I’ve got overlapping goals for my home and field gardening in 2022, but one theme will definitely be extending the growing season this year over the past year. In 2021, we were still prepping the goat field soil in June to put in the first squash plants late that month, so we didn’t have the benefit of overwintering plus early spring growing.
Here at home, I have been more eager than ever to start seeds (maybe it’s a second year of COVID? Or the fact that we have had pretty regular hard freezes and consistently colder temps than recent years). Two big moves here on the seed-starting front have allowed me to start early without getting stuck inside with giant adolescent plants before the weather allows them to move outside:
A new, simple greenhouse structure for hardening off seeds I’ll start in our garage
Wintersowing cold hardy flowers: I’m following some neighbors’ lead and starting some of my flower seeds in clear plastic containers (I’ve got lettuce trays from the grocery store, 2 liter soda bottles and take out containers to work with!). The idea is that these varieties of flowers need the freezing outdoor temperatures to trigger their germination, so why not let them start outside in the cold but in the controlled environment of the mini-greenhouse some trash can offer!? I’m trying this with:
3 varieties of poppies
Strawflower
Wild bergamot/bee balm
Calendula
Love-in-a-mist
My dad and I with our last wheelbarrow-ful of squash to share
Varities to continue from last year:
Pole beans on trellis
Pickling cucumbers
Watermelon
Nasturtium
Sunflowers
Zinnia
Swiss chard
Red Kuri and butternut squash
Seminole and Connecticut field pumpkins
What to try differently or improve over last year:
April/May transplants and direct seeding
Start eggplant, tomatoes earlier (last year we transplanted in mid-July)
Increase flower diversity
Stick to edible squash varieties
start squash a week or two later to dodge vine borer (and harvest in october)
Consider landscape fabric for squash patch
Freeze more green beans
Troubleshoot ruby buckwheat
Keep working towards soil health in my home raised beds (where I’ve struggled with root knot nematodes) by adding another round of beneficial nematodes, plus fortifying seedlings as they get transplanted with some good bacteria from Arbico Organics
New attempts this year:
Popcorn, sweetcorn
Three sisters companion planting for corn, squash and pole beans
Winter sowing flowers
Hardening off seedlings in greenhouse
Onions from seed
Perennials: rhubarb, asparagus, strawberries (in permanent beds?)
New annual flowers: poppy, strawflower, globe amaranth, echinacea, aster, bee balm, sweet pea, marigold (plus continue calendula, zinnia)
Snap peas
Overwintered hardneck garlic
Teepee with scarlet runner beans? Sweet pea?