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Gardening Goals

October 8th, 2014

I read a lot of books about gardening, most of my reading on the topic happens in the winter. Last year I purchased Salad Leaves For All Seasons: Organic Growing from Pot to Plot and read through it. I recently pulled it off my bookshelf to read again. This spring I decided that growing greens throughout the year was going to be my gardening goal.
Roxy Lettuce 1
This book is a fantastic guide for this process, with loads of information and recommendations. Of course I’ll need a winter structure of some sort, I designed a low tunnel/greenhouse/coldframe made with old sliding glass doors that we have collected. Eventually I’ll have a proper greenhouse, but that won’t happen for quite a while. Low tunnels are OK, but I find that they freeze solid to the ground and harvesting in the dead of winter is pretty much impossible.
covered_hoop_house
My winter will be spend reading and researching, dreaming and planning, and developing a plan to eat greens from my garden 24 months out of the year. I’ll save more money if I grow greens than if I grow my own broccoli or peppers, so I’ll be allocating prime garden space to achieve my goal.

What gardening goals do you have for next season? 

7 Comments to “Gardening Goals”
  1. Boo on October 8, 2014 at 8:11 am

    My first goal is to have 24 months of the year :)
    My real goal is to do better with seeds, having them ahead of time and organizing them better. My husband build me a modified Ana White greenhouse this year. I used it for brooding chickens when the weather was still too cold for them to be outside. I need to design the garden benches next; hoping to keep it useful for chicks next year as that worked so well.
    You might look into the Ana White greenhouse plan. Though small it is not overly costly if you are building it yourself, perhaps $1000. It is good for my dual purpose use, though probably not as great with in the ground planting space. Maybe. Might try that anyway :)

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  2. Nebraska Dave on October 8, 2014 at 8:30 am

    Susy, the list of goals for this year will have to carry over into next year. I’ve not added many to the list. I’ve mentioned many times with comments about the garden year being a less than expected year. That’s a bit of a disappointment but not real devastating. I’m just glad that I’m not a pioneer and have to live on what I grew this year. I’d be pretty skinny by Spring. I will say that for Nebraska as a whole it was a good year for crops and replenishing the under ground aquifer. Hardly any center pivot irrigation was required this year and the rains were such that it allowed the moisture to soak into the soil. Well, except for the one gully washer in the Spring. All that’s left for this year is cleanup, drain the rainwater catch system, and kick back and wait for the seed catalogs to start rolling in. Ah, this is the life. :-)

    Have a great high tunnel gardening goal day.

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  3. Robin Follette on October 8, 2014 at 9:05 am

    I’ll be container gardening indoors this winter. It’s past time to take the cover off the high tunnel I use in the winter to let the snow and rain wash the soil. It’s disappointing and a relief. I won’t have nearly as many fresh vegetables this winter but I also won’t be shoveling nearly as much snow.

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  4. PennyAshevilleNC on October 8, 2014 at 9:33 am

    May I borrow your goal for next year? I tried my hand last fall at late spinach and it worked well. It didn’t go past October though because I planted it a bit late for it to get good size… this year I am trying with kale and will use the plastic hoop system over that bed.

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  5. Sarah on October 8, 2014 at 11:00 am

    I focus a lot on greens too. Here in Texas we can grow them all winter and the only challenge is July and August. I can usually keep arugula going through those months.

    I used to stress because I had too many greens and they don’t save, but now they go to the chickens and bunny. Everyone’s happy!

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  6. Lorna on October 8, 2014 at 8:46 pm

    I’m still experimenting to see what I can ‘over-winter’ and for how long. Last year I accidentally grew carrots and kale well into December/January with no hoop covering (just deep mulch) and they were the BEST I’ve ever eaten.
    The picture of your hoops is quite nice; could you share how you made them? Thank you!

    Reply to Lorna's comment

  7. bonnie knox on October 8, 2014 at 10:25 pm

    Harvesting greens *24* months a year is quite the goal! ;-)

    Reply to bonnie knox's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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