Pushing the gardening envelope
Did I learn from
planting my broccoli sets too early? Of course not.
It's a gardener's
prerogative to push the envelope. So I went ahead and set out four
tomatoes, a row of cucumber seedlings, and a bunch of zinnia sets
nearly two weeks before the frost-free date.
In my defense, the
forecast says it's going to stay warm. Maybe that's why I also
direct-seeded a bed of summer squash and one of beans? I'll either have
early crops or will be replanting everything within the next few weeks!
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.
I was talking to a friend on Sunday, who is in his second year in his house (with a greenhouse--not at all envious). I asked about his garden, and he asked if I wanted any tomato starts, as the ones in his greenhouse were getting too big. Of course I said sure, and then he told me they have blossoms and some even have small fruit!
Usually I don't put out tomatoes until Memorial day here in Michigan, but the forecast looks good.
Now my tomato garden looks like the beginning of July! I'll still need to get my paste tomatoes in the normal way, so canning will wait until September, but looking forward to eating lots of heirloom tomatoes all summer long!
I'm biting the bullet and putting out our tenders a couple of weeks early too. The garden spot is ready (which is an amazing feat in itself! I'm always scrambling!) and the plants are getting leggy under lights soooo~ let the season begin!!! (I'm with you Anna, the warm weather forecast is giving me confidence too). Elizabeth