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Episode-2121- Time to Start Planning for the 2018 Spring Garden

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It is Easy to Forget that Each Season is Really Only About 13 Weeks Long!

Each year usually in January or February I do a show on spring garden planting and it hit me that I should really do so earlier.  Why? Because every year I transition from winter to spring with a entire list of shit that was supposed to be done, that ain’t done.

I fall behind on new bed preparation, seed starting, plant layout planting and other projects.  I mean just think about seed starting, this should begin for many crops a full 8-10 weeks before they are to be set out.  Cole crops like Broccoli and Kale can be planted well before the last frost as well.

Other in the ground starters like peas for instance can generally handle down to about 28-30 degree over night lows, so we need to be ready to plant them very early and success them into summer crops like tomatoes and peppers.

And this is the time to START planning, at least get down on an organized list what you want to do.  Because yes, it is the holidays, there will be shopping, travel, etc. but the mind is alert right now.  Soon you will have what I call “Christmas Coma” where you sort of cost though the end of December and most of January.  It is a slow time for many of us, but also tends to become a time of inaction.  Hunting season ends, too damn cold for many things, no baby livestock to worry over yet, etc.

To break it what you need is momentum!  Otherwise next thing is it is March and you are over paying for Bonnie’s plants at Walmart because it is too late to start seeds for the year etc.

So how do you get momentum?  The plan is your momentum.  The hardest part of any process is what?  Getting started!  If you have that plan, that rough outline it becomes a to do list, you follow that in those slow weeks and by the time things pick up your are hitting the ground running.  However if you wait until mid January to plan, you put it off one week, then two, then it is February, the some life event happens, its March, got it yet?

Today we won’t talk so much about what to do but getting that plan in place to create scheduled action items so that when spring comes and the birds sing, your growing season is off to a great start.  And even if gardening isn’t your thing, there is a big lesson in that.

Join Me Today to Discuss…

  • The lesson in taking a trip/vacation/etc.
  • Why planning is important for spring planting
    • It works
    • Gives you actionable items
    • It is a sanity check
    • Allows you to sort critical from necessary from nice to have
    • Prevents mixing spring and winter prep items
  • Some things I am planning for this year
    • Basic planting diagrams for all annual production
    • Massive wicking bed and aquatic expansion
    • Seed starting including a grow tent this year
    • Forage system for the quail aviary
    • New run of quail for production
    • Pastured chickens instead of new ducks this year
      • Brooder construction
      • Chicken tractor – build and complete dates, etc
      • Quantity – just for me or for others too?
      • Date to order
      • Date on pasture
      • Date of harvest
  • Key Dates to Determine
    • Last frost and last hard freeze dates (not the same at all)
    • Dates to get your seeds started by
    • Construction start and end dates (planned and “drop dead”)
    • Planting dates
    • Fertilizer and amendment dates
    • Spaying of trees and perennial dates
  • Keep a garden book
    • Weekly high and low avg temps, any frosts
    • Date of rain activity
    • In ground seed planting and first germination
    • Pest activity
    • Bud break on perennials
    • Flowering and first harvest of annuals
  • Final Thoughts

Resources for today’s show…

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Comments

Episode-2121- Time to Start Planning for the 2018 Spring Garden — 9 Comments

  1. Hello Jack,

    I was introduced to this from where I work.

    It is web based, I have no financial relationship with this company, I use a free account.

    https://www.process.st/

    It allows you to make checklists and work through them, again online.

    The nice thing is that when you set up a process, you can run it as often as you need to, for those things that are actions to go over again and again, like say raising ducks, planning a event, or the like.

    The water free Dogwash? Very related towards prepping. Too many people do not think about pets need hygiene as well, and without a need for water, conserves resources.

    AWESOME

    Thank you for all that you do.

  3. Your four season photos reminded me of when I lived in Michigan. In that climate, Spring was always such a relief. So much happens with the plants and animals during that time, and there is a kind of deep happiness that goes with that.

    But, I’m from California originally – living in Sacramento now – and here the season changes are quite different, particularly as you move towards the coast.

    The first part of your discussion was really pretty high-level. I’m sure some of your commitment to planning comes from your tech experience. I know that most tech projects require good planning or you end up missing actions that are important. But as you said, you can apply the basic principles of planning to anything you want to get done. Sometimes the first step, though, is: Learn how to do it!

    You are living a very American life (if I may say so) and it’s good to see that still working for some people. I came to your blog via the Permaculture angle, because I was contemplating buying a house and putting in a food forest type of garden. So far that has not materialized. It’s interesting to hear about all the nuts and bolts that go into running a farm (or a homestead as you might call it) as I’ve never lived on one.

    I hope there will always be a place on this planet for people who want to live like you are, because it’s a good honest life. I think the people looking forward to a super-technology future don’t totally realize what they are asking for. Though our better writers try to give us glimpses of what it could be like, their efforts don’t seem to provide much deterrent. I learned about such societies from a different angle, and I likewise am not so enthusiastic about that sort of future. It’s great you have an audience that supports you, but the fact remains that the bulk of society is headed in some other direction, and even if reason ultimately prevails, I see us going through a lot of hell before it does.

     

  4. Excellent show! So much gardening wisdom. A tip for the garden book: the kind of “composition book” that has grid (graph paper) pages. I use this kind out of long habit (it’s the standard lab notebook in my field), but the grid makes it easy to draw bed layouts, planting diagrams, successions, and sketches of things you might build, all to scale.

    • Likely Zcash or Aeon, Aeon to me is a speculation, so don’t risk too much but I think it has potential to be one of the next to make a big run.

  6. Jack, I opened a wallet for Aeon, but could not find a way of funding it.  I typically use changelly  to convert from my Coinbase, but Aeon doesn’t appear to be supported.  What is the best way to fund it?  Thanks.

    • Coinbase only supports Litecoin, Bitcoin and Ether. They promise bitcoin cash by January.

      To buy Aeon you are going to need an account on an exchange they are traded on say like Bittrix. You can send some BTC from your Coinbase account, make the buy and then transfer it to your wallet.

      FWIW I bought a bout a grand at 2.60, when it went to 4 bucks I sold it and bought Monero on a dip. I am not saying to buy Monero now, I may trade it again soon, because it is also way up or was as of yesterday, haven’t checked yet today. I am also not saying don’t buy AEON, I am watching it and hoping it comes back down again. I see it as a decent long term play but nothing going on right now will turbo charge it. My biggest concern is the dev team seems very quiet.

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