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Post by raphanus on Feb 4, 2024 17:25:06 GMT -5
Do you keep a personal calendar? Or just kinda play it by ear?
This is my personal calendar:
January: I sow spinach seeds outside and I start tomato seeds indoors under LED lights.
February: I plant potatoes, peas, beets/chard, lettuce, collards, kale.
April: sow corn, beans, squash, and transplant out tomatoes.
May: sow melons, okra, malabar, and cowpeas and transplant out peppers, eggplant and sweet tater vine cuttings
August: Its 100+ degrees every day so I try to go on vacation somewhere cooler like the mountains and it’s the only month I don’t do much in the garden.
September and October: plant collards, kale, cabbage, broccoli, mustard, bok choy, turnip, rutabaga, etc, potatoes, peas, beets/chard, carrots, parsnips, fava beans, lettuce, chicory, onions, and strawberries.
November: plant garlic, spinach, and winter grasses (wheat, barley, rye, triticale, ryegrass
December: Start pepper seeds indoors under lights
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 4, 2024 17:47:24 GMT -5
Our weather is too unpredictable to have a set schedule, so it's a combination of a calendar and play by ear. I keep a calendar idea of when I will start seeds indoors, but direct sow has to be by ear- some years are later than others.
My start of the season is indoor seed starts
end of March for NM chiles and datil peppers, lettuces
early April for tomatoes,
April for annual flowers
My first direct sow is lettuces and chard sometime in April
beans and squashes in June
will be planting carrots this year, for the first time in decades- not yet sure when I will do that.
garlic in late October
and other direct sow throughout the summer, as the spirit moves me (or not).
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Post by emmsmommy on Feb 5, 2024 4:43:58 GMT -5
Sort of. My first (or was it the second) year was somewhat documented in a notebook which has since gone awol. Started keeping records on various devices but learned that when the device bites the dust, so do my records. Last year I created detailed seed-starting logs but when the season got busy I told myself I'd update them later and never did. I've resorted to searching the "what I did today" thread to determine past planting dates, buts that's not a perfect solution.
This year I analyzed those logs and determined if anything needed changed. Gathered what logs I completed from last year in the back of the binder and have already found them to be beneficial. Also managed to revive a tablet I thought was dead and found the date of the early favas I planted two years ago.
I'm also on my second year of keeping a seed inventory in a notebook. It's actually last year's inventory with additions from this year, but I also list the source of the seed, days to maturity, the date, and any other pertinent information. Flowers,vegetables and herbs have their own sections and I have a section for trial varieties and trades. The bean section has been expanded to list growing habits, history and uses. Tomato section lists type and whether the vines are determinant or indeterminate.
What I really need to work on is keeping a daily summary of the garden. I've already realized how invaluable it proves to be and so far this year it's going pretty good. I've been researching transplanting times and have created a calendar based on how many weeks before the last frost I need to start seeds. So far the only definite dates are sometime in Janhary for onions, around April 1st for peppers and mid-April for tomatoes. Jicama seeds get started sometime in February. Got into the habit of starting geranium seed in late January simply because I have more time and room to devote to them. By the time I'm ready to start peppers and tomatoes, they are big enough to fend for themselves.
So while this is technically more of a garden journal than a calendar, my goal is to eventually have a detailed planting calendar based on what works best in my location.
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Post by datgirl on Feb 5, 2024 9:35:26 GMT -5
I use a regular wall calendar for seed starting. Write the date I plant the seeds and then when they sprout. It's really just used for 3 months while seed starting. I can look back to last year for dates that I started which seeds. Then it goes in the recycle bin. I keep a notebook,I guess you could call it a journal, with thoughts, ideas etc about the garden as it happens. I looked back to last year and read what I thought about the tomatoes I grew last year and know which ones I won't plant again. If I relied on my memory, I'd probably have a bunch to tomatoes I don't like. I also write down if I planted something new in the fall so I can check on it in the spring. Usually bulbs.
It's fun to look back on my old notes to see how much my garden has changed and what has worked and what's failed.
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Post by Latitude33 on Feb 5, 2024 14:14:31 GMT -5
I try to keep a journal. The next couple of years are going to be different as I try get in tune with gardening in the high desert.
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Post by breezygardener on Feb 5, 2024 15:28:49 GMT -5
Oh goodness! I've been keeping annual Excel spreadsheets on everything I grow every year since 2005 showing "Plants/Seeds" (variety), "Vendor/Date", "Sown/Planted" date, "Germinated" date, "Planted Out" date, "Location", "Fruit/Flower" date, "Fed" dates, & "Comments".
I've also been keeping an Excel spreadsheet since 2009 on "Seasonal Firsts", which lists the annual dates of "firsts" - from first heard Spring Pepper to first bird sightings to when the coats of the deer change color, first flowers, frost, etc., etc.
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Post by martywny on Feb 5, 2024 16:13:29 GMT -5
Oh goodness! I've been keeping annual Excel spreadsheets on everything I grow every year since 2005 showing "Plants/Seeds" (variety), "Vendor/Date", "Sown/Planted" date, "Germinated" date, "Planted Out" date, "Location", "Fruit/Flower" date, "Fed" dates, & "Comments". Same here and I've added first/last frost dates and about 60 days of daily temps. I use fill colors so it's easy to tell when something is growing because the line is green. |
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Post by martywny on Feb 7, 2024 7:20:20 GMT -5
25° and another heavy frost this morning but the real treat was this sky...  |
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 7, 2024 10:20:48 GMT -5
Stunning! martywny, Those colors are gorgeous. |
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