Month: March 2022

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2022 Garden Goals

This year’s goal is 500 pounds. It sounds like a big, scary, unattainable number, especially for a small garden, but I think it can be done. If I’m doing the math right, it’s really only 11% more than last year. So, if everything that did really well last year does really well this year, and the things that didn’t do so well do a little bit better, that number is possible.

I’ve added a few more containers to the planting area. Now I have six 4′ x 8′ beds, five 25-gallon containers, five 5-gallon containers, and 4 square feet of dirt that I plant along the fence. Which yields 192 + 13 + 4 + 4 = 213 square feet of growing area. I realize the actual enclosed area of the garden is bigger, but I don’t count walkways. Is that cheating? I don’t think so. The in-bed layout, timing and yield would be the same it it were all mashed into one long 4′ x 53.25′ plot. I wouldn’t be expected to count the perimeter walkways then. So I won’t now.

I wish I had room for a 4′ x 53.25′ row. More than one, actually. But that will never happen, for many reasons. Mainly because our quarter acre is completely crammed with shady maples and poorly placed structures. The backyard faces north-northeast. The front yard gets more sun, but it is the dog’s domain: plant life perishes in his presence. Lastly, any attempts to scratch out more garden space are met with stiff resistance, because some people in my house prefer grass to home-grown food.

I will do my best with what I have.

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About My Planting Calendar

The dates listed below are not etched in stone. I think they will work for my garden in zone 7A (with a little help from some reliable season-extending equipment), but then again, maybe not. Work and weather tend to skew the schedule a bit. Planting crops even slightly out of season can be a real crapshoot, because the elements can get ugly in a hurry. I’ve learned the hard way that cloches and row covers are no match for an ice storm, and a heat wave in September can easily fry fall crops. To complicate things, my job gets crazy busy in the spring and summer. I’m gone most of the day, and I can’t plant if I’m not home. So, the dates listed below are ideal, calculated to get the highest yield from the greatest variety of vegetables possible. Weather and work will determine how close we get to them.

More importantly, the cultivars listed below aren’t there because I think they’re all fabulous. Some are: I’ve used them for years with great results. But not all. Some are there because a blurb in a seed catalog proclaimed them “high-yielding” or “extremely cold-tolerant”. Some are only there because I got the seeds for free with an early order. It’s important to try new things. We’ll find out how good they are when we total up the yield at harvest time.