Early Spring Update - 2016

The new year is underway and it will be an exciting one in the garden!

Last year I planted a number of perennials which will spring forth soon. Many of these are designed for windbreaks for future plantings..
I attempted propagation by cutting of grapes, pea shrub, sand cherry and seaberry. Of these the pea shrub did the best, followed closely by the sand cherry.

These were rooted in a chamber with perlite and room temperatures, taking 2-3 weeks.
I now have them in pots and will be planting them in early summer.

I will be planting many more perennials this year, including goji berry, alpine strawberry, comfrey, yarrow and more..

Another area of focus will in the annual garden. This year I will be doing a small 3 sisters garden.
While this is typically corn, beans and squash, I will also be using quinoa and amaranth in place of corn to some extent.
These three crops not only provide a well rounded diet, but also store for long periods thus providing food for winter.

The quinoa that I have is fairly short(@3ft), so it might be less useful as a bean stalk, but maybe it can be a step between the ground and the amaranth?

I will also have tomato and cucumber patches!

On the composting front, adding my composting worms to the pile was a great move!
They worked all winter long on my vegetable waste and I already have great vermicompost to use.
I believe the method of digging a shallow depression (2 ft deep in the center) for the pile along with THICK straw on top(12-18 inches) helped keep them warm enough to stay active.

Indoors I have been growing greens in bins with good success(and much food).

The chard did very well, as did the kale and southern collards. The lettuce eventually bolted but produced a good amount by then.
I would estimate a heavy green eater to need at least 4 bins to pick from all year long, cycling them after about 70 days..

Things are picking up and I will try to keep this blog updated!
Thanks for your interest.