Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the middle of a Wisconsin winter

[birds4kids]

Walking out of work today a co-worker an I were discussing how after the subzero temps this week this afternoons 9f felt pretty nice.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I know, it got up to 10 degrees, it felt so warm.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've been seeing that strawberry on every nursery catalog, it does look intriguing. 65 is the most enjoyable temperature. I love fresh lettuce, I grow leaf lettuce, are you growing leaf or head lettuce. I end up with slugs in my heads of cabbage and lettuce so I don't grow them.

Check out a product called Sluggo, or Escargo. It's Iron Phosphate, and safe around livestock and pets. Slugs ingest the pellets, stop eating and crawl off to die and "become one with the soil!" Be sure it has no other insecticide additives. Some products do have additives so it kills more than slugs.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Been doing a lot of planning. I want to grow taters. We use a lot so I want to give it a go myself.

Here is the plan.....
I have a lot of pallet wood from years gone by that Is large. We got several pallets that had 1x6 and 1x8 slats on them.
I am going to try and put some planters together using this free lumber.
I think I can make them so that I can easily remove one side when harvest time comes to empty the contents. I will be sure to post when they are built.
Planting them in the ground did not work for us. The ground is pure clay so very hard to dig as well as taking a lot of amending.
I read not to use manure with potatoes and had already been tilling/turning in manure for years. Dang it that means I needed a new plan.
I am also going to try a strawberry tower and using the old tomato cages that were to small to grow beans in pots.
Going to be a fun year!
It is going to take a lot of tater pots to grow any decent amount but the lumber was free so why not. It is untreated oak by the way.

Any thoughts on cedar privacy fence slats for making planters for food out of?
I will have quite a lot as I am also redoing a portion of the fence.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have read on potatoes to plant on the surface and lightly cover, than as they grow continue to cover so they grow taller and more root for more potatoes, you keep adding soil or straw and they keep going up, you add more height with wood slats, and can add quite a bit, hope I'm making sense, I haven't tried it but apparently you can grow them in mostly straw.

I put manure in my potato barrels in the fall, and add grass clippings all summer for mulch, and I never had any problems. Straw would work good for you since you are running out of lawn.

I can't think of any reason why you couldn't use cedar, a good way to reuse stuff.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I am one of those that does not like to toss things out that are still usable. My Dh calls me a lumber hoarder. I think he is correct lol. I have no problem tossing things that are worn out but lumber always seems to have a second life available if one looks long enough.

I was thinking along those lines.... As the potatoes grow I add another slat onward and upward through the season. (Hoping I don't end up with 6 foot tall potato pots lol)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That would be a lot of potatoes from one plant, I think that's possible though.

After more discussions with my husband about us planting corn and the chickens getting in it, he says we can use our 250 feet of snow fence to enclose it, than I would plant some squash or pumpkins to share out weeds as well as using grass clippings.

We also bought a few more shelves for my started seeds so they all can be upstairs where it's warmer than the basement.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Oh that is a good thing. Your plants will like the warmer place for sure.
I like the 3 sisters growing method I have read about. May have to do that for some extra squash and beans. We did corn a few years ago and it did great. Took a lot of space in my small garden but if I can do squash and beans along with it BONUS. The wind is horrid sometimes here so I may need to put in some sort of bracing for it.

I had a huge DUH moment yesterday. I was looking at greenhouse plans and realized I have the frame pieces from the temporary chicken house when I had a few polish. It was an 8x8 structure out of pvc and hardware cloth. I can put together a greenhouse using the pvc and make lettuce covers using the hardware cloth. Still have a small bunny living in the yard and all that chewing would make me crazy.

THAT is going to have to wait for warmer days lol. That and an actual whole weekend off of work. Overtime is cutting into my gardening plans now. I keep looking at all the lumber in my lumber bunk and planning on making planters with it.

 

[Chaplain Mary]

Dreaming of gardens too, in Colorado! Looking at seed catalogs, making notes, still have a long time to go till end of March for seed starting Tomatoes but dreaming dreaming! Cleaning frozen paddocks with tractor, horses dreaming of spring too!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hi Champlain Mary, do you just start tomatoes or do you start other stuff. I put mine out in the garden in water walls, I'm able to get them out almost a month sooner and that means I'm eating tomatoes in early July. Nice to have another dreamer, what kind of horses do you have?