Arm chair gardening!

Arm chair gardening! That is what gardeners do at this time of year. What a delight to look through seed catalogs and plan what one will do better this year! I look over my notes from last year and decide what needs improvement and if the amounts I planted last year worked well.

My red beets did not do well last year. I have a friend who grows beautiful red beets every year. I asked him what his secret was. He told me he plants the seed early, as early as he plants his peas some years, and then mulches the plants when they come up. I will try that this year.

How about a new way to stake tomatoes? I get tired of tomato cages which have to be staked so they won’t fall over. I think I will try putting in stakes four feet apart and in rows eighteen inches apart and then run rope or wire crisscrossing the stakes. That will give me a “patch” of tomatoes held in place by rope or wire. It seems there is always something new to try with tomato plants. My tomato plants did well last year and I had tomatoes from the beginning of July to the end of October.

Last year with my “Grow and Share” plan for sharing garden produce, I wrote a newsletter for each week–twenty in all. I think I may edit them and put them into a little booklet to share again.