Gardening in Central Pennsylvania

Hi!
My parents were old-style square-foot gardeners. I picked up a used copy of the new book late spring last year, and I have a hybrid old/new square foot garden. I've been browsing bits of the forum and finally decided to join. My ambitious plans for this year mean I'll have questions, and my experiences last year can hopefully help others. Looking forward to sharing!
 - BeetlesPerSqFt

Hi Beetles, Welcome to the Forum from California!

Hi Beetles! 

Perfect time to start gardening!

I would love to know more about your "hybrid old/new square foot garden".  I think I may have one or two of those.  lol

Look forward to your questions and your experiences.

CC

Hi BeetlesPerSqFt. Let me add a welcome from Atlanta, GA!

Your garden is about the same size as mine. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it! :-)

Beetles, Can you post some photos of your spread? Hint.

Welcome, beetles, from your neighbor to the west! Sounds like a solid plan, glad you found us! Pictures would be great!

Thanks for the welcome, Scorpio and Marie!
Here's a photo of the garden from May 21, 2015 (lots of things wrong in this picture, I know!)


And as requested, here's a photo of where the garden is at today:



I tried direct sowing some greens 2 weeks ago (in the raised beds), but nothing has come up yet. I blame that 19 degree low we had. Since it's been two weeks, I've started the next round of greens - indoors this time. I've still got two shallow 2" boxes to put in, and some weeding to do. The first of the peas (Alaska) are hydrating and will go out tomorrow. The trellises are still in the garage -- along with the top bar for the half-done covered wagon frame, because the drill battery needs to be charged. The fence is mostly deer netting, and I'm still in the process of re-setting it from having enlarged the garden. My grids are hard to see in the photo, but they are red yarn.

Beetles  
from Kelejan in British Columbia

You sure have quite a lot going on in not ideal conditions.  You seem to be doing well for a renter, as so many renters are not allowed to do anything.

But I am convinced that a renter like you is an asset to any home-letter.

Look forward to seeing your progression.

Kelejan

That's a nice size garden. I bet it was a lot of work to get set up. You will be able to grow a lot of yummy veggies there. Good Luck

Wow!

+1!!!

Glad you joined!  I am from western pa and seem to be close in our zones 

Gardens look great!  Nice job.

Thanks, Floyd! I'll try to keep an eye out for your posts; local info about when to plant what and how is definitely something I need. I purchased transplants last year for several plants that I'm trying to do myself from seed this year, and I'm planting many things this year that I didn't last year.  Lots to do... !

I know that it is expensive to buy transplants but had to do it the first two years.  That fall I set up some shelves and asked a lot of people who are on this forum for advice and the helped.

Had purchased some seed packets in the late summer, cheap then, and planted some peppers,tomatoes,herbs inside and figured out how to do it.

The following year I started most of my plants from seeds..Saves a TON of money and you get more selection from seed catalogs.

The variety available from the catalogs is part of the "problem"  I think I spent as much on seeds as I did on transplants last year... but I keep reminding myself most of them will last several years, and I'll be spending much less next year. I'm doing all my tomatoes (5 kinds) this year, half my peppers (4 types of 8 ), and all my eggplants (2 types) - last year was closer to 2/3rds, 1/6th, and none. I've been increasing my herbs every year, gotta love perennials. Someone divided their chives and shared them with me last year (after THREE failures at trying to start them from seed...), and I've been very happy to see them popping back up.  Thanks for the encouragement!

Unintended emoticon.....

Beetles - welcome to the forum. I'm very interested to see your progress this year. Please do post picture updates. It is remarkable the difference in your garden last year and this year just in layout alone. Hope you get an excellent crop to reward your efforts!

wyldhawk9 wrote:Beetles - welcome to the forum. I'm very interested to see your progress this year. Please do post picture updates. It is remarkable the difference in your garden last year and this year just in layout alone. Hope you get an excellent crop to reward your efforts!

As requested by Wyldhawk, Here is a "2 weeks later" photo update:

The Kozy Coat/Walls of Water (WOWs) are up, the pea/cuke/squash trellises are up, the pepper cages are in, the tomatillo cages are in (I expect a mess from that part of my plan), the wagon hoop frames are part way up, I got my two remaining grid-line frames in - but I still need to weed one of the frames and string the grid. I redid one side of the fence and replaced the barely functional mismash I had in one section. Putting my fence stakes into buckets filled with rocks means my fence isn't taking up grow-space where I'm running into the sidewalk/driveway, the collection of rocks I dug out are being put to use, and I can adjust the fence border on the side of the ground cherry bed as they grow (shown part way out right now since I was sowing my first carrot seeds -- underneath the rectangular black pot trays to help keep them moist.)

The spring broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage have been transplanted. The first round of kales and collards have been transplanted. The first round, and some second rounds of greens are in (lettuces, arugulas, spinach, mustard, mache, chrysanthemum, and claytonia.) The peas are in. All three successions of spring radishes have been sown. I moved cilantro volunteers so I have those sooner than planned. The garlics keep growing. The Jerusalem artichokes that weren't where they were supposed to be have been coming up -- I haven't seen the intentional ones yet, but they have a thick layer of mulch to work through. And I think my Denebian grub devils (my family's name for Stachys affinis tubers) are sprouting.

OK, chrysanthemum as a green? Curious! Does your mache overwinter?

Scorpio Rising wrote:OK, chrysanthemum as a green?  Curious!  Does your mache overwinter?

Yes, garland chrysanthemum (Glebionis cornaria rather than a Chrysanthemum sp.) as a green. Sometimes called shungiku or chop suey green. I got my seeds from Baker's Creek, but I'm pretty sure I found them for sale elsewhere, too. I had the greens at a hot pot restaurant for Chinese New Year and decided it was a Must-Grow this year.

I bought mache seeds because I heard it could over-winter and I have a bunch of windows to turn into cold-frames sitting in the garage -- but this is the first time I've grown it, so I don't know if I can over-winter it or not.

Ahh, makes sense now.

I too am looking into what will make it here...will need a cold frame here

LOL I'm a little late to the party, but hello from Maryland.

sfg4uKim wrote:LOL I'm a little late to the party, but hello from Maryland.

Hi Kim from Maryland!
Good to hear from someone from the Mid-Atlantic region. Looks like you're south of me and a zone or two warmer -- what plants are you putting in now? I'm trying to get a handle on optimizing sowing/planting times. The long range forecast here in my part of PA looks like we've had our last frost already, so I popped in my first cucumbers a few weeks early, under a milk jug cloche (if they don't make it, I've got more seeds.)
 - Beetles