After a winter of micro greens and herbs we turn our attention to getting ready for outdoor gardening.
Outdoor gardening in February?! In Wisconsin?! Are we crazy?!
Maybe.
While the soil in the garden beds will not be ready to work for several weeks, there are a few crops that can be started from seed inside.
Which crops? Onion, Kale, Lettuce, and Swiss Chard for a few. We will concentrate on onions. Walla Walla were started from seed last Sunday and peeked out from under the seed starting soil 6 days later. Thank you heating mat.
We have potato seedlings on order and will begin the chitting process next weekend. What is chitting? Wait for it. We will highlight the process in a future post.
After the “Big Game’ is over tonight, we will start a tray of Red Wetherfield Onions. All other cold loving crops will be planted directly in the garden beds when they thaw out. Carrots, Radishes, Beets, Peas, Spinach and Lettuce for us.
Most crops this year will go into the beds on or after Memorial Day weekend. That’s safe haven here in Zone 5A for crops that will fail if planted prior to final frost. Last year we set out the tomatoes and peppers too early. They may have been stunted.
However, we set out cold loving plant’s too late. Our cabbage, cauliflower, spinach and lettuce all suffered through a hotter than normal June. Our spinach and cauliflower bolted making them useless. Only one cabbage plant matured and it was tiny.
Lessons learned…we hope.
What other lessons were learned? We didn’t give plants the correct companions. Spacing was too tight for many crops. We didn’t thin out the carrots, onions and beets correctly.
Year two begins with more knowledge and the same determination to learn the craft of gardening. we will continue to research via the internet and YouTube. Wish us luck!
…and stay tuned!
Ron's Ramblings 
Way to grow!! Exciting start for sure!!
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