It may be the middle of the winter, but since Mrs. Denmarkguy and I have been doing the whole "Urban Homsteading" thing for some years now... it's never too soon to be thinking ahead to spring and the coming growing season!
Apples from this autumn's harvest
I was out checking the fenced in part of the garden a few days ago, and following our "deep freeze event" in mid-December, I can say that everything in the raised beds is now well and truly gone.
Rather than pulling everything up in autumn, we let things die a natural death "in-place" so the greenery can become "organic material" in the soil for next year.
On nice days in January we try to get out there and formally "winterize" the beds and get rid of dead stalks and other debris... and add some soil where needed. January is not a bad time to buy garden soil because it tends to be cheaper before the entire world suddenly goes "garden crazy," in the spring.
The "strawberry spirals" are pretty much our own gig; they get the berries up and in the sun so they don't rot AND they are repellant to our eternal slugs.
More Food Growing Beds!
As we have been doing since 2020, we plan to add a couple more beds this year to (A) increase our food growing capacity and (B) reduce the amount of lawn that has to be mowed.
Aside from securing a food source, we were also inspired by a publicity campaign in nearly British Columbia, where the focus was on "GROW, don't MOW!" Although some will likely disagree, I have long thought that neatly manicured lawns are a great waste of space and resources in urban gardens.
Sure, have a little patch for your dog(s) to do their business on... or if you have kids/grandkids, maintain a decent rectangular area for them to use as play space. But aside from that? Replace that grass with something more useful!
Fresh garlic, anyone?
Winter Plantings and Starters
Although we get occasional cold, the ground here doesn't actually freeze, and the soil stays above 40 degrees (4C) most of the time.
We've had pretty good success with planting garlic in January where it can be dormant for a few weeks before the soil warms.
Meanwhile, January/February we get the potatoes started in the garage so they are "on their way" for planting in late Match, which will give us new potatoes by June or so... depending on the weather.
Around here, the weather has a big influence... although we don't get that much cold," we do/can have extended coolness and cloudiness which can cause very slow growth.
Crop Rotation... Well, Not EXACTLY!
We move the different veg we grow around, quite a bit... trying to figure what does well, and where. We have a solid fence and the garage causing shade at different times of the day, at different times of the year.
Part of what we're doing to trying to rotate some of the "deer proof" plants outside our fenced area.
This year, it will be the potatoes and onions that go "free range" as we have determined that our local herd of deer will not touch those... otherwise, they are very destructive critters!
New things we're getting into this year might include leeks, and perhaps some strains of squash that are easy growers but a little less watery and prosaic than the typical zucchini and yellow crookneck squash.
Love having fresh lettuce and arugula for as many months as possible!
Heirloom Seeds, Food and Seed Gathering
We try to grow everything in our garden from "heirloom seeds," which means we can let some of the bounty mature to seed, which we then gather and use the following year.
Hybrid seeds are "chancy" for seed storage because the plants tend to "revert" to their origins... and that's not always a pleasant experience. Like the pumpkins we had one year that never got beyond baseball size!
Anyway, it's never too soon to work on our garden... even if it is only planning!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!
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Created at 2023-01-04 00:17 PDT
0714/1969