I’ll be real, my raised beds look like crap! While I’ve been tending to the rows of flowers that are happily growing over the winter I’ve completely neglected the small space of veggies beds we have in the backyard. They are full of chest high weeds, F***ing Bermuda grass and moldy tangled messes of dead pumpkin vines. It’s in need of some serious TLC and even though we are in the middle of winter, NOW is the time to start dreaming and scheming about what I want our little family garden to look like. So here’s a list of my top “To DO’s” for our garden this month.
Overgrown veggie beds. I told you they were a mess! yikes!
January Garden Tasks
1. Make wish lists of seeds or plants you want for your garden. Make sure you are choosing plants you love to eat! I mean that rainbow chard looks super cool but are you actually going to eat it? Have you ever cooked chard before? If the answer is “No” then maybe don’t add it to your shopping cart and add another packet of spinach you’ll actually eat.
2. Start creating your garden plan. What kind of space do you have to work with? This will determine how many seeds and plants you should buy. Do you need to create the space or are you working with an established area? If making new beds make sure you plan for soil, amendments, and hardware if you’ll be making raised beds.
3. Clean and prepare your garden area. Bust out those gloves, pruners, and shovel. Clear out all the debris from last year if it’s an established garden. Mark out your new space if creating new beds. I love laying down cardboard, “Hello, amazon boxes!” and cover them with mulch to help with weed suppression.
4. Stock up on potting soil, plant tags, seed starting trays and other supplies you might need. Or you can just swing by your local Rio Linda Grange Plant sale on March 26th to get your hands on some unique heirloom veggie starts. I’ll make sure to have more info about this on my social media pages so watch for that.
5. Place your seed orders, this is the exciting part! My favorite places for ordering seeds are Johnny’s seeds, Peaceful Valley, and Baker Creek. They are all great sources for heirloom seeds! If you are looking for flowers I have a beautiful blush mix of specialty tulip bulbs and cheerful ranunculus for sale at the farm stand. Now is the time to get them in the ground, so don’t delay too long!
6. Start sowing anything that is listed as “cold hardy.” This is a small list of flowers and common veggies that are cold hardy but by no way is a comprehensive list. Veggies: spinach, onion, garlic, leeks, broccoli, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, arugula, fava beans, radish, peas and turnip. Flowers: poppies, delphiniums, sweet William, snapdragons, black eyed Susan’s, dill and bachelor buttons.
Happy Gardening Friends!