Category Archives: Winter Gardening

The 2023 Gardening Season has Begun!

The 2023 garden has officially started. During the first week of February, I set up my Juwel Biostar 1500 cold frame outside (see pic below). I currently have no plants inside of it, but very soon my lettuce seedlings will be the first plants to go into it. Lettuce seeds were planted inside under grow lights on February 20th. In another 7 to 10 days I will start seeds of celery, kohlrabi, brussels sprouts, and broccoli inside. Around the middle of March I will start all of the rest of my warm season seeds like peppers and tomatoes inside. I like to start all my seeds inside under grow lights to speed germination. After the seeds germinate, I will move them to the cold frame outside, if the weather cooperates.

Most of my fall seeded lettuce has survived the winter under the plastic covered hoop (see pic below). My fall planted top-setting onions have started to push new green growth through the soil (see pic below).

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Juwel Cold Frame in the Garden, Picture Taken 2-21-23

Overwintered Lettuce Under the Plastic Covered Hoop, Picture Taken 2-21-23

Top Setting Onions Pushing up New Growth, Picture Taken 2-21-23

2022 Garden Review and Last of the Garden Harvest

Well, the 2022 gardening year has come and gone. I was able to harvest the last remaining carrots, on December 19, 2022, just before the below zero weather hit Central Indiana (see pic below). The 2022 garden was a big success, despite the very dry conditions from mid summer to late fall. I tried a few new things in the garden this year, which turned out to be a resounding success. One being the landscape fabric placed under the tomato plants (see pic below) and the other using a bean tower for the rattlesnake pole beans. The landscape fabric under the tomatoes kept the leaf blight in check. I have been battling this leaf disease for many years now. In 2022, I had the best tomato crop in about 7 or 8 years. Also, last year, I tried a pole green bean (rattlesnake) which I had growing up a bean tower which was purchased from Gardener’s Supply Company. This tower worked really well and the beans grew and climbed like crazy on it.

Now is the time to be planning your 2023 garden. I will be ordering seeds and plants over the next few weeks. With any luck, the cold frame will be going up in the garden in about another month.

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Last of the Nantes Carrots Harvested on 12/19/22

Landscape Fabric Placed Under Tomato Plants

Late November Garden Update – It Snowed!!

Well the really nice fall weather was bound to end sometime. On November 12, the garden received about 2 inches of snow. Harvesting ramped up just one day before in anticipation of the snow and cold. I was able to harvest 3 giant heads of cauliflower, a few more giant Kohlrabi, several more heads of cabbage, the rest of the broccoli and celery, and most of the brussels sprouts. The temperatures dropped to the mid teens for a few nights after the snow. Even though I doubled wrapped the remaining 3 cauliflower plants with row covers, it was just too cold for the heads to survive. I did stick the largest half frozen cauliflower head into the chicken run for them to feast on. The remaining kohlrabi and cabbage plants seemed to have faired better in the cold. They also were doubled wrapped with row covers. I still have one remaining head of cabbage and at least a few more Kohlrabi plants out in the garden. They will probably be harvested over the next week or so. The lettuce did pretty well through the cold snap because it was covered with a plastic covered hoop. In fact, I was able to harvest some more lettuce about 4 days ago. The carrots also seem fine, as they were also covered with a plastic covered hoop. I have not harvested any carrots as of yet, but plan to start harvest on them soon. My refrigerator is still packed full with all of the harvested produce.

My Chickens Ain’t Afraid of No Snow, Picture Taken 11-12-22

Chickens Enjoying Grazing in the Broccoli Plot, Picture Taken 11-21-22

Chickens Enjoying Small Head of Cauliflower in Their Run, Picture Taken 11-21-22

A Bountiful Fall Harvest

The fall garden is producing a record harvest for me so far. The weather has turned cooler, as one would expect, and at least some rain has fallen. Even though it is still pretty dry, the fall garden is producing really really well!! The garden experienced several lite freezes and some frost, but the cold weather crops were not effected much by the cold. I did cover most of the plants with either row covers or plastic covered hoops. The weather has recently turned unseasonably warm, which is alright for the garden. Harvest has been ongoing with broccoli (lots of broccoli), lettuce, cabbage, and kohlrabi. I still have a little bit of celery still growing even though the cold did in several of the plants. The brussels sprouts are starting to get some good size to them, so I expect a good harvest from those over the next few weeks. The late July sown carrots look really good as well and I expect to start to harvest some of them over the next month or so. If it starts to get really cold, I will have the carrots covered with a plastic hoop. As long as the ground does not freeze, I can harvest carrots through early January, if they last that long. Four of the six cauliflower plants are starting to head nicely so it won’t be long until harvest starts on them. The weather forecast looks like it will turning colder in about another week, so I will have to keep the row covers handy. I will be planting out my topsetting onions bulbs out into the garden within the next few days. They should overwinter out in the garden with no problem. Heck, the weather has been so nice that I still have a few tomatoes that are ripening up on the plants, even though those plants will probably get pulled up in about another week. Happy Late Fall Gardening!!

Sierra Lettuce Still Producing, Picture Taken 11-2-2022

Scarlet Nantes Carrots Are Ready to Harvest, Picture Taken 11-2-2022

Stonehead Hybrid Cabbage Still Being Harvested, Picture Taken 11-2-2022

Jade Cross Hybrid Brussels Spouts Getting Bigger, Picture Taken 11-2-2022

Giant Head of Broccoli (Packman Hybrid) Ready to Be Harvested, Picture Taken 11-2-2022

Giant Kohlrabi (Kossak Hybrid) Harvested, Picture Taken 10-31-2022

Happy Spring – I am Back to Blogging

Happy Spring!! I am back to blogging about my garden after over a year hiatus. Wow, things are really crazy in the world today. Nothing like getting back into the garden to take your mind off of things, at least for a little while. I have been busy in the garden over the past few weeks. I planted 189 onion transplants out into the garden on March 25th. About a week they were side dressed with some good organic fertilizer. They are currently doing well and starting to grow new leaves now. My top setting onions that were planted out into the garden last fall are really greening up and are about 3 to 4 inches tall, so it wont be long before I starting harvesting green onions. Red Norland seed potatoes were planted out into the 2 raised beds and 4 fabric bags about 1 week ago. I have been harvesting Sierra lettuce for about the last month that self seeded last fall and overwintered under a plastic covered hoop. It overwinter remarkably well this year. I have started all of my lettuce, broccoli, kohlrabi, and pepper seeds indoors and they are all in the cold frame now. I will planting out my lettuce seedlings within the next 3 or 4 days. I have been waiting for the weather to warm up a bit. The low temperatures dipped below freezing the last 2 mornings. After planting out the lettuce seedlings, I will be keeping them under a plastic cover hoop until the weather warms up. The broccoli and kohlrabi seedlings will be transplanted out into the garden in about one week. I planted radish seeds about one week ago and they have already germinated. I also planted my pea seed about the same time, but they have not germinated as of yet. I currently have 7 hens, but only 5 of them are laying eggs right now. I added 4 hens to the flock last spring, 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Isa Browns. All 4 are laying eggs like crazy.

Tim's Square Foot Garden Blog

This is where you can keep up to date on what is happening in my square foot garden, so check back often for updates!!