I spent 6 hours in my garden the last two days prepping to plant. My husband is building raised beds in our greenhouses this year as well. YAY! Our goal is to have everything planted by Memorial Day weekend so we can head off on vacation for a week and come back to little green shoots popping up.
I have had a lot of questions on what I grow from seed and what I get seedling starts from. I really don't have the space in my house to start many seeds early so anything that I need to be ready by spring I get from starts. To make that even easier for you here are my two lists below. Next year I will be trying to start some more seeds from starts as I'm taking over a section of my garage without complaints...yet. :)
For locals my favorite local greenhouse is Perennial Gardens on South Birchwood Loop Road! Local family that know what they are talking about. Very helpful and some of the best prices I have found around! Bushes Bunches has great prices in Palmer as well.
Purchased Starts
55 Tomato Plants
30 Zucchini
40 Cucumber
40 Cabbage (savory, green and red)
12 Brussel sprouts
40 Broccoli
40 Kohlrabi
4 Pepper plants
Herbs (LOVE my fresh herbs!)
spearmint
basil
tarragon
thyme
rosemary
Plants that I start from seed directly into garden (super easy and hardy!) Do not buy these as starts. Waste of money and they really do better when they are not transplanted.
Snap peas
Green Beans (trying the pole beans this year)
Carrots (Nante variety are my fav)
Radish (french breakfast)
beats
lettuce
arugula
Herbs
cilantro
flat leaf parsley
chives (they come back every year so plant them somewhere smart)
scallions
dill
I will take pictures as I go over the next 5 days to help out new gardeners but here are a few tips.
* Buy a inexpensive soil test kit (lowes,walmart,fred meyer) and see what your soil looks like. The package should tell you what you need to do if your NP or K is low. Steer manure is $2.00 a bag at most stores and is one of the best ways to improve your nitrates. Compost is another way to enhance your soil. (you can purchase or start your own) Chemical fertilizers are okay but to be honest you will have to work harder later to get your soil where you want it.. My advice is if you add chemical fertilizers (instead of manure) is to still add compost.
* I soak my peas and beans for 24 hours before planting to give them a head start. (NO longer)
* Plant radishes and carrots in the same row. Radishes come up and are ready really early and carrots come in later. (space saver!)
* I do the block planting method for lettuces and herbs (space saver again) just mark off square foot blocks and scatter seeds per package direction!
* Flowers:I also plant sweat peas (flowering only) throughout my snap peas for gorgeous color and they smell awesome! My all time favorite seed flower for my veggie garden are cosmos. After planting all my veggies I go back and sporadically put in cosmo seeds (many other seeds work for this as well but make sure they grow by seed in Alaska and do not have to be started in doors) Nasturtiums work well too. You will love the flowers popping up throughout the summer!
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