Gardening in spring

How is your garden doing this spring?

Seeding, planting, watering, controlling insects, weeding...gardening is fun but it's also work. Fortunately, we've already appreciated eating vegetables from our small garden. The flowers are adding nice colors to our backyard too.

The romaine lettuce and radishes came quick. We didn't do so good with the sweet peas. The tomatoes are doing well too.
We're trying to stay organic as much as we can.   

Are you having any problems with aphids on your lettuce? Debbie has been spraying them with water and it's working except they keep coming right back. Now, she is using soapy water which worked well for us in the past. I smiled when I saw some ladybugs in the garden. They'll be good for something.
The pruning in the fall paid off with the fruit trees growing well.

It's not always that simple to choose seeds, plants, and flowers for a small garden. We have a good variety of vegetables with various peppers, squash, tomatoes, radishes, peas.

These are some of the things we keep in mind year after year that have proven to be useful.  You may want to try them as well:

• we rotate the plants every new season
• not forgetting where we get the most sun and shade and plant accordingly
• grouping our plants and vegetables
• remembering past successes and the "not so good results" so we adjust our soil condition
• staying practical with location for climbing vegetables, the ones that take a lot of room, the ones the grow wide (squash), and the ones that grow fast then needing to be replaced because they can't handle the heat later on.
• We try to stay organic.

 All in all we learn every spring and enjoy the gardening experience.  It's a hobby that can feed you.

Gardening activities in the winter

It's nice to sit back and relax from gardening activities in the winter.  However, if you enjoy gardening and the wonderful results that you receive, you may want to continue gardening in the winter.  A few simple steps can make a big difference for better results in the busier gardening season. 

These 5 steps can help you extend your gardening season and improve results in the summer.

1. The first thing to do in the winter is clean up and maintain tools. The winter is a slow gardening season but we get a head start on the more active season when our tools and equipment are clean, wood handles oiled, clippers, shears and pruners sharpened.  It's also the time to get pots and planters cleaned, stored, and ready.  
2. Pruning.  You may want to prune your plum trees in the spring, but the time to prune your apple and pear trees is in the winter.  You also want to prune your fruit bushes.  What about those runaway vines?  Time to cut them back, including the wisteria you may not want.
3. Composting.  The soil does not stop decomposing in the winter.  You may want to recycle some of your potting soil, but you can also add some to your compost pile.  You're still consuming things that you usually add to your compost.  Just continue to build your organic compost throughout the winter. Learn to grow "organic" here.
4. Indoor planting and plants to grow in the winter. We have moved our herbs indoor and are still enjoying them in the winter.  You can do the same.  In addition to that, you have plants that will grow in the winter.  Some vegetables may grow slowly in the winter but they will start again in early spring.  Depending on how cold it gets in your area, you can still grow hardy leaf crops like kale in the winter.  Some gardeners can also grow garlic, sweet peas, fava beans, sweet peppers, parsley even cabbage in the winter.  You will need to protect your vegetables with cloches or plastic protectors when it gets too cold.  This creates an artificial temperature environment for the plants but it works.
5. Start seeding in the winter.  We just planted seeds in small pots to give them a head start for the spring.  Garden and hardware stores like Lowe's and Home Depot are already selling seeds for gardening.  You can keep your pots indoors until it starts getting warm or you can move them when appropriate to a cold frame.  You can also order your seeds for the spring and summer now. 

These simple steps will make gardening easier for you to be ready come spring.  You will have your own compost to get you started, cleaned and sharpened tools, your trees nicely pruned, and young plants and vegetables to transplant to your garden.  You can start the busy season with a smile because you would be prepared.

I suggest this site "organic gardening" to get more information on other gardening aspects.

Happy gardening!

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