  And I share my plans for my garden this year.

I continue a discussion from last episode (which got cut off) about fatigue and how the raw food diet solves this problem. I also talk about a new product I tried called Adya Clarity, which is supposed to precipitate heavy metals and other things out of water, and help detoxify your body.  Plus...more than you probably want to know about colon hydrotherapy.  ;-)  And I share my plans for my garden this year.