Garden Seeds

I planned to have three plantings for this growing season.  With my square foot garden plot plan finished, I purchased some seed packets at Lowe's.  I based my decisions on several criteria.

• Type of vegetable

• Planting time

• Days to harvest

• Height of foliage

• Easy to grow

Above is my early planting grid.  At Lowe's, I purchased bunching onions, carrots and snow peas along with their inoculant.  I liked the varieties of lettuce and radishes I saw in the Johnny's seed catalog.  So I will be online to purchase the other seeds at Johnny's Select Seeds.  I looked online at seeds from Totally Tomatoes and like what I saw there, also.  Here is the problem with mail order, shipping and the price of the seeds themselves.  The difference in the price of seeds isn't that great especially if I can only get those seeds online.  However, the cost of shipping must also be considered.  I think it is better to order all your seeds from one place to keep the ratio of shipping costs to seed packet as low as possible.  At a Lowe's store the prices are lower and there is no shipping (there is the cost of gasoline, though).  Plus if I made an error in choosing seeds, I can return them without spending money for return postage.  But, Lowe's doesn't have all the varieties I desire.  So, I will order some seeds from Johnny's.

The second planting will follow the above grid.  I purchased the melon, cucumber and zucchini seeds at Lowe's.  I still need lettuce, beans, peppers, and tomatoes.

The final planting will follow the above grid.  I will have enough seeds remaining from the early planting of carrots, lettuce and radishes.  I need to add broccoli and cabbage to my order.


Lowe's also sells vegetable plants when the weather warms a bit.  I like the plants sold under the Bonnie Plants label.  I perused their website and chose tomato and pepper plants that I wish to purchase.  I talked to the Assistant Store Manager in charge of the seasonal area at Lowe's to see if they can request the kinds of plants to put into their store.  I was informed that Bonnie Plants places their plants in Lowe's on a consignment agreement.  Which means that Bonnie Plants decides which plants to deliver to Lowe's.  I guess I need to contact Bonnie Plants.


Here are the Bonnie Plants I would like to purchase for my garden.


Tomato
• Mortgage Lifter 
• Black Krim 
• Black Cherry 
• Super Sweet 100 
• Sweet Cherry

Pepper
• Cajun Belle 
• Cubanelle

That is my plan.  I have about one month before my early planting.  I will order the seeds from Johnny's and they should arrive in time. If not, I will look for seeds at other local stores.  I am sure I can find seeds there that are close to my criteria.


I will email Bonnie Plants and see if I can request the above plants delivered to my nearest Lowe's.  I have one month to ready the soil and prepare my supports and stretch string to delineate the grid.


Are you planning your garden?  Leave a comment and tell us about your 2012 garden.


PS - At the last minute I found a free shipping code 12-1005 that saved me $10.00 at Johnny's.


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Garden Planning 2012

I am in the midst of planning my garden plot for 2012.  The plot covers only 16 sq ft of area.  For that reason I need to plan carefully to get the most production.  

Last year I dug and planted a 4' square foot garden plot.  I removed a great deal of rocks and large stones from the soil.  I added sand, vermiculite, perlite, blood meal, super phosphate, calcium and composted manure.  When I was finished extracting rocks and stones, digging, turning and racking, the garden soil was level with the existing lawn.
My ground is mostly rock with just an inch or so of topsoil.  Back in the late 60's when my house was built, the builder scraped all of the top soil from the land before building the homes.  Just one inch or so of top soil was returned to cover the sub-soil after building the house.  I dug down two feet into the lawn for the garden plot.  I removed all of the rock and screened the soil through 1/2" hardware cloth.  Added the above soil amendments before I began to plant.

2011 Garden Plot Plan

Magnetic orientation of plot

I divided the plot into 16 - 1' squares, four wide by four deep.  I used 1/2" rebar and other supports on which I strung twine to vertically support the tomato vines.  I sunk one plant in each square except the corn which I seeded with 4 plants per square.

I didn't have enough money to purchase more soil amendments nor did I have the physical energy to increase the amount of soil to mound it above the lawn level.   This proved to be a big mistake.


In May there were two long spells of rainfall.  With each rainfall the plot flooded because of the rock and dense clay structure of the surrounding soil.  The garden soil looked like quicksand.  Many of the plants drowned and had to be replaced.  The growth of the plants that survived, was retarded.  I should have cut a drain into the lawn or built up the soil at least 8" above the lawn level, but I didn't.


In the fall, in an effort to remedy the soil problems, I used a leaf blower to pile all the fallen tree leaves on my front lawn.  I then reversed the blower and sucked the fallen leaves into a trash can.   The blower shredded the leaves and reduced their volume by 80%-90%.  I then surrounded the square plot with 4' high wire fencing and dumped the shredded leaves onto the plot.  The pile was 3' high and 4' square, 1.33 cubic feet of dry, shredded leaves.  I expected the leaves to naturally compost over the next several months.  Sometime in late February or early March, I will turn those leaves into the first 1' of garden plot soil.  That action will add nutrients, retain water and raise the soil above the lawn level.  Hopefully, raising the plot will eliminate the water drainage problem.


All of that in due time.  Now I need to plan carefully and judiciously.


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved