My Garden Plans for 2009

Once the month of January is behind me I find I can begin to concentrate on the how and why of my spring and summer gardening efforts. The month of February is a time for two things to kick in gear. One, I get my catalog orders done. In recent years it seems that seed cost has really gone through the roof. Or is it just me? In either case, I have gotten much more selective concerning what I order and who I order it from. Increasingly, I find myself drawn to a company called Pinetree Garden Seeds (www.superseeds.com). They have a good selection of seeds that do not cost an arm or a leg. They accomplish this by offering packets that contain fewer seeds. This suits me fine as my small raised beds rarely require a packet of 30 tomato seeds to get me through the season. Pinetree offers packets of 15 to 20 seeds. An example of this would be a heirloom tomato, Brandywine, that I love to grow each year. One very popular online company offers a 50 seeds packet for $2.95 while you can get them at Pinetree for $1.15 for 20 seeds. I don’t know about you, but I’ll go for the fewer seeds since they generally have a limited shelf life and I like fresh seeds at the start of each season. This does not mean that I do not order from companies like Burpee Seed (www.burpee.com) or Park Seed (www.parkseed.com) from time to time. They all have great products and service. I just need to keep my eye on reality. (It would be nice if you could order seeds in little micro packs of 5 to 10 at a time. That would be perfect for small time home gardeners like me).

So anyway, I plan to get my computer warmed up and will peruse the electronic pages to see what’s being offered for 09. My two little raised beds are 4x8 feet each in size and produce more than enough for a bachelor like myself. My focus this season will be on the following vegetables for springtime planting; romaine lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes and beets. These all grow fairly quickly and do not require much growing space. In the late spring I will also plant beans (pole and bush), tomatoes and bell peppers (both sweet and hot).

The second thing I like to get started in the month of February is some plant starts using 10 cell seed starters I’ve had around for ages. By starting some plants indoors (lettuce, radish and spinach in the early spring) I find I can get a great jump on most everyone around me. By the end of March when many gardeners are just beginning to peck at the soil in their yards, I plan on harvesting my first cole crops. I get this done through a combination of early planting and cold frame propagation techniques. I also work my garden soil just as early as possible. Here in southwest Missouri, it’s generally warm enough in late February (see graph) to work in some compost, sand and vermiculite and to get a few early starts out there. More later in the month as I get cranking.