The 2014 Garden and Trying New Things

Seeds Started

The last frost date for our area somewhere April 1st and April 10th thus the time for starting some of our early spring vegetables has arrived. In the area where we live the spring weather can be very unpredictable. I remember one year we had our Easter dinner outside because the temperatures were in the 80's already. Other years there has been snow on the ground well into April. It was decided after looking at the planting recommendations on the back of the seed packets and comparing calendar dates that today was the day to start broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and leeks. We are trying a lot of new things this year and I hope that they work out as planned but with gardening there is no assurance that things will work out. So what is new? Well, first I have never planted these vegetables for a spring crop, we usually grow them for fall harvesting. I have also never planted leeks before. So with all of my supplies ready I set everything up in the kitchen to start planting. There is about a foot of snow in the yard and it was snowing again as I set up, so outside was out of the question and the kitchen is the only room without carpeting.

The Kids at Work

I am trying to put all of our seedlings in an under the bed storage container to create a greenhouse type environment for the plants on our 2 season back porch. I got this idea from Pinterest (check out my Garden Board to see) where regular size totes were used but I thought that an under bed storage container would give me more room to fill. I let the kids take turns filling the trays with soil, placing the seeds, and spraying the water. They had fun getting their hands dirty and comparing the different seeds. The dog enjoyed stealing mouthfuls of dirt at any chance she got so that she could pick the tiny sticks out of the potting soil. That crazy beagle is always into something.  I used a mix of organic potting soil and homemade compost to plant our seeds. I am planning an up coming post about our compost system.

Can I have that tiny, little stick?

Under the bed storage container as greenhouse.

Trying all of these new techniques makes nervous about how successful our garden will be but I am hopeful that we will have a good outcome. I  also found some really awesome old windows in the trash last summer that I am going to try build a cold from with very soon. I still have to figure out exactly how to do that but I have some ideas. Are you trying anything new in your garden this year? Are you planting yet or still planning?

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