Who else is ready for the weather to warm up the soil for our spring gardens? I've spent so many hours looking at seed catalogs and seed packets lately, I just can't wait for tomatoes and peppers!
Despite the cool temperatures lately, the 2018 growing season has officially begun for Green Gal's Garden! We sowed our first round of seeds on February 18, including three varieties of basil and one variety of cauliflower. The first seedlings sprouted up out of the soil on February 24, and more continue to sprout and grow happily in their little cells of potting soil.
I'm planting another round of seeds this week, and I finally finished my crop plan (just yesterday actually!) so now I have a schedule of what's getting planted when and how much and when it'll eventually get transplanted and then harvested.
I printed it out to have a physical copy to refer to (see below), but it will be a living document on the computer that will get updated and changed as the season progresses.
I'll share more about the crops and varieties I'll be growing this season in a future blog post--or follow along on Instagram as I sow more seeds!
To protect the baby seedlings from frosty nights, I've been moving the tray of plants back and forth between the small four-shelf greenhouse on our porch and our laundry room, where we have a grow light set up.
Eventually, young seedlings will spend all of their time in the porch greenhouse, which has a zipper so I can give them access to fresh air during the heat of the day.
When the volume of seedlings becomes more than I can handle in the small greenhouse, I'll need to get a larger greenhouse to keep up at the Garden.
Plants will still start their lives here on our porch and then they'll move up to the Garden once new seedlings need to take their place.
Once the seedlings are big enough and almost ready to move into the earthen soil, I'll move them outside for a short while before planting them into the ground.
March 18 is my target date to get some seedlings and seeds into the soil up at the Garden, which means we'll be double digging the beds a week before that. At that time, I'll add organic amendments to the soil based on the soil test results I received in late fall.
That's only a few weeks away (!), so I'm currently in the process of making sure I have all of the equipment and tools necessary to irrigate, weed, provide frost protection, and support the healthy development of a whole bunch of young plants outside of the comfort of a greenhouse.
As part of that process, I've put together this spreadsheet of some tools and equipment that I need to buy. (Note: This is a partial list that only includes items I'm willing to buy used. Other items like remay/row cover, soil amendments, compost, twist ties, and a lot more, are best bought new, and I already have a pretty good idea of where to source them.)
I'm sharing this spreadsheet publicly in hopes that you all can help me find these items for either free, used, or at an affordable rate from a local source.
If I have to, I'll order from Johnny's or Amazon, but I have a feeling that there are folks in my network and community who might have some of these items lying around, needing a new home.
Another way to support my small business is to donate money through the PayPal link below or by mailing a check made out to Green Gal's Garden to the mailing address below. If you want the funds to go toward a particular item, let me know.
To donate through PayPal, select "pay a friend" here: https://www.paypal.me/greenbeangal
To donate through Venmo, go to https://venmo.com/greenbeangal
To donate by check, payable to "Green Gal's Garden," mail it to: Melissa Ott, PO Box 721064, San Jose, CA 95172
Please share this blog post or the spreadsheet link with your networks and anyone you know who might have any of these items. Thank you!
To learn more about Green Gal's Garden, please visit https://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/p/green-gals-garden.html
For more Green Gal updates, please visit and follow my Instagram page @greenbeangal or sign up for my email newsletter.
Thank you, and happy almost-spring!
Green Gal
Despite the cool temperatures lately, the 2018 growing season has officially begun for Green Gal's Garden! We sowed our first round of seeds on February 18, including three varieties of basil and one variety of cauliflower. The first seedlings sprouted up out of the soil on February 24, and more continue to sprout and grow happily in their little cells of potting soil.
I'm planting another round of seeds this week, and I finally finished my crop plan (just yesterday actually!) so now I have a schedule of what's getting planted when and how much and when it'll eventually get transplanted and then harvested.
I printed it out to have a physical copy to refer to (see below), but it will be a living document on the computer that will get updated and changed as the season progresses.
I'll share more about the crops and varieties I'll be growing this season in a future blog post--or follow along on Instagram as I sow more seeds!
Eventually, young seedlings will spend all of their time in the porch greenhouse, which has a zipper so I can give them access to fresh air during the heat of the day.
When the volume of seedlings becomes more than I can handle in the small greenhouse, I'll need to get a larger greenhouse to keep up at the Garden.
Plants will still start their lives here on our porch and then they'll move up to the Garden once new seedlings need to take their place.
Once the seedlings are big enough and almost ready to move into the earthen soil, I'll move them outside for a short while before planting them into the ground.
March 18 is my target date to get some seedlings and seeds into the soil up at the Garden, which means we'll be double digging the beds a week before that. At that time, I'll add organic amendments to the soil based on the soil test results I received in late fall.
That's only a few weeks away (!), so I'm currently in the process of making sure I have all of the equipment and tools necessary to irrigate, weed, provide frost protection, and support the healthy development of a whole bunch of young plants outside of the comfort of a greenhouse.
As part of that process, I've put together this spreadsheet of some tools and equipment that I need to buy. (Note: This is a partial list that only includes items I'm willing to buy used. Other items like remay/row cover, soil amendments, compost, twist ties, and a lot more, are best bought new, and I already have a pretty good idea of where to source them.)
I'm sharing this spreadsheet publicly in hopes that you all can help me find these items for either free, used, or at an affordable rate from a local source.
If I have to, I'll order from Johnny's or Amazon, but I have a feeling that there are folks in my network and community who might have some of these items lying around, needing a new home.
Another way to support my small business is to donate money through the PayPal link below or by mailing a check made out to Green Gal's Garden to the mailing address below. If you want the funds to go toward a particular item, let me know.
To donate through PayPal, select "pay a friend" here: https://www.paypal.me/greenbeangal
To donate through Venmo, go to https://venmo.com/greenbeangal
To donate by check, payable to "Green Gal's Garden," mail it to: Melissa Ott, PO Box 721064, San Jose, CA 95172
Please share this blog post or the spreadsheet link with your networks and anyone you know who might have any of these items. Thank you!
To learn more about Green Gal's Garden, please visit https://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/p/green-gals-garden.html
For more Green Gal updates, please visit and follow my Instagram page @greenbeangal or sign up for my email newsletter.
Thank you, and happy almost-spring!
Green Gal
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