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BeginnerGardeningPlanning

In The Garden: March

by Margauex
written by Margauex

Welcome fellow green thumbs and aspiring garden gurus to the March madness edition of our gardening escapades! As we gear up for the springtime symphony of blooms and bounty, those of us in Zone 6a are itching to get our hands dirty. But fear not, for I come bearing a guide to help you navigate the whimsical world of seed starting, garden chores, and infrastructure maintenance.

Plant starts

Seed Starting Spectacular

Ah, March, the month where dreams of lush gardens begin to sprout alongside the first signs of spring. In Zone 6a, it’s the perfect time to start sowing some seeds indoors to give your plants a head start before the warmer weather kicks in. So, what seeds should you be planting? My seed picks for 2024 you can find here. Now, let’s dive in! 

  1. Cool-Season Veggies: Think peas, spinach, lettuce, cabbage and kale. These hardy souls can handle a bit of chill and will thank you for the early start. Basically, everything you plant in February plus Brussels Sprouts. Check out more on seed starting here.

  2. Herbs Galore: Basil, parsley, cilantro—oh my! Start these aromatic wonders indoors for a constant supply of flavor throughout the season.

  3. Flower Power: Brighten up your garden with the likes of marigolds, zinnias, and cosmos.  Any annual plants you want to have, now is a good time to get started. Who says veggies get to have all the fun? 

  4. Tomatoes and Peppers: If you’re feeling adventurous, start your tomato and pepper seeds indoors for a bumper crop come summertime. Just be prepared for the impending tomato jungle takeover! I tend to start my tomatoes and peppers in April. I find that by doing this you have less up potting to do and less time watering while still getting a good crop. 

Greenhouse

Garden Chores: The Good, the Bad, and the Dirty

Now, onto the less glamorous side of gardening—chores. But fear not, for even the most mundane tasks can be infused with a hint of hilarity!

  1. Weeding Woes: Ah, the eternal battle against the relentless onslaught of weeds. It’s like playing a game of Whack-a-Mole, except the moles have an uncanny ability to multiply overnight. Cleanup any leftover stuff you missed or didn’t get to in the Fall. This is also a great time to get out anything you may have overwintered. 

  2. Mulching Madness: Don your finest gardening attire and prepare to dive headfirst into a sea of mulch. Bonus points if you emerge looking like a woodland nymph rather than a mud-covered mess. I use cardboard for my aisles and then cover it with either wood chips or straw. Make sure you top off any beds with soil that may have sunk down before you top it off.  Also, make sure the cardboard you use is unwaxed and without tape. 

  3. Pruning Party: Grab your shears and get ready to give your plants a much-needed haircut. Just remember, it’s all fun and games until you accidentally snip off your favorite flower bud.

weeeded raised beds

Infrastructure Shenanigans

Last but not least, let’s talk infrastructure maintenance. Because what’s a garden without a sturdy support system?

  1. Fence Follies: Give your fence a once-over and mend any holes or wobbly posts. After all, we wouldn’t want any nosy neighbors sneaking a peek at your prized petunias.

  2. Tool Tidying: Channel your inner Marie Kondo and declutter your gardening arsenal. Admit it, you don’t really need three different types of trowels… or do you?

  3. Compost Comedy: Embrace the funky world of composting and turn your kitchen scraps into black gold. Just try not to gag when you accidentally unearth a wriggling worm or two.

Pinterest Pin

Conclusion

So there you have it, fellow garden enthusiasts!  March in Zone 6a is shaping up to be an unforgettable adventure in all things green and glorious. So grab your gloves, sharpen those shears, and let’s make this gardening season one for the books!

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Planning

2024 Garden Plan

by Margauex
written by Margauex

In 2023, with the help of incredible neighbors, we turned over a portion of our front pasture into a 5,000-square-foot garden space. My husband will tell you I have 0 understanding of how space works. I have a really hard time knowing how big something is and how it will fit into a space. So when my neighbor came over and asked where I wanted him to plow with his tractor we walked a line and I said “From here to here”. You would think that would be enough for me to see how big the space was going to be. It didn’t click until the ground was turned over and fully tilled for me to really grasp how much space it actually was. So I was instantly overwhelmed, had a mini panic attack, and just started planting things that needed to get into the ground without any rhyme or reason. So unfortunately that turned into a really underutilized space with lots of weeds and holes with no plants.

Why am I planning My Garden So early?

There are a couple of reasons to start planning your garden. The first is November is when most seed companies release their catalog for the next year. In my experience, seeds sell out fast.  If you want specific varieties, you want to get them before they sell out. Potatoes and garlic are two I have missed out on due to not ordering early enough. So in order to know what to order I needed to know a layout of what would fit where. 

The other reason is Cover Crop planting. With my heavy clay soil, In order to plant root veggies efficiently, I need to plant tillage radishes where I will plant them next year.  So planning out my garden early was really important. 

Farmers Almanac Garden Planner

So for 2024, I decided to get really serious and figure out a detailed plan, completely overhauling my garden space. Which is where the Farmers Almanac Garden Planner came into play. I’ve seen several different programs for garden planning, some free, some very expensive, and some are invite-only, but for me, this garden planner seemed easy to use with some handy features that would make it easier than a hand-drawn plan. They do a 7-day free trial so you can check it out and see if it will work for you. What is really awesome about this program is that it has all the plants preloaded with spacing requirements. It also has this awesome feature to add to a plan for the next year to help with crop rotation. You can also add in your irrigation and structures. It makes a list when you are finished of exactly how many plants you need of each variety, and the exact numbers of irrigation stuff you need. You can set up your plants to be in the ground for specific dates, making succession planting a breeze.

Not growing market rows in the ground? No problem…The program works for raised bed gardening too. It has preloaded raised beds you can customize to your size and material.

 

plant list

Garden Redesign

The first thing I did was completely redesign my beds. We are on a hill so every time it rains, which is a lot in northeast Ohio, the northeast corner would have standing water, which drowned a bunch of my sweet peppers this year. So to fix that I changed my beds from 100ft North-South beds to 50ft East-West beds. With 2 ft wide walkways that will be lower than the beds to help water run down the hill. This will give me 22 total 30” wide beds to work with.

layout layer

My Actual Plan

So here is my final plan for 2024. I will probably change out where plants are a few more times but this is what I’ll be prepping this fall to plant cover crops and overwinter vegetables in.  I have 3 different layouts for the year. The first is my spring-planted crops. The second will be for fall planting and the third is cover crops. For my cover crops, I will be planting tillage radish which I plan to rotate potatoes to in 2025. The rest will be a cover crop mix.  To know what exact varieties I am planting check out my 2024 seed picks here.  If you are curious how I decided what to plant where, check out my post on companion planting and plant spacing here. 

main crop
fall layout
cover cvrop layout

Raised Bed Area

raised bed plan
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BeginnerGardeningPlanning

DIY Raised Bed Greenhouse Covers

by Margauex
written by Margauex

This year I am really trying to have my winter garden survive, nay thrive. The 2022 winter was looking so good. And then the arctic blast came, where we dropped a record 45 degrees overnight and with the wind chill hit -37 degrees. Our power went out for about 10 hours and we had a duck die and lost 2 guinea hens. My entire garden, gone. So this year I have convinced my husband to assist me in building a couple of season extenders for our raised beds. These are temporary with materials we already have in our barn so I can take them down and use my beds next spring.

I am covering two 8ft x 3ft beds. One is using PVC pipe while the other is using the pipe from this set I got on a prime day deal super cheap to try out. The PVC pipe isn’t being cut so I’m filling that box with plants that get tall like kale, chard, broccoli, and cauliflower. The lower hoop will be for spinach, arugula, radishes, turnips, and lettuce. 

Materials

The PVC pipe can be found at your local Home Depot or Lowes. 

Building The Hoops

Step 1:

I started out by measuring the halfway point of my raised bed. Then I put one side of the pipe strip on. Drill pilot holes first to make it easier to get through the wood.

Step 2:

Next I placed the pipe in and screwed in the second side of the pipe strip.

Step 3:

Bend the pipe over the raised bed to the other side and mark where it hits. Then do the same as the first side, drilling pilot holes then doing one side of the pipe strip then the other.

Step 4:

Repeat steps 1-3 until all your pipes are in.

Step 5:

Line up your pipes so the height is even. My raised beds are slanted downs so i had to add dirt to one side. then place your cross bar where you would like. I did one on each side of the arc. Secure with zip ties and add end caps to prevent plastic from catching.

Step 6:

Measure out your plastic over the bars. You will want excess on both sides to secure with staples.

Step 7:

Secure your siding. On the wind sideand ends, I secured with staples. The non wind side I secured with Landscape stakes in order to be able to open the bed to be harvested.

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BeginnerGardeningPlanning

6 Tips To Help You Prepare Your Garden For Winter

by Margauex
written by Margauex

Fall is here which means the temperatures are dropping, the daylight is hours are decreasing, and in Zone 6A it’s time to get started on prepping your garden for winter. If you are feeling overwhelmed, like “hey summers over, my frost date is slowly approaching, what am I supposed to do now?”, I have a list with some tips that will hopefully help you!

Why do I need to put my garden to bed for the winter?

Putting your garden to bed is a really important part of the gardening process in areas where you can’t really garden year round. (I’m talking about you, my family in sunny, warm zone 9b) It helps you preserve your harvest, remove any diseased plants along with pests, helps to prevent winter soil erosion and gives your perennials the best chance they have surviving over winter.

basket full of summer veggies

#1 Harvesting and Storing vegetables

Tender Vegetables do not tolerate any kind of frost and should be harvested before it hits. Keep a close eye on the weather as fall sets in, early frost can happen.
This includes beans, peas, pumpkins, summer squashes, tomatoes, and winter squash. Pull out these plants and all crop debris. If the plants have any sign of disease, either burn them or discard in the trash. Do not add any diseased plants to your compost pile, it can transfer disease back to your soil.

Semi-hardy vegetables will tolerate light frosts (usually 29°-32°). Most of these vegetables will benefit from some sort of protection like a row cover or a cold frame.

  • Cabbages and Swiss Chard can withstand some frost. The outside leaves may get some damage or become a bit tough. All you have to do is peel away the outer leaves and they are usually good to go.
  • Arugula, Cauliflower, English Peas, Kohlrabi, Leeks, Lettuce, and Mustard Greens can die when unprotected in prolonged periods of cold weather. I use a row cover, and if it’s going to be really cold I double it up. It really makes all the difference.
  • Root crops, your beets, carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, and turnips can remain in the garden after a frost and still be in good condition. The greens may die but the root itself will be ok. Make sure to get them out before the ground actually freezes.

Hardy Vegetables will tolerate hard frosts ( 25°-29°) and some even taste better after a light frost.

  • Brussels Sprouts can stay in the ground. Bury plants up to their tops with hay or leaves in the late fall. I use a tomato cage with added twine to keep all the straw in.
  • Greens like collards, kale, and spinach actually become sweeter when touched by frost. When it gets super cold they go dormant and concentrate their sugars making them even sweeter. The sweetest spinach you will ever eat will be in spring after the winter passes. I also use a row cover over them to help them survive when it’s colder.
  • Some varieties of broccoli may also survive through the winter without any protection.
  • Garlic is planted in October and overwinters for next year’s harvest. I cover mine with straw for a little protection and weed suppression in the spring.

Semi-hardy vegetables will tolerate light frosts (usually 29°-32°). Most of these vegetables will benefit from some sort of protection like a row cover or a cold frame.

  • Cabbages and Swiss Chard can withstand some frost. The outside leaves may get some damage or become a bit tough. All you have to do is peel away the outer leaves and they are usually good to go.
  • Arugula, Cauliflower, English Peas, Kohlrabi, Leeks, Lettuce, and Mustard Greens can die when unprotected in prolonged periods of cold weather. I use a row cover, and if it’s going to be cold I double it up. It makes all the difference.
  • Root crops, your beets, carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, and turnips can remain in the garden after a frost and still be in good condition. The greens may die but the root itself will be ok. Make sure to get them out before the ground freezes.

Hardy Vegetables will tolerate hard frosts ( 25°-29°) and some even taste better after a light frost.

  • Brussels Sprouts can stay in the ground. Bury plants up to their tops with hay or leaves in the late fall. I use a tomato cage with added twine to keep all the straw in.
  • Greens like collards, kale, and spinach actually become sweeter when touched by frost. When it gets super cold they go dormant and concentrate their sugars making them even sweeter. The sweetest spinach you will ever eat will be in spring after the winter passes. I also use a row cover over them to help them survive when it’s colder.
  • Some varieties of broccoli may also survive through the winter without any protection.
  • Garlic is planted in October and overwinters for next year’s harvest. I cover mine with straw for a little protection and weed suppression in the spring.

#2 Prepare Your Herbs for Winter

Some herbs definitely need winter protection while others can tolerate the cold without any help.

  • Basil: Tender annual. Make sure to harvest before the first frost.
  • Chives: Very hardy. Do not need anything special. You can take a clump of them and pot it. Let the foliage die down and freeze for a couple of weeks. Put the pot in a cool, sunny spot and you will be able to harvest chives all winter.
  • Oregano: In cooler areas, add a layer of straw for winter protection
  • Thyme: Nothing special is needed. It will go dormant in the fall and then pop back up in the spring.
  • Parsley: Is a biennial, so if you are saving seed it will pop up and flower the second year.
  • Rosemary: Cover with straw or bring inside for winter.
  • Sage: Young plants will benefit from some straw covering. It eventually grows to the size of a bush and will thrive for many years.
  • Tarragon: This plant dies down in the fall and puts up fresh green shoots in the spring.

#3 Cover Up the Garden Beds

Most of us add compost to our garden in the spring, but you can add compost in the late fall. This will allow the ground to really soak up the nutrients over winter. Then, add a cover crop or a light layer of straw, mulch, or leaves to prevent soil erosion. A cover crop will not only help to prevent soil erosion, it will add nutrients and organic matter back into your soil while helping to prevent weeds. If you are looking to make new beds, placing a tarp down or a layer of cardboard will kill existing weeds and subdue sprouting seeds. If you need to adjust your PH, this is the time to also add Lime or Sulfur to your garden. It takes about 6 months for your PH to adjust.

You can also continue growing into the winter by using season extenders like row covers or hoop houses. Check out my build for raised bed hoop houses here.

#4 Prepare Berry Patches for Winter

    • Prune Raspberries.
        • For summer-bearing varieties, leave the 6 strongest brown canes for every 1-foot of your patch.

        • For fall-bearing varieties, cut them to the ground after they have produced fruit. New canes will come up in the spring and bear fruit.

    • Plant blackberries in the fall and mount up the soil to prevent them from hard frosts pushing them out of the ground.

    • Blueberries are pretty hardy. Some may like a thin layer of mulch.

    • Cover Strawberries with a layer of straw mulch.

#5 Turn Off your Irrigation/Watering System

If you haven’t already turned off your water, do it! We turn off all our outside faucets from our basement and then let the water that’s left in the pipe drain out. You’ll also want to drain any hoses and get them wrapped up and stored for winter.

#6 Do Your General Garden Maintenance

  • Empty all your outdoor buckets and store them upside down to prevent cracking.
  • Mow everything down as late into fall as you can.
  • Use any fallen leaves as mulch for your garden.
  • Cover up your compost pile with a tarp or straw layer before the first snow.
  • Drain the fuel tanks on any of your machines, mower, tiller, weed wacker, etc. Check your manuals for any other winter maintenance.
  • Scrub down and put away tools.
  • Clean up and put away seed starting stuff/ greenhouse.
  • Pull out any t-posts/ trellising and store them for next year.
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Month to Month Gardening heading
BeginnerGardeningPlanning

Seasonal Garden Maintenance: Your Month-by-Month Checklist

by Margauex
written by Margauex

I like to be able to see a simple basic overview of my month to month to help plan. Planting dates are based on zone 6A. Spring planting dates should be adjusted about a week earlier for Zone 6B and a week after for Zone 5b.

Most vegetables can be planted July-September for a fall harvest. Just be sure to check the number of growing days needed. Days to maturity does not factor in the germination time, so make sure to add that to your days to maturity to make sure you get your fall crop.

Spring planted vegetables should be started indoors 4 weeks before last frost date or date stated below.

Remember that these dates are general guidelines and can vary based on local climate conditions and the specific microclimate of your garden. It’s a good idea to consult your local extension services for more precise planting recommendations.

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raised bed garden in front of white barn
BeginnerGardeningPlanning

When To Plant in Zone 6A

by Margauex
written by Margauex

Planting dates are based on zone 6A Northeast Ohio. Spring planting dates should be adjusted about a week earlier for Zone 6B and a week after for Zone 5b.

Keep in mind, that soil temperature is more important than air temperature. Cool season vegetables require soil temps above 55° while warm season vegetable require soil temps above 75°.

Most vegetables can be planted July-September for a fall harvest. Just be sure to check the number of growing days needed. Days to maturity does not factor in the germination time, so make sure to add that to your days to maturity to make sure you get your fall crop.
Spring planted vegetables should be started indoors 4 weeks before last frost date or date stated below.

Remember that these dates are general guidelines and can vary based on local climate conditions and the specific microclimate of your garden. It’s a good idea to consult your local extension services for more precise planting recommendations.

Average Last Spring Frost: May 1st – May 15th

Average First Fall Frost: October 6th – October 21st

Spring Planting Dates Chart
Fall Planting Dates Chart
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