I have just finished up my propagation & planting calendar for the upcoming growing season! The completed calendar can be viewed via my Google docs account at:
Check out the coloured dates and you’ll see descriptive pop-up comments as to what I’ll be doing with the plants on a given day. I’ve documented the days I’ll be starting seeds indoors, accounting for germination times, then the dates to begin hardening off the plants in cold frames or temporary greenhouse, and then planting out days, with a few succession planting days.
Today I get all my trays and such organised, as well as the new gadgets I’ve started collecting. I got a light meter to ensure my light levels are ok, and a soil/compost thermometer to ensure soil temperature is ok. I’m experimenting with capillary mats for watering this time and am going to make some over the next week.
Drip irrigation is very high on my list of things to fine-tune this year, starting with inside the house. with the square footage so much larger this year, I need to be really efficient in all aspects of the growing process.
Raised beds are still on the build list for Mundare, though i need to re-budget since I bought a new truck (instead of renting one) since my old blue 1986 240dl Volvo Station wagon died in the severe cold a couple weeks back. So the truck is really expensive on the monthly payments, but it sure is nice to drive, and it gives me the ability to haul a decent trailer and carry loads of compost and gardening tools around!
There are new re-usable gadgets available at Lee Valley Tools to make the creation of the raised beds in the Mundare plot a -much- easier prospect. Here is the link for them:
More to come as the plans progress. I’m now working on the planting layout maps for both garden plots.
Great Idea using the Google Calender for that, I had never thought of that as an option
Steve From
The Power Gardeners Guide