Saturday, January 10, 2015

updated planting calendars

I've just finished updated the planting calendars on my side bar. Its taken me a few weeks as I'm better with plants than HTML. I think the result is good, considering. The updated calendars have more vegetables and updated explanations. Also I've added dates for succession planting and dates for transplanting. I am looking forward to using them this year.

Tonight I printed out spring, fall and winter planting calendars for myself. My first planting date is Feb 22, the date to plant onions and celeriac. I don't know how I can wait that long. I usually can't and I end up planting these crops at the end of January. Once my first seeds are sown, I do better at waiting.

Yesterday I placed my seed orders. One at Johnny's and one at Territorial. After the seeds arrive, I'll organize the seed packets by planting date using my calendars.

12 comments:

Wendy said...

Kathy, your planting calendars are so helpful but I am confused by the following in the Fall calendar:

11 weeks before last frost:
Sow fall Brussels sprouts and cabbage indoors in pots.

Can you clarify? Using my October 18 first frost date, your calendar indicated I needed to plant on May 24. May 24 is not 11 weeks before last frost and it isn't 11 weeks after, either.

Thanks a bunch!

Jen said...

Very nice. Thank you!

kathy said...

Oops. Thanks for catching that Wendy.

The fall calculator subtracts 147 days (21 weeks) from the first frost date to get the date to plant Brussels sprouts.

I fixed it!

(I'm amazed that Brussels sprouts need to be planted in May! No wonder I've never been able to grow full size plants. I never think to plant them til August or so.)

kathy said...

I also fixed up the Winter calculator a bit this morning. I had a wrong date there.

Let me know if you find more mistakes.

Wendy said...

I saw the correction early this morning. Thank you. And I did catch the winter calculator adjustment. I am determined to grow brussel sprouts and endive this year.

kathy said...

Oh I'm so glad you saw the corrections! I love to hear that. I hope the calendars help.

Daisy said...

Thank you very much for sharing. Really nice one

Wendy said...

Kathy, on the winter planting calendar, I'm assuming everything is to be directly sown in the garden. That is correct?

Thanks again for taking the time to do this. The added vegetables is a huge, huge help! And I'll be trying the winter garden for the first time this year.

kathy said...

I like to plant most things in pots. So even for the winter calendar, I use pots and transplant.

I just didn't include the transplanting dates on that calendar because I think a lot of people might sow direct at that time of year. Also, its not like the spring when you need to be sure the weather is OK for transplanting. In late summer and fall, you can just transplant when the plants are big enough - usually 3 or 4 weeks.

I usually plant only peas, beans, carrots and parsnips directly in the garden.

I like to be able to keep a close eye on seedlings. Often I don;t go to my garden often enough to water young sprouts. And I think I get better germination in potting soil. Plus, with pots I can transplant to the right spacing and don't loose seedlings to thinning.

Wendy said...

I agree. I'm not a big fan of direct sowing. My problem tends to be that I can't tell a seedling from a weedling. Again, my thanks for all you do!

kathy said...

Oh, one of my favorite things is recognizing and knowing the names of the seedlings that come up. I like to know the names of the weeds I'm pulling. I get a lot of pigweed, garlic mustard and wild onions. There are some rosettes I need to look up. I have a book on NE weeds. Also tansy. The dill and Johnny Jump ups come up all over. I find tomato, potato, Jerusalem artichoke, raspberries, borage. Some I save and relocate, some I pull. Sorry to go on, but I just love knowing who's who in the garden!I suppose it comes form being almost an old lady and having seen a lot of sprouts.

ps said...

Kudos! It's a wonderful learning in you blog.
Thank you and keep it up.