Zone 5b Garden Update For The Month Of April 2021
Hello and welcome to Angie’s Recipe Garden! I’m a brand new gardener in Zone 5B, and I’m just getting started with plotting and deciding what I’d like to plant. I’ve decided to use a seed starting kit, so now what? Continue reading to see what I’m doing to prepare for my first garden season.
In brief, this month I signed up for a garden plot, edged out and weeded, planted garlic & potatoes and am working on seed starters.
Using A Seed Starting Kit
As shown above, I have started planting and growing my seeds. The hope is that taking the time to start the seeds now, will save me the headache of planting directly and finding out the seed is a dud later.
In the long run, knowing which seeds grew and which are duds is something I’d rather find out before mid-June, so I have plenty of time to re-plant the seeds. I would highly recommend getting a seed starting kit with a lid and a heat mat. The heat mat will help speed up seed germination if you find that your seeds are sprouting.
Overall using a seed starting kit is as easy as watering the discs, putting the seed in the disc, and putting a lid on. If you see the discs are drying out, remove the lid, water and cover again. The goal is to create a greenhouse environment, so you want the lid on as much as possible.
When Is A Seed Starting Kit Not Useful?
Using a seed starting kit is useful for most plants, however it doesn’t work for all plants. Plants like garlic, potatoes and even carrots should be planted directly into the ground, not started indoors. In short, these plants need to be rooted deep into the ground and starting indoors will negatively impact the success of these plants.
Todays post isn’t going to go into great detail around how to use the seed starting kit, should you need more detailed information, you can read this article.
Getting The Plot Ready And Planting 20 Plants In 1 Square Foot
Before I get to plant my starters and seeds in my garden, I had to do some work to the plot, including edging and weeding.
I chose to edge out a small section of my plot for a perennial bed. This way, in the fall I won’t have to worry about accidentally tilling my perennials. In due time I will have a thriving plot and hopefully even a small garden space at home! My plot as about 11′ x 17′ which is pretty small for my large wish list of plants.
With this in mind, I decided to look into gardening in small spaces. Things like square foot gardening came up, as well as a vertical planter called Mr. Stacky. This planter is going to be a lifesaver for me. Mr. Stacky allows for 20 plants to be planted (4 per bucket) and stacked vertically. Did I mention it only takes up 1 square foot?! When I saw this, I knew I needed it for my plot. I liked it so much I bought 2. Similar to other pots, I anticipate these drying out quickly, so I will need to water daily when the heat starts. I’m thinking of buying 2 more Mr. Stacky vertical planters for next year for home use.
Keeping It All Organized
To begin with, I am a huge Excel nerd. When I decided to start gardening, I knew I’d want to keep everything organized and Excel would be the way to do it! I have started plotting my garden, and have already changed it 3 times – so I’m very happy I chose a digital plotting tool vs hand writing my plot. As you can see above, I have many starters in my seed starting kit. I wondered how I could use Excel to keep these organized.
To keep my seed starting trays organized, I put a color-coded and coded list on Excel – you can see it below. This will help me know what is (or isn’t) growing so I can get a new starter ready if needed. On the side, I have a key that shows me what the codes mean and the colors are helpful so I can quickly and easily see what’s planted in my seed starting tray.
I have to get back into the garden now, but if you want more garden updates, you can read them all by clicking this link.
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