This week was a whirlwind of succession planting! I was determined to stick to my plan and only plant frost-tolerant/cold-weather plants. But guess what? I couldn’t resist the temptation to experiment a bit. I ended up planting all sorts of things. My garden is a giant science experiment!
When it comes to seedlings, I’ve been using seed starter trays from big-box stores. I try to get at least two years out of them, but they’re pretty flimsy and I’m not a big fan of all the plastic. The plastic trays, seed cells, and labeling stakes – it’s a lot of plastic! I try to reuse everything I can, but it only lasts so long.
I’ve been asking around, but if you know of a more reusable seedling tray and cells that last longer, please drop a comment with links. I’ll definitely check them out.
Some plants I like to have all at once, especially tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans. It’s more efficient for me to have these in abundance when canning for storage once they’re done for the season. I prefer to have my canner full instead of only a couple of jars at once. It takes a lot of time to can, and adding jars only increases the time slightly.
For my frost-tolerant plants like cabbage, artichokes, broccoli, leeks, and bok choy, I prefer to plant in rounds or do succession planting. So I’ll plant 3 or 4 new seeds each week. In theory, this means my family will eat these particular foods fresh once a week. Some plants in this category I can store better, like spinach, and I don’t mind how much we end up with. It freezes fantastically! It’s just what makes sense for my family right now.
In this shorter video on YouTube, I’m planting some of the same frost-hardy plants I talk about here. You can also check out a much longer version of what I planted earlier in the day here