It may be hard to believe, but spring is nearing. Hard to believe, not because it feels like winter just began, but because (at least where I live) it feels like it never began at all. Here in upstate NY we are getting ready for a week in the high forties to low fifties (that's degrees Fahrenheit for any far future historians or archaeologists that happen to stumble across this record when looking for evidence of our long forgotten lost civilization) in the beginning of February. However, no matter how portentous the weather may be, there is still reason to rejoice. It’s finally time to start thinking about the coming growing season.
This is one of my favorite times of year. I get to pick out all the interesting plants I want to try growing. There is so much promise held in these moments, not yet contaminated by the reality of trying to control a living system. There’s no wilt or rot or blight. No insect damage, or drought or deluge. Nothing but flawless, imaginary, verdant acres. For those uninitiated, here is a look at an extreme beginner’s (my own) journey through last year's early growing season from sprouting to planting.
We began by selecting seeds. We were pretty ambitious with the number of different plants we hoped to grow. I think this is something to which many beginning gardeners fall victim, but even if you get completely overwhelmed it can still be fun to sprout way too many plants. If you’re not sure where to start some of my favorite seed companies are as follows: Snake River Seed Coop, The Experimental Farm Network, and Row 7 Seeds. The Experimental Farm Network in particular is an extremely interesting and important endeavor. They focus on native plants with good utility, restoring nearly extinct cultivars like the American chestnut, and drought resistant crops among many other things that are likely to become very important in the years to come.
After we selected our seeds, we set up a small sprouting station in one of our windows. We used bamboo bathroom storage shelves and inexpensive LED grow lights which we could conveniently connect in series to be controlled by a timer on a single outlet.
The LED grow lights are tuned to deliver a particular slice of the visible spectrum to your little plant babies that theoretically will help them reach their full potential. Regardless of whether that's true or just marketing to get you to buy LED lights at a higher markup, spectrum tuned grow lights probably won’t hurt your seedlings. Plus they emit what I consider to be a pretty fun hue.
After some time. your seedlings will be big enough to transplant into a larger pot. This is called potting up. In the below video you’ll notice most pots have multiple seedlings in them. We didn’t have the heart to cull so many of our precious little guys so we saved as many as we could. This was the wrong move. Many of our beloved plants ended up stunted, never reaching their full potential. Learn from our many blunders, murder your darlings, thin your seedlings.
Eventually your seedlings will be big enough, and the weather will be warm enough for you to get your tiny plants to their final resting places in the ground.
This is a triumphant moment, and not even having to plant in the dark the night before a trip can spoil it. Drink it in.
Just kidding about the weather though. The same reason we will never have a normal winter again in the lifetimes of anyone reading this now or as long as the internet lasts is the reason we will probably always have a late frost. This year’s came around the end of May and completely obliterated many crops including basically all non-berry fruits (no apples, no peaches, no plums, no cherries, no paw paw, no persimmon, no nothing. Get used to it, folks). For this reason it is advisable to always have something like a light blanket or tarp to cover your plants on the fly in case of a surprise dip in temperature.
Here are those same plants about a month later, having been through the gauntlet of multiple late frosts with dubious protection. They are such troopers.
Another wonderful benefit of maintaining a garden is all the new friends who are attracted to your prodigious plantings.
Eventually we got every bed we had, hearts full of hope and optimism, built around our house, and they all had things growing in them. Life is magic. The cosmos wants us dead, but life persists. What a miracle. Here is a little tour of everything we planted. We can’t wait to start all over again this year.
If you’re excited to grow some beautiful produce this year, but worry you won't have the inspiration or the cooking chops to make the most out of all of it, why not check out our upcoming Vegetarian Boot Camp which will help to ensure your abundant harvest doesn’t go to waste.