I've started my new garden a lot earlier this year...

This happens to be my 3 rows at our new community garden next door to the libary in our small town.  Its handy.  I exchange books and water my rows.  I wanted more room especially for watermelon this year.  No raised beds allowed here because they till the whole garden twice a year. 

This is my home garden of raised beds.  I started things earlier this year and crops are growing well so far.

I keep a new blog for my new gardens under:

http://quiltbeagardens.blogspot.com/

so you can go there to see what's new every day.

I try to post every day or 2.  I'm loving my gardens.

I STARTED A NEW GARDEN BLOG....

I will be deleting this blog sometime in April 2010.
I started a new one with my more familiar name, quiltbea, so that family and friends can more easily find me.
Please join me at:
http://quiltbeagardens.blogspot.com/

I shall continue to discuss square foot gardening in the northeast, my trials and errors and new ideas for newcomers and experienced alike.   There will be more on my dwarf fruit trees, my blueberry bushes, my strawberry beds, and my seed starting efforts for the first time.  
Being a rather new veggie gardener myself, starting in 2009, I wish to share what I learn as I go.  This year I plan to try seed saving.  I also plan to freeze some of my harvest.  All this will be discussed as it happens.  Pictures of my small flower garden will also be included.  I love my roses and iris among others.
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For those who enjoy quilting, come join me at my quilting and sewing blog where I will post pictures of my projects, tutorials on methods, and other helpful quilting and sewing things.  I do NOT know how to post PDF files so I won't be able to make patterns to print.
If you are a quilter, come join me at:
http://quiltbea.blogspot.com/

Please visit at my blogs when you can. 

I STARTED ANOTHER BLOG FOR GARDENING...

I STARTED A NEW BLOG AT:

http://quiltbeagardens.blogspot.com/

I WILL BE DELETING THIS quiltladysgardens ONE IN APRIL 2010.
I WANTED TO USE MY FAMILIAR NAME OF quiltbea SO FRIENDS AND FAMILY WILL KNOW WERE TO FIND ME.
PLEASE MAKE NOTE OF THE NEW BLOG.

FOR 2010 I WILL CONTINUE TO POST NEWS ABOUT MY SQUARE FOOT GARDENING ENDEAVORS, MY DWARF FRUIT TREES, MY BLUEBERRY BUSHES AND STRAWBERRY PLANTS, AND MY SMALL FLOWER GARDEN. 
I WANT TO SHARE MY TRIALS AND ERRORS WITH NEW IDEAS, MY SUCCESSES AS WELL AS MY DEFEATS BOTH AT HOME AT AT OUR LOCAL ORGANIC COMMUNITY GARDENS. 

IF YOU ARE INTO QUILTING, YOU CAN FIND ME AT MY QUILTING BLOG:

http://quiltbea.blogspot.com/

ON THIS BLOG I'LL POST QUILTING AND SEWING PROJECTS ONGOING AND FINISHED AND TUTORIALS NOW AND AGAIN.  I DON'T KNOW HOW TO MANAGE PDF FILES SO I CAN'T POST PATTERNS TO PRINT, BUT I CAN POST PHOTO TUTORIALS.

IT'LL BE NICE TO HAVE YOU VISIT.  COME OFTEN!

I can't believe they made it...

Here are some germinated broccoli and a cabbage.  These are from the starts I thought I'd lost.  I had forgotten about them for a day and the soil blocks dried out so I thought the seed died.  I watered them and they sprouted the next day.  I have to be more careful and watch more closely for new sprouting.  They are now safely under my grow light.

And here are 3 of the broccoli from earlier, the ones that were so lanky when I left the blocks too wet.  I transplanted 3 that survived and a new sprout from a later start so I have 4 broccoli plants under the lights now.  Here is the result 2 days after repotting.  I think they might make it.
It takes time to get the hang of starting seeds.  Luckily I'm going to a seminar on the 17th when a Master Gardener will teach us to start seeds and plan a veggie garden.  Its in conjunction with our new Organic Community Garden being started this year beside the town library.  I'll be an eager student.  I can apply the learned ideas to my later starts.  I hope they work out better than the first ones.  Probably by the time I need to start tomatoes, I'll know what I'm doing.   

My broccoli has germinated...

I almost missed them.   I didn't check these til afternoon and the Packman Broccoli had germinated in 3 days, to my surprise.  I think a little too much.  Maybe they were too humid.  Anyway, I've placed them under lights to see if that helps.  The moisture was dripping from the top of the plastic bag so I think I'll have to try again and watch the moisture.  I'm very new at this and I know I'll make mistakes.  That's why I started my seedlings early enuf to allow for starting some after the failures.

I just had to start some seeds yesterday....

I hope the pictures are clear enuf.  I dropped my camera on the cement floor this morning and now I get streaks in the photos.  I don't know if it just needs an adjustment or I need a new camera, but until I check it out, these will have to do.  The trees were photographed before the fall.

Above you see the 3/4" soil blocks I used to start some seeds.  I have 4 Packkman Broccoli, 4 Super Red 80 mini-cabbage and 2 Titan leaf Parsley.   

After spritzing them well, including with some 'green tea bag' solution,  I slid the used meat tray (scrubbed clean with soapy water and dried), into a freezer bag.  Closed it most of the way then blew air into the small opening to lift the bag over the blocks, and closed that last corner.  The whole thing was placed on a heat mat.  I'm hoping for good results even tho the seeds were leftovers from last year and the year before.

After they germinate, I'll remove the bag and the tray will go under my grow lights until the 1st true leaves form when I'll drop the tiny block into 2" soil blocks so gain some growth.

The seeds I've kept inside their envelopes inside a tightly covered jar kept in the crisper of my fridge thru the year.  I've heard this should keep the seeds healthy.  I'll find out soon enuf.

This is what I saw this morning when I let out the dogs at seven a.m.  A lovely white dusting of snow on our trees, making a pretty picture.  I'm hoping we don't see any more of it.

I'll be seed-saving this year....

Right now my raised beds are pretty much covered with snow and ice.  Under those 9 raised beds is fertile soil somewhere.

This year I plan to start saving seeds and tomatoes are one of them.  I've learned that I need to keep the plants of any one variety at least 5' away from another variety so they don't cross-pollinate and they have to be open-pollinated varietes and not hybrids.  To that end I've had to re-plan my garden.  Those tall green poles at the corners of six of the front beds are sturdy fence posts from which I will wire and twine.  I'm ordering 15 plants this year from Territorial Seed which ships PLANTS, 3 of each of only 5 varieties so I can save seed.  I will put a trio at each of the outside poled beds and the beds with poles in between will be peas.  I can put the short determinate Oregon Spring in the back of one of the back beds since they won't need the tall poles and wire and twine.

Besides the Oregon Spring, which can be planted outdoors FOUR week BEFORE last frost date (Hooray!), I plan to plant 3 main season Rutger's CS Space Select, 3 San Marzano Gigante 3 which are sauce tomatoes, 3 Brandywine heirlooms (which I hear are the tastiest) and 3 Delicious heirlooms this year.  That should give us lots of tomatoes and lots of extras for saving seeds for the next year or two.  I'll keep you posted on my progress thru my planting efforts once again this year, complete with pictures.