Cool Weather Gardening

The rain is gone for the rest of the week. Sunshine is predicted for today through Monday then the rain comes back for a second round for Monday night and Tuesday. I plan on putting some cool weather vegetables in tomorrow and this weekend. I need to transplant my Swiss chard, onion, lettuce, and radish seedlings into the ground. The nights have been dipping into the mid 30’s so I think I should be fine with putting those crops in the ground. Besides, if it gets really cold, I could just cover it with my makeshift cover I have (it’s basically a very large Tupperware box that has a crack in it) or with some old sheets. Either way, I can’t wait to get dirty. I also need to start some basil seeds for the spring. I have basil in almost everyplace I have tomato plants so that means I’ll need a lot of basil seedlings.

I’m still planning my little plot of dirt (6’ x 7’) according to the square foot gardening guidelines. I absolutely love this method and this will be my first year attempting it so wish me luck. The book was a very easy read too. I think I read most of it in a couple of days. I have tomatoes, peppers (different varieties of course including bell pepper, Peruvian pepper, jalapeno pepper, Kung pao pepper, and long cayenne peppers), cucumbers, squash, eggplant (black beauty), strawberries, and peas. I’m also attempting to grow more flowers this year. I want several that I can cut and put in vases for my apartment.

My strawberry bareroot plants have signs of life after a week of rain and sunshine. I see one green leaf emerging. I hope they all perform well. They were really inexpensive so if they don't produce, it's ok.
I went to home depot this morning and saw so many plants I want to get. Instead of impulsively buying everything I saw (which included aloe, a snake plant, ming aralia, hanging prayer plant, bok choi, and ever bearing strawberries) I resisted and wrote everything I wanted down. I'll research how to grow them and see if it's my spring plans. If so, I'll be going back there to pick them up!