Welcome - 52 weeks of gardening

Week 1:  Bringing Joy Back to Gardening -- The need for organizing - Linda

 

Living in southern California we are fortunate to be able to plant year-round. This week we began preparing for a new area of the community garden called Pepper Lane. I had recently purchased some unique pepper seeds that I was planning to grow this year but couldn’t remember where I set the seed packets. With planning for Christmas family get together I'd moved things around and misplaced the package with the seeds in it. As I searched for the package of pepper seeds I realized I needed to do some organizing.

With a busy schedule at work and home and searching for things each time I wanted to plant, the garden has become more of a chore. This year I need to do things differently. I wish Marie Komo could help me organize my garden supplies.

 

Seeds

Today I will organize my seeds into three categories: Fall/early spring seeds, spring/summer seeds and seeds that can be planted year-round. I have seeds from previous years I wanted to plant, but misplaced and forgot I had them, or I missed the planting opportunity since some need to be started inside 6-10 weeks before the last frost.

Organizing these into categories will help make planting more efficient and help me not miss a critical time to plant the seeds.

 

Propagation station

Next I will organize my propagation station with my soil ingredients that I mix into potting mix, my starter pots, and tools. This must include labels to mark what was planted, and labels to mark what seeds have been collected. 

Last year I thought I was starting a large tray of Litchi Tomatoes from seeds I'd saved the previous year, only to discover it was a tray of eggplant. There was an abundance of eggplant this year, I was able to share plants with fellow garden members, and we missed out on a year of litchi tomatoes. I've tended to collect seeds haphazardly, not labeling them with the type of seeds or the date. This year I will add both to seeds collected: type of plant, date.

 

Go bag

Also, I need a go bag of items to take when I go to the community garden. I'll stop by a few times a week to check on my garden plot to check the water system and assess the plants (not enough water, too much water, or any insect infestation, weeds that need to be pulled), and when I get to the garden, I wish I had a pair of scissors or pruners to chop off a dead or infected leaf/or vine, or a bag to put in harvested beans or peas. I've stuffed green beans in my pockets and munched on them on my way to work or used my shirt to bundle tomatoes on the way to the car then placed them on the passenger seat, only to have the tomatoes roll onto the car floor when I brake for a red light. 

 Last year I even used the shoelaces of old tennis shoes I wear to the garden to stake up tomato vines. I have observed Nancy bringing a basket to the garden with her garden supplies, pruners, seeds to direct sow in the garden, and she places the harvested vegetables in the basket.

 

I finally found the Pepper seeds! Seeds I will start for Pepper Lane include Baker Creek seed: Black Hungarian, Puma Pepper, Aji Charapita, Death Spiral, Apocalypse Scorpion, Craig’s Grande Jalapeno. Also from Seeds of Change: Shishito Pepper and Cal Wonder Red Bell Pepper. 

I have a package of Habanero seeds from 2017 that I am not sure if they will germinate but I want to grow them as well. Most of these are too hot for my taste but they look intriguing, so I want to grow and see how they do in this area.  

 

My Go Bag of items to take to the Garden:

• Scissors and/or pruners
• Twine
• Bags for harvest
• Seeds in season (to direct sow for successive planting
• Popsicle sticks and indelible marker to label seeds
• Envelopes to harvest seeds