My winter garden is still producing. I pulled some carrots and cleaned them. Here’s a photo.
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We had high winds on the island yesterday and the temperature fell to 32 F overnight. Had to bring my seedlings inside. Hope they survive the next two days until it warms up. I don’t have any grow lights. Below is a video of what is left of my winter garden with the winds blowing. Also a pic of my seedlings that are inside my condo, out of the cold air.
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Thank you. But are we talking Black Walnuts or “regular” walnut trees. I was assuming there was a difference. I could be wrong.
The Joy of Gardening TV series was my introduction to vegetable gardening back in the 80s. I managed to find a copy of the book but would love to see the series again. I believe everyone in the tribe could benefit from the garden techniques demonstrated in the series. I’ve been gardening for 40 years and the best and most practical advice I ever received came from the series. Does anyone have a copy of the series? If so, can you please share?
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Thanks for the reminder. I have ordered seeds, now to figure out the calendar of what to do and when to do it.
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Very well written article. Thank you. For us PNW folks, we highly recommend Adaptive Seeds: https://www.adaptiveseeds.com. I have successfully grown leafy greens (kale, lettuce, mustard, etc.) through the Western Washington winters. Adaptive does a great job of describing seeds that do well in colder weather and with less light.
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https://www.susansinthegarden.com/2021/01/video-seed-starting-basics/
At 19:21 in the video she covers damping off. I’ve followed her videos for a while. She’s a master gardener and garden writer. Found her very practical.
Yes, they are black walnuts on our property.
We had a veg garden outside of the canopy of a black walnut. It was fine for a number of years, but as the tree grew it began to effect the garden. My plants located more than twice the radius of the canopy began dying. We took out the tree and things improved.
Situating a vegetable garden anywhere near a walnut is asking for trouble. The tree was nice. It produced nuts that the squirrels enjoyed. It even had a tree house in it. But its toxins spread much further than I would have thought. Growing a garden is difficult under the best of circumstances. My advice would be not to complicate matters by having it anywhere near a black walnut.
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I have no affiliation with Burpees but if you want to purchase seed starting supplies, they currently have a coupon code. START322 gets you 20% off seed starting supplies. Free shipping over $75. So, for example, a heat mat is usually $25 but with the code, $20 is a good price.
Pinetree seeds (https://www.superseeds.com/) of Maine is also an excellent source of seeds, not as pricey as other seed sources.
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Do I need to do something differently to have my previous comment approved? Still showing “Awaiting Approval” tag after 3 days?
Thanks to Chris, PP, the Crash Course and others, I actually farmed for five years and took product to the Farmer’s Market. I learned a few tricks that may help somebody.
Combatting the Cold. When I’ve planted too early and a frost or freeze is coming, I use styrofome cups to cover my seedlings in the ground. Just sort of screw them in and if you have time, man-power, and supply, mulch the beds if they’re not already. Take the cups off as soon as possible, and the plants are fine. For larger plants, I found straw/hay worked excellently against the cold, but again, take off the hay/straw ASAP.
For a green house situation, we use a 4 gallon pot of water placed on a hot plate to warm the green house. The water steams and creates a lot of warmth and moisture. It’s prudent to air out the greenhouse afterwards. You can also use a big trashcan full of water with a corroborating fish tank heater placed inside of it.
Cheap Fertilizer. For fertilizer, I found an aerated compost tea to be the bomb for plants. It’s so cheap and easy to make. You don’t need to go to the store for ingredients, except for the molassis. I make about 40 gallons at a time in a 50 gallon trash can. I put manure, weeds, dirt, sometimes old outdated natural supplements, mineral dust, a bit of wood ash, what ever is on hand into a big trash can full of water, add about a half or quarter cup of molassis, then place a fish tank aerator in the water. The temp should be warm where tea is bubbling. Next day you have to use it and I dilute it one part tea to three parts water and pour all over the plants. You can extend the life of the tea by adding more molassis each day, but it should be used soon as the bacteria is very active. It smells slightly sour, and will foam up.
No Till Farming. I am proponent of no-till farming/gardening and you can industrialize it. There are far out tractors that use no-till implements and there are generations of these farmers out there. I’m not mechanized, so everything is by hand and you have to have a crew/group, unless you can devote a lot of time to gardening. The differences in the soil when comparing no till to tilled soil is hands down a no brainer: no till is the way to go. Even if you’re organic, and I learned that right here on PP with the interview from Singing Frogs Farm.
Grow What You Eat. Don’t get too exotic. It’s OK to experiment, but concentrate on what you eat and grow that. This will be the first year that I’m growing for my own food preservation, not the farmer’s market.
Powder Your Food. I have come across some prepper youtubers lately, and have learned that you can powder your food for food storage purposes. This is a great way to preserve your food for several reasons. First, if you dry it at low temperatures (118 or less), most or all of the nutrients are still intact. Second, it saves on storage space, incredibly. Third, it’s super easy even if you can’t dehydrate at low temps.
Happy Gardening Everyone! These days the garden can be a great escape from the great reset!
I’ve been growing micro greens (mostly pea plants0on the back porch all winter, I get about three cuttings from each planting before they get tough. I’ve been using coco core mats but am about to try a tray in shredded news papeer, the seeds are soaking now. 
The coco core mats worked well but if I don’t need to buy then, I can save a buck, news print is free
Does anyone else use a worm bin to grow their resident garden workers? My little wigglers do a great job of aerating the soil and keeping it fertile by eating my vegi. scraps 'n egg shells…
Consider also adding perennials -i.e., blueberries, onions, haskaps, raspberries, garlic and asparagus to name just a few. In addition, depending on your location you can harvest acorns and make it into flour for baking. My wife and I did it for the first time this year.
Absolutely. It’s all about spending time talking with subject matter experts with local experience. It cannot hurt. Do it.
Get prepared for Dryland Farming techniques in your garden today.
(unless you’re in the SE - then prepare for drainage problems.)
It looks as if large parts of the US breadbasket may have a dry spring. There are dryland farming/gardening techniques that you can start now.
Capture what water you get: retention pond, garden swales, rain barrels, cisterns.
Solar powered irrigation pump to get the stored water to the garden OR find an old fashioned hand pump. You do NOT want to be dipping buckets if you can avoid it.
Get some agricultural shade cloth to use if we get excess heat along with dry.
Use mulch or shallow root ground cover to prevent drying out.
Use only drip irrigation, no sprinklers. Old fashioned watering cans, not buckets.
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Celebration of Springhttps://youtu.be/dRPRGN64c0s
If you would like to try a variety of vegetables without spending beaucoups bunches of bucks–try Artistic Gardens/Le Jardin du Gourmet. Easy way to find out if you like something.