Gardening 2022

Purple Iris bloom
First year of blooms on this purple Iris that I got in a plant swap a few years ago.

Winter-sowing results

In preparation for my 2022 garden, I did lots of jugs of winter-sown seeds this year, my third year doing this method. This year, the weather in SE MI was a bit crazy in the spring. We had a warm snap and many jugs sprouted. I put those in the garage when we had a freeze. However, I think some seeds may have germinated, but not shown sprouts above the soil yet, and I didn’t realize they germinated and take them in. It got cold enough to snow, again. Several jugs nothing grew. I have never had that happen before. If you want more info on Winter-sowing here is another post I did about it, Winter-sowing Method of Gardening.

Tomatoes are amazing winter-sown

My husband wanted more tomatoes this year. I winter-sowed several varieties. They did amazing overall. I had to give away many tomato seedlings, as I had way too many to plant. I still have a bunch I need to either try to find someone who wants them or compost them (which makes me sad).

Winter-sown San Marzano Lungo no 2 tomatoes. This was after I planted 6 plants in my own garden.  I will re-pot these and offer them to my local community.
Winter-sown San Marzano Lungo no 2 tomatoes. This was after I planted 6 plants in my own garden. I will re-pot these and offer them to my local community.

Expanding our garden, again.

In 2020, our project during the shut down due to the pandemic, was to add some additional garden beds and re-fence the garden and we built some trellis arches. Well, this year, since my husband wanted more tomatoes so we can can more tomato sauce, I needed more space. He built me three additional garden beds each 8 foot by 4 foot.

I think this will be the last we can do in our small backyard. Hopefully, in a couple years we can buy some acreage and do more growing (and an orchard, and animals….pipe dreams right now). The photo shows the beds before the dirt and fencing (and mulch) was put in. We laid cardboard down to smother the grass and any weeds and filled them with compost.

Cardboard and mulch will go around the paths in between the beds. We moved the fence that you see along the side of the beds and then fenced all around, so the garden beds are all able to be accessed from the “gates” in the fencing. The “crib” you see along the wooden fence to the right side of the pine tree, is where we put our leaves in the fall and let them compost over winter and we use them to mulch the beds.

Garden Tour -Early June 2022

I did a short little video of the garden and what we have planted so far. I will add more to this post and more videos as the season goes on. Excuse the choppy footage, walking with the camera is not so easy. Also, the loud dogs barking are the neighbor’s dogs (we have a lot of squirrels and they love to bark at them and the squirrels talk back from their position in the trees or running across the fence posts).

Gardening Update #1 Early Summer 2022

Lots of work going on- projects, projects, projects

We added three 8 foot by 4 foot garden beds and re-fenced our garden in late spring. We got them filled with compost and planted. We also put cardboard down in the walkways and spread hardwood mulch down.

We also recently added PVC piping around the fence gates. They gates were just metal fencing that we secured to the stationary fencing with carabiner clips. Well, it tends to warp and bend around the corners/bottom and the dog can get in. So we added the PVC to make them sturdier. Works great.

We removed a dead pine tree from the front yard and planted two blueberry bushes. We bought a fig tree to plant too, we will see if it grows (it was the bare root type), we are going to plant it in a pot and let it try to grow before putting it in the ground. We also added some golden raspberries to our side yard (not in the video, I will update next time). Below is a video tour of what my garden is looking like currently. I did forget one bed in the video, but it has tomatoes in it.

Single day's snow pea harvest
Single Day’s Snow Pea Harvest
First tomato growing (an Indigo Blue Beauty)
First tomato growing (an Indigo Blue Beauty)
Collard Greens (Vates)
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