For more about the first frost, pictures and a video, check out the blog post on Small Scale Life titled "First Frost: End of My 2018 Garden Season."

• What is a vertical garden?
• Benefits and challenges of a vertical garden planters
• Materials needed to build a vertical garden planters
• Step-by-step guide for building vertical garden planters

What is a Vertical Garden?

Vertical gardens are growing techniques that take advantage of unused vertical space to grow vegetables, herbs or flowers. There are several types of vertical gardening techniques that can be used effectively in any garden:

• Trellises - Making use of trellises for certain plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans, sugar snap peas, grapes, squashes and gourds, etc.
• Hanging Planters – Using elevated planters that put plants in the air and specifically grow in used vertical space.

I have used both techniques effectively over the years. I am a huge fan of trellis gardening, and I use trellises exclusively for a number of plants in my garden. I will have another article that discusses my trellis and technique.

Hanging planters are another way to let plants grow in the air and maximize unused space. I discussed vertical gardens before in the following articles and podcasts here on [Small Scale Life](www.smallscalelife.com):

Vertical Garden 101: Introduction to Vertical Gardening
Vertical Garden 102: How to Build a Vertical Garden
Vertical Gardening with the Plant Charmer Part 1
Vertical Gardening with the Plant Charmer Part 2_

There has been a lot of change since those articles and podcasts! The Plant Charmer has expanded his farming operation using vertical gardening techniques exclusively, and I have relocated from St. Louis Park to the current homestead in Minneapolis.

For more about How to Build Vertical Garden Planters on Fences including a step-by-step guide and material list for building a vertical garden, check out Small Scale Life!

In addition, I expanded my garden space by adding two vinyl gutters two weeks ago!  I have discussed these kind of gardens before in the Vertical Garden 101: Introduction to Vertical Gardening and Vertical Garden 102: How to Build a Vertical Garden posts.  I provide some thoughts about these type of gardens in this podcast in this environment.

Introduction: Common Garden Pests

How are your plants doing so far this season?  We are  moving into a point of no return for the 2018 season.  What do I mean?  With us getting into late June, there is a point where plants like tomatoes, peppers, squash or zucchini cannot be replaced and still generate a decent harvest this season.  The bottom line is that if you lose a plant any later in the season, it will be difficult to replace it.

This is why pests are so difficult when they show up in the garden.  I am sure pests have their place in the world; however, they do not have a place in my gardens where I have been working hard to create healthy and happy plants and produce to feed my family.

Without much ado, I am going to discuss how the garden is doing and some of the common garden pests I am dealing with this season.  Some of these pests have been more destructive than others, but regardless, you have to check your garden daily and make sure that you address and dispatch each pest quickly.

For more information, please see the article on Small Scale Life.

Even when there are troubles and challenges, there is no place I would rather be. Digging in the dirt and planting new seedlings is therapeutic and relaxing, and these small setbacks are easily overcome. A rabbit eating a zucchini and some peppers are easily replaced with new seedlings or geraniums, and fences and raised beds can and will be replaced.

To read more, please see smallscalelife.com.

This podcast is quite a bit different than other podcasts because you get to be part of the crowd of kindergarten students as I teach them about gardening! As part of Earth Day Week, I wanted to make a real impact on students' lives.  A few years ago, I decided the best thing to do is to teach gardening and let students get their hands dirty and grow some plants.  This year, I went to a local elementary school and presented about the three basic elements needed for gardening: light, water and soil. For those of you who want to make a difference in a student’s life while helping the planet, my Earth Day Tip: Teach Gardening.

To find out more or get a copy of the presentation, please visit Small Scale Life.

This week I have been fielding some questions in various Facebook Groups about Starting Seeds Indoors, and some folks are having some trouble with leggy seedlings and wondering how to fix the problem. In this post, video and podcast, I will discuss how I set up grow lights for indoor plants and starting seeds indoors. The stand that supports my grow lights is simple, very stable and costs under $15.
What are Leggy Seedlings?

The picture above was from a failed experiment that I conducted in 2016. I germinated this group of tomato seedlings by putting a black tray on top of the tray with the soil, and after four days added light. While I had good initial germination, you can see how "leggy" these seedlings were on Day 4.
Is is a problem because long, spindly ("leggy") seedlings are more fragile than their stocky counterparts. The do not hold up in windy conditions, and if you let them grow too tall, they will flop over under the weight of their own leaves.

Leggy seedlings are created by a lack of light. The plants accelerate growth in order to reach the light, any light, in their growing area. This can occur when a gardener plants seedlings and sets the container near a window or if the container is too crowded, and the seedlings are competing for light.
This is a common problem for gardeners who are trying to start seeds indoors. You can correct this problem by adding an oscillating fan (tricking the plant by simulating wind) or adding grow lights for indoors plants.

Grow Lights for Indoor Plants

I recommend gardeners use grow lights for indoor plants unless you have a greenhouse that gets fantastic sun for 14-16 hours a day (which is one of my goals)!

As I mentioned in other articles, I use inexpensive grow lights from Menards. In Menards-speak, they call these T12's "aquarium lights," but technically they are Sylvania 40-watt T12 Gro-Lux Fluorescent Light Bulbs, and you can find them in the Electrical Department.

The lights cost around $10 per bulb, and I put them in inexpensive shop lights (the lowest cost ones I can find). All in all, two bulbs and one shop light will cost you around $30, and that will be more than enough for two plug trays (or 188 plants if you use the plug trays I am using this year).

Grow Light Stand

In the past I used the brackets of the shelving units to hang the grow lights for indoor plants. Moving to the wider workbench eliminated that possibility. While I have used PVC pipes and fittings to build grow light stands in the past, I found that unless you cemented them together, they fell apart. It is not ideal when your grow lights crash down on your tender seedlings!

I decided to use lessons learned from gardening in St. Louis Park when I hung the grow lights from the shelves. I fabricated brackets that plugged into the pre-drilled holes in the shelving units, and then used PVC pipes with eye hooks to hang the lights over the seedlings with chains. That simple system allowed me to adjust the height of the lights as the plants grew taller.

I knew I had some wood in the garage, so I went foraging. I found the 1" PVC pipes with the eye hook holes from St. Louis Park (yay for not throwing these away)! That was a win. I also found a 4' long 2x4 and a 2' long 1x3. I decided to make the base out of these boards.

Using these pieces of wood, I made the following parts using a skill saw and my trusty drill:

• 2 - 12" base boards made out of 1x3's
• 2 - 18" vertical boards made out of 2x4's
• 2 - 14" horizontal boards made out of 2x4's

Using screws I had on had, I put the two "sideways goalposts" together. I added a "L" bracket to the 12" base to give the stand more stability. As you can see in the video, the grow light stand is very stable.
I added the two PVC pipes to the stand by using metal strapping typically used in plumbing projects. I cut 4 6" pieces and screwed them to the top of the stand. Sliding the PVC pipes in, the whole stand got that much more stable.

The beauty of this system is that it is easy to construct, is inexpensive and can easily be moved if we have a project that requires using the workbench.

Putting It All Together - Grow Lights for Indoor Plants

The final stand - March 2018Gardeners get excited to start planting seeds in the Spring, especially after a long winter. Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and plant the seeds before we are ready. This can result in seeds popping through the soil and growing before we have adequate light for them. The result are leggy seedlings that could collapse under their own weight!

To avoid leggy seedlings, you must do the following:

1. Add an oscillating fan to simulate wind and trigger the plants to thinken their stems
2. Add grow lights for indoor plants to provide direct, long and low light to your tender seedlings.

I have successfully used inexpensive Sylvania 40-watt T12 Gro-Lux Fluorescent Light Bulbs from Menards and have had excellent results. I will have to try LED Grow Lights some day when I have some extra dollars in the budget, but this is working for me now.

To support the grow lights and shop light housing I constructed a simple stand consisting of PVC pipes, scrap wood, straps, some screws, eye hooks and two L brackets. The grow light stand is stable, inexpensive and mobile.

If you are looking for a solution for your leggy seedlings, forage in your garage and head on over to a nearby big box store.

You can get very creative and provide ample light for indoors plants! If you want to see a video of this stand and the seedlings, go to the smallscalelife.com for pictures or see the video at the Small Scale Life YouTube Channel for more information.

Let me know what you design and build. I am really curious what designs you develop for your plants!

Thank You
That’s about all for this post and podcast. I hope you found that reviewing top seed sources was useful and helpful. If you have comments or questions, please leave them as a comment to this post on Small Scale Life, use the Contact Us page, or send me an e-mail at realsmallscalelife at gmail dot com.
Thank you again for listening to the Small Scale Life Podcast and visiting smallscalelife.com. We appreciate you and your time. Our wish for you is that you remove some of that stress in your life and live simply this week. This is Tom from Small Scale Life, and we’ll see you next time! Take care, everyone!

Have you planted seeds yet?  I did on St. Patrick’s Day, and I have some great news to share with you about that!

Introduction – How to Start Seeds Indoors for Spring Gardens

If you have been following along over the past few weeks, we have been going through the general process for preparing for the 2018 Gardening Season.  We have done the following steps so far:

• Developed a garden plan – Developed a list of plants we want to grow)
• Ordered your seeds – Selected a reputable seed vendor and purchased seeds for our garden.

While there are many seed vendors out there, I focused on four big vendors that members of the Small Scale Life Facebook Group and MN-WI Regenerative Agriculture Group use most often.
Finally!  It is the moment of truth!  It is time to stop thinking and start doing!  I grabbed my seeds and some soil and got ready to get down to business….

Not so fast!

Before I could start planting seeds, I had to some additional planning and prep work.

Setting up the Indoor Growing Area

Part of my planning and preparation work was to select an area in the house to grow seedlings.  In our previous house in St. Louis Park, I grew seedlings on two shelves in a cold and dark basement.  I discussed how I started seeds and some lessons learned after have some failures over the past few years in the following articles (on smallscalelife.com):

• How to Garden Indoores
• 8 Steps to Starting Plants Indoors
• Lessons Learned from Growing Indoors
• Four Lessons Learned from Starting Seeds

For the 2018 Gardening Season, I had to find a new space to plant seeds and grow seedlings.  While I knew I would be regulated to the basement, it was a much different situation in this house in Minneapolis.  The basement is not as warm as the upper level, but it isn’t as brutally cold and dark as the St. Louis Park house.  I attribute that to the fact that half of the basement is insulated and finished, and that does help retain the heat!  Having more heat retained in the basement should help with germination, and I am hoping that having a warmer basement reduces the potential for damping off disease!

I had to select my indoor growing area, and it really came down to three choices: the built-in near the television, the bar area or the workbench near the furnace.  I would not be able to use a shelf in this house simply because we have gear and things on all of our shelves.  We just do not have the extra shelf space!

The biggest concern I had as I was evaluating each location was the availability of power (for grow lights, heating pads and a timer) and the impact on other basement users (like my son and wife Julie).  Each spot had power, so really it came down to finding a spot that would be out of the way and not bother anyone.

The best spot was the workbench near the furnace.  While losing the workbench for potential projects is not ideal, it is important to remember that I would only need part of the workbench until mid-May.  What could possibly go wrong?  Besides, if we needed to use the workbench, everything can be moved quickly. Of course, that might mean that the trays go on top of the freezer, but I would only use it temporarily (I promise, Jules).

The workbench is 27 inches wide, and that easily beats the narrow 18-1/2 inches on the St. Louis Park shelves.  In case you are wondering: yes, in this case, size does matter!  The extra width easily accommodates both seed trays in a side-by-side configuration on the workbench. On the shelves, I had to use scrap pieces of plywood to get over the lip of the shelf to get the trays to sit side-by-side.  This is much, much better!

Equipment Needed

Part of getting your equipment might include buying soil and seeds - March 2018
With seeds in my hand and a growing area selected, it was time to get my “equipment” out of storage in order to start seeds indoors.  My equipment consistec of the following:

• Seed trays
• 9x9 plug flats (or cells, as I like to call them)
• 5 gallon bucket or kitty litter bin (to hold the soil)
• Pro-Mix soil
• Heating pads
• Grow lights
• Timer
• Surge Protector
• Jumbo popsicle sticks or other labels for your seeds

Most of these materials had been in storage for the winter.  I had to rummage around the garage to find what I needed, and then I realized that I had thrown away my 9x9 plug flats last season!  I had used these plug flats for a three seasons, and they were showing some age, wear and literal tears.  I wanted to get new plug flats, so I got rid of them.

I went to the big box store and found that they did not have the 9x9 plug flats anymore.  I decided to pick up two McKenzie Pro-Hex Plug Flats instead.  They were relatively inexpensive: $5 per kit included a plug flat (72 plugs, tray and acrylic dome).  I would later throw away both of the domes (I feel they encourage damping off disease).

On the same trip, I also picked up the Pro-Mix soil.  While I did pick up a package of Coir for the 2018 Soil Challenge, I wanted to have a more controlled experiment using smaller plug flats.  I also wanted the 2018 Soil Challenge to focus on the best soil for growing greens.  More on my thoughts and how I am going to conduct the 2018 Soil Challenge in a separate post!

Armed with all of this gear and the seeds, NOW it was time to plant!

Start Seeds Indoors: Time to Plant!

Plug trays are loaded! St. Patrick's Day 2018
As I discussed in my Garden Plan, I want to plant at four distinct times this year.  I called these times “Stages.”  The first stage is early spring, right when the soil is starting to warm up.  There are plants that do well in those conditions, and I want to have a crop ready to put in the beds to take advantage of the season.  Plants that do well in the Early Spring Stage (when there are some cold nights) are: lettuce, spinach, Swiss Chard and green onions.  I added one more to my Early Season Stage: broccoli.  Most of these plants are quick-growing, and I decided to hold off from planting them on St. Patrick’s Day because I wanted to get the Late Spring Stage plants started.

The Late Spring Stage plants are the vegetables and herbs that will be in the ground in mid-May and grow until late August.  These are the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, squash and herbs that are listed on my plan.  Because some of these plants take 80 days or more to for fruit to be ready, I wanted to get them started as soon as possible.  For other plants such as zucchini, squash, potatoes, green beans and cucumbers on the list, I will sow them directly into the beds or planters in May.  The real critical ones are the tomatoes, peppers and herbs, so that is where I wanted to begin.

On a beautiful St. Patrick’s Day, I poured a drink, put on some music and started planting seeds in my new plug flats.  I had so much fun getting my hands in the dirt and planting over 144 vegetables and herbs on my potting table outside!  It was fantastic!  All in all, I planted the following:

• Cherry Tomatoes (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved
• San Marzano Tomatoes (3 rows)
• Opalka Roma Tomatoes (2 rows)
• Jalapenos (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved
• Red Bell Pepper (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved
• Pepperoncini (1 row)
• Banana Peppers (2 rows)
• Sweet Bell Peppers (1 row)
• Yellow Bell Peppers (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved
• Orange Bell Peppers (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved
• Dill (1 row) – seed I saved
• Basil (1 row)
• Oregano (1 row)
• Rosemary (1 row)
• Broccoli (1 row)

I made sure to label the rows with jumbo popsicle sticks.  With three different varieties of tomatoes and seven different varieties of peppers planted, I did not want to make a mistake this year!

Finally, I brought the trays inside, put them on the heating pads and added water to the trays.  I figured I had 7 days before I had to hook up the grow lights, so I started working on a system to support the lights when needed. Again, it does not need to be expensive, sophisticated or fancy; it just needs to work! I have something almost ready for prime time, but I figured I wouldn’t need the lights for a few more days, right?

Putting It All Together

It is time to get planting those seeds for your 2018 garden!  You don’t have to have the most sophisticated equipment or a greenhouse start seeds indoors.  If you are overwhelmed with this whole process, you can buy plants from the big box store, from a greenhouse, or from a friend, but it isn’t that hard if you break it down into the following steps:

1. Developed a garden plan
2. Purchase Seeds from a Reputable Vendor
3. Purchase Some Equipment (i.e., soil, grow lights, timer, heating pads and trays)
4. Put the soil in the tray and put the seeds in the soil
5. Label everything
6. Add water to the tray
7. Put the trays under the grow lights and on the heating pads
8. Wait!

Now, you see Number 8 above?  Tom Petty was correct when he sang, “The waiting is the hardest part.”  However, if you do all of these steps right, you DO NOT have to wait long….

I went downstairs after dinner and looked at the seedlings. I was shocked:

After 4 days, I have seedlings! 

Tomatoes, basil and broccoli have punched through the soil. I guess there is something to this starting seeds indoor thing!

This is great!  Of course, I need to finish the light system as soon as possible (which is now complete and operational), but I am very excited for this season.  It should be a great year!

In case you are new to our podcast and blog, Small Scale Life is all about removing stress from our lives by living simply through:

• Gardening,
• Healthy living, and
• Having adventures along the way

We are thrilled you are here and listening to our show or reading our blog. That means a lot to us, and frankly we wouldn’t do this if you weren’t part of our Small Scale Life. Thank you so much!
Before we begin this episode, let’s hear from some friends of Small Scale Life:
Friends of Small Scale Life

• Aussie Flame Weeders – My friend Mick at Aussie Flame Weeders is offering flame weeders to reduce your non-revenue producing workload. If you want to eliminate weeds from your garden beds, a flame weeder is an efficient way to do it. I mean, who doesn’t want to burn pesky weeds with fire? Mick’s flame weeders are perfect for 30 inch (80 cm) garden beds and feature five stainless steel burners, 16” wheels and an ergonomic design that carries a propane tank so you don’t have to. Even if you don’t purchase a flame weeder, sign up on the Aussie Flame Weeder e-mail list to get access to videos and information.

• Tommy Cakes – Midweek Mindset and the Small Scale Life Facebook Group

Thank you to our friends of Small Scale Life. Remember: if you have a product or a service that you would like to be discussed on Small Scale Life, contact me at realsmallscalelife at gmail dot com or use the contact us page on smallscalelife.com.

Introduction – Seed Vendors

As we roll through February, it is time to get planting seeds and getting our seedlings started. As you have been finishing up your Garden Plans, I am sure you are finding that you need some seeds! If you type “seed vendors” into Google, you will be overwhelmed with companies and vendors selling all kinds of heirloom and genetically modified seeds.

Where do you buy your seeds?

This was the exact question I asked the two groups I manage on Facebook:
• Small Scale Life Facebook Group
• MN-WI Regenerative Agriculture Facebook Group

I wanted to get the perspectives of urban farmers, homesteaders and gardeners. The great thing is that this is input from across the country (Small Scale Life Group) and locally in Minnesota and Wisconsin (MN-WI Group). I wanted to see if there might be differences in how small scale gardeners buy their seeds versus more commercial operations like Michael Bell’s Half Acre Farms or Scott Hebert’s Flavourful Farms.

The results in each group are summarized below and will serve as the basis for reviewing top seed sources.

Small Scale Life Facebook Group

We had some good participation from group members, and I appreciate your thoughts and feedback in the poll and on my direct messages. Here is what the results are telling us:

• Johnny Seeds is the clear leader for growers in the Small Scale Life Facebook Group.
• Baker Creek is in second place with Seed Savers in a distant third place.
• A few of our Small Scale Life members were very interested in saving their own seeds.

Homesteader Greg Burns told me that his goal is to plant using saved seeds and not purchase any. New to gardening, Jacob Heinberg is starting his garden this year, and he is very interested in seed saving. While I won’t get into specifics in this post, I will have some posts about it in the near future.

MN-WI Regenerative Agriculture Group

The MN-WI Regenerative Agriculture Facebook Group is a smaller group composed of farmers, homesteaders and gardeners in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I wanted to set up a local network of people to replicate the Ohio Get Stuff Done Group, and there is a great group of people there. I plan to start meeting people in this group, but that is for another time.

From the people that participated in this poll, we have the following results:

• Seed Savers Exchange was the leader.
• Burpee is second.
• Saving your own seeds is in third place.

Top Seed Vendors

In order to help reviewing top seed sources, your humble correspondent went a little above and beyond and ordered seed catalogs from Johnny Selected Seeds, Baker Seed Company, Seed Saver Exchange and Burpee. I wanted to briefly review top seed sources from our polls and show the differences between their seed catalogs.

While you can get a lot of information off each vendor’s website, seed catalogs provide a wealth of information about the seeds, produce or herbs, time to maturity, yield and some history about the origin of that particular plant or herb. One seed catalog provides specific information about resistance to certain blight (and that might be one of the reasons they are a leader).

Johnny’s Selected Seeds

Started in 1973, Johnny Selected Seeds is based in Maine and is 100% employee owned. They offer a variety of vegetable, herb, fruit and flower seeds. Johnny Seeds also offers a variety of tools and supplies for gardeners, market farmers and farmers.

I am impressed by the information that Johnny Seeds has compiled beyond the description, days to maturity, what to expect at harvest and price options. The disease resistance information and germination guides are great! They also have some suggested planting program information for market farmers to follow during the “Stages” of the growing season. There is a lot to like about Johnny Seeds.

What about cost?

Johnny Seeds seems to be more expensive than other seed vendors; however, they offer seed packages for commercial producers (i.e., farmers).

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company printed its first seed catalog in 1998 when the owner was 17 years old. Baker Creek has three stores: Petaluma, CA; Mansfield, MO; Wethersfield, CT. They offer a variety of heirloom vegetable, herb, flower and fruit seeds, and if you are interested, they host events at their stores.

Looking at their seed catalog, it is a straight-forward affair: history of the particular item, description of what to expect at maturity, days to maturity, amount in the packet (selected items) and price. Unlike Johnny’s, Baker Creek does not seem to have larger packages for commercial producers (i.e., farmers).

What about cost?

Baker Creek seems to be less expensive than Johnny’s Seeds and seems to be in the same range as Seed Savers Exchange and Burpee (depending on the item).

Seed Savers Exchange

Seed Saver Exchange started in 1975 and is based in Decorah, Iowa. They offer a variety of heirloom vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruit. They promote their seed saving community and seed saving movement.

Their seed catalog includes history of the particular item, description of what to expect at maturity, days to maturity, amount of seed in each option (all items) and price per seed option. Unlike Baker Creek, Seed Savers does offer some larger packages for more commercial operations.

What about cost?

Seed Savers seems to be less expensive than Johnny’s Seeds and seems to be in the same range as Baker Creek and Burpee (depending on the item).

Burpee

Burpee is big, and it is everywhere: Menards, Walmart, Home Depot, grocery stores, etc. Started in 1876, they are headquartered in Warminister, PA. They have vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruit, gardening supplies, seed starting supplies and lots of other items.

Their seed catalog includes days to maturity, description of what to expect at maturity, amount of seed in each option (all items) and price per seed option. Burpee does not seem to have larger packages for commercial producers (i.e., farmers). It is a one-size-fits-all approach, and you can easily purchase their products at big box stores near you.

What about cost?

Burpee seems to be less expensive than Johnny’s Seeds and seems to be in the same range as Baker Creek and Seed Savers (depending on the item).

What About Saving Your Own?

Perhaps you don’t have the funds to spend on all these vendors. Times are tough for some, and there are ways to get gardening without breaking your bank. Seed saving is a great way to get your own seed collection started on the cheap.

While I am not going to go into detail in this post about saving seeds, it is as easy as saving those pepper seeds in your bell peppers or jalapenos. Instead of composting them (and maybe growing vegetables and herbs in your compost pile), save the seeds from peppers, squash, cucumbers and other vegetables on a plate and let them dry out. Just make sure you label them or it could get messy!
Saving tomato seeds is a little trickier. Tomatoes have a gelatinous membrane around the seeds, and you need to break that down by “fermenting” the seeds for a couple days. It isn’t hard, but I am planning to write a post about that. Of course, if you have a tomato you like, you can take a slice with seeds in it and plant it in soil. You will generate tomato seedlings!

We will cover seed saving in another post.

Other Seed Sources

Be on the lookout for other sources of seeds. Some groups and organizations have seed exchanges and offer seeds. These can be great sources as well. The only potential drawback is that you might not get the particular variety you want, but you might get something unexpected!

Putting It All Together

After developing your Garden Plan for this year, it is time to purchase seeds. There are a lot of vendors out there, and it can be overwhelming to sort through all of them. The key is to use your Garden Plan to identify the seeds you need, and purchase your seed according to availability and price. Maybe you want to get your seed from one vendor that has them all? Perhaps you want to try a couple different vendors? Keep in mind that I only listed the big four from our poll. There are other vendors out there.

You can save seeds from vegetables from the store or from your garden. That will save money and get you going this year, but you might not get the variety of tomato, pepper, bean or other vegetable you want. The benefits to saving your own are gaining that experience and saving money.
Be on the lookout for seed exchanges or offers for free seeds. These can be ways to add to your collection.

There is no right or wrong answer. The key is to get moving and collect your seeds because it is time to plant! That is next week’s topic!

Thank You

That’s about all for this post and podcast. I hope you found that reviewing top seed sources was useful and helpful. If you have comments or questions, please leave them as a comment to this post on Small Scale Life, use the Contact Us page, or send me an e-mail at realsmallscalelife at gmail dot com.
Thank you again for listening to the Small Scale Life Podcast and visiting smallscalelife.com. We appreciate you and your time. Our wish for you is that you remove some of that stress in your life and live simply this week. This is Tom from Small Scale Life, and we’ll see you next time! Take care, everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!  I hope you had a great day yesterday and had some fun.

Julie and I went to a winery in Waconia, Minnesota, for some wine and jazz with our good friends.  It was a lot of fun to catch up and enjoy some really good wine and food!  We even made some new friends who just purchased 20 acres north of the winery and are making a really cool place out of the wetlands and woods on their land.

I am taking Tommy Cakes’ advice from last week’s Midweek Motivation: enjoy local events and make real, authentic memories with friends, family and your community.

Update: Developing Your 2018 Garden Plan

In the last show, I discussed Developing a 2018 Garden Plan.  Your garden plan will serve as your foundation for gardening success this year.  I did get some feedback from folks about that show, and I wanted to add two points for narrowing down your “Pie in the Sky Plan” to a feasible, realistic plan:

• Climate - Consider your climate and what grows there. If you live in Minnesota like me, you do not want oranges, avocados and lemons in your plan if you don’t have special climate controlled facilities to grow them.

• Actual Layout - To help with planning your garden, it might help to actually plan out where everything will go using a piece of graph paper, wipe board or computer. The key is to get realistic sizes for plants and your garden (to scale).  I will have another post on how to do that in the near future.

• Those are great suggestions, and I have added them to the show notes from the last episode.

4 Lessons Learned from Seed Starting

I have been starting plants from seed in my basement for a few years now.  I learn something new each year, and last year was no different.  Like everything in life, you learn the most from your failures, and I had a couple last year.  I am not afraid to admit it!  Let's discuss four lessons learned from starting seeds in 2017.

Why start seeds yourself?

I started planting my own seeds in 2014 or so.  Back then, I was buying plants from big box home improvements stores, but I found that I was getting frustrated with the following:

Quality – Plants at the local big box home improvement stores were just not healthy.  Some were wilting or had blight, others were terribly stunted and looked “bad.”  I usually could nurse them back to health but it always took some work to get them growing in the right direction.

Selection – Big box home improvement stores just did not seem to offer a wide enough selection of plants.  Some had a couple of varieties of tomatoes, but I didn’t want to grow that particular type of cherry tomato, big beefsteak tomato or “summer salsa” tomato.  I wanted something a little different.  I found the same applied to peppers as well.  When I started growing my own, I had control and picked the type of plant I wanted to grow.

Cost – The final reason I started growing my own plants from seed was that the cost was simply too high.  Typically, you are paying at least a dollar for each inch of height of seedling, and some of the more mature plants can be six to ten dollars a piece.  If you have a big garden bed or several beds, gardening gets very expensive very quickly!  I had a 12-foot long bed with 16 tomato plants in it, the cost for these 3-inch tall plants could be $48 (plus tax)!

I decided to start growing my own seeds, and I found that the materials to start growing were fairly inexpensive.  I had articles and a podcast about that last year in the following articles:

• How to Garden Indoors
• 8 Steps to Starting Seeds Indoors
• 9 Lessons Learned from Starting Seeds Indoors - Season 2, Episode 6   

4 Lessons Learned from Seed Starting

That said, I am going to need to set up a new growing area since moving to this new house.  Regardless, I need to keep the following four lessons learned from last year in mind as I begin growing plants this year.

1. Label, label, label

Make sure to label everything as you plant seeds and later transplant your seedlings. One of the problems I ran into last year was how I labeled seedlings when I started growing them.  I was trying to be clever with the Potting Soil Challenge by using masking tape on the seed trays.  It worked great initially when I had the grow lights a few inches above the soil, but as time went by and the seedlings grew, I needed to put some kind of marker/label in the seedling cell.  Over the course of growing, I move cells around to check the plants, take off the first leaves and eventually transplant them.  If I take out several of the cells, the cells get mixed up, and I lose track of what is what.  Labels are cheap, so take the time to buy some popsickle sticks or plastic sticks to label each plant.  If you don’t label plants, you garden will be like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates: “You’ll never know what you’re gonna get!”

2. Keep a Journal

Life is busy, and as much as we like to THINK we are going to remember details about our growing season, things and life happens. We actually forget what happened!  Keeping a simple journal will help you remember:

• What worked
• What didn’t work
• How you tried to fix problems and/or counteract plants and blight

One thing that I have tried to track is germination rates and growth for different types of seed in the different types of soil (part of the 2017 Potting Soil Challenge).  While my intentions were good, I fell behind last year and eventually abandoned the log.  This was unfortunate because I could not draw solid conclusions from the 2017 Potting Soil Challenge.  I will do a better job this year as part of the 2018 Potting Soil Challenge!

3. Transplant Seedlings Earlier

I traditionally have planted and transplanted seedlings according to the following timeline:

• Late February – Plant seeds in cells and seed trays
• Mid-Late April – Transplant seedlings into cups
• Late May – Transplants seedlings into garden beds

I want to change this timeline this year.  While it has worked out “ok” in the past few years, I find that the seedlings’ roots become tangled messes by mid to late April.  While the seedlings usually survive the transplanting process, I want to see if the seedlings will be healthier and stronger if I transplant them earlier.

The last frost date in Zone 4B is typically around May 10th, and that date defines when I transplant plants into the garden without fear of a killer frost.  I cannot change that date (it is due to climate), but I can change when I start planting seeds in the garden beds.  Because I live in Minnesota, I need to push to get every day that I can for plant growth.  By delaying to late May or early June, I have lost valuable time and produce from my plants.  Getting these plants in the ground might result in a late harvest from some of these plants!

4. Using Coir…Effectively

I used Burpee’s Coir product for the first time last year in the classrooms and with my own seedlings. I had never used it before, and for those of you who have never used it, coir is made from recycled coconut fibers.  It comes in a small brick.  Once you add water to it, the material is ready for your seeds.  It is important to know that coir holds up to 150% of its weight in water and, most importantly, retains that water.

For me, I was used to my traditional methods of growing seedlings: add soil to the seed tray cells or cup, plant the seeds, and water from the bottom.  It never occurred to me that coir was already a saturated medium and would not wick up more water.  In fact, it would start to rot in the cup (anaerobically) if it got too much water!

I realized this because the coir soil began to smell horribly.  Some of the seedlings growth slowed, and some seedlings died because of root rot.

I used coir exclusively with my school outreach in 2017.  The two classes that I worked with last year did not have this problem.  In fact, their plants thrived and did quite well because they watered the plants from the top where I was watering from the bottom.

I am going to try growing more seeds with coir this year and track my results as part of the 2018 Potting Soil Challenge.

Putting It All Together

I have found that planting seeds improves the quality of your plants, provide better selection of plants and is cost effective (especially if you have larger gardens).  Over the years, I have learned a lot of lessons.  Last year, I learned the following:

• Label everything
• Keep a journal
• Transplant seedlings and plants earlier
• Use coir more effectively

Even if you don’t start your plant from seed this year, you can implement some of these lessons in your own homestead, garden and flower beds.

In this post and podcast episode, I am going to discuss How to Develop A 2018 Garden Plan: what I am going to grow and how I am going to grow it. I am making some adjustments to my planting strategy based on conversations with Michael Bell, Scott Hebert, Doneil Freeman, Drew Sample, Greg Burns and other market farmers. While I am not going to grow commercially, I am going to adopt some of their concepts and principles to make my garden very productive in 2018. That is the plan, anyway!

In case you are new to our podcast, blog and social media platforms, Small Scale Life is all about removing stress from our lives by living simply through:

• Gardening,
• Healthy living, and
• Having adventures along the way

We are thrilled you are here and listening to our show or reading our blog. That means a lot to us, and frankly we wouldn’t do this if you weren’t part of our Small Scale Life.

Before we begin this episode, let’s hear from some friends of Small Scale Life!

Friends of Small Scale Life

A Bee Friendly Compamy - Michael Jordan

Are you interested in bees, beekeeping, honey or mead? If you are, you need to check out A Bee Friendly Company out of Cheyenne, Wyoming! Michael Jordan, who is on The Survival Podcast Panel of experts and has been on the Small Scale Life Podcast, is an actual bee whisperer. I am constantly amazed by the work that Michael is doing to improve apiaries and communities in his backyard, at the local school and across the country. Michael is broadcasting information on Facebook Live every Wednesday at 5:00 PM Mountain (5 minutes at 5 PM), so check him out. If you are interested in bees, beekeeping, honey or mead, check out Michael Jordan’s A Bee Friendly Company on Facebook!

Nature’s Image Farm – Greg Burns

Great news, everyone! It is time to start planning for spring. Are you looking for comfrey, bees or trees? Greg Burns from Nature’s Image Farm has what you need.

Nature’s Image Farm has Comfrey Bocking 4 and Comfrey Bocking 14 cuttings available for you today.

Looking to start beekeeping and are looking for bees? Natures Image Farm has 5 frame nucs available now! Keep in mind that there is a deadline of February 10, 2018, so contact Nature’s Image Farm today.
If you want to add trees to your property, Greg will also be updating tree bundles next week. Nature’s Image Farm will once again have exciting bundles availavle soon for urban homesteaders and farmsteaders including pawpaw, seaberry, rugusa rose, apple, pear, American chestnut, butternut, elderberry, mulberry, service berry and more. They have everything you need to start your own food forest or family orchard, which is pretty cool!

Remember: Use code “SSL” for Small Scale Life for 10% off and free shipping, and let a real American hero Captain Lumbersquatch Greg Burns know that you heard about Natures Image Farms on Small Scale Life. Check out naturesimagefarm.com today!

Tommy Cakes – Midweek Mindset and the Small Scale Life Facebook Group

Thank you to our friends of Small Scale Life. Remember: if you have a product or a service that you would like to be discussed on Small Scale Life, contact me at realsmallscalelife at gmail dot com or use the “Contact Us” page on smallscalelife.com.

News

Before we begin, I want to go through some news items.
First off, I am working on things behind the scenes to improve the Small Scale Life experience. It feels like we are getting momentum and starting to focus in on the message and direction of the blog and podcast. As part of that, we are going to start digging into Wicking Beds and launching Wicking Bed Nation, so stay tuned for that.

Next, I get excited when I can connect groups of people. A great example of this was connecting Michael Bell with Michael Hingston from Aussie Flame Weeders, and I think these connections are happening in our Small Scale Life Community (on the blog, Facebook, and Instagram). To help connect people through Small Scale Life, a number of us are running or starting small businesses, and it is great to connect with folks and get your name out there. To help with that, I am working on developing a business directory on smallscalelife.com. We want to connect people. We want to connect our audience to your quality businesses and products. If you want to be included in our business directory, let me know. If you want to be included, contact us at realsmallscalelife at gmail dot com or use the “Contact Us” page on smallscalelife.com.

Finally, I do have some exciting news! A company that makes the Coir product for Burpee heard my Potting Soil Challenge Podcast from last year, and they have reached out to me. This company would like to donate some Coir product for the school outreach I do each spring. I tried Coir bricks for the first time last year in the classroom, and the kids loved watching this brick of material turn into a growing medium. I really appreciate their interest, and I am really excited to work with this company and report on this in the future.

Wow…that was a lot, but it good stuff to talk about with you. Enough of all that; let’s get back to the show!

Introduction

The Super Bowl is over, and we are almost to the middle of February. For gardeners, homesteaders and farmers in the northland, people are in high-gear planning and plotting for this year’s Growing Campaign. I know folks down in Texas, other southern states and our friends on the other side of the world in Australia and New Zealand are already in high gear, and I always need to keep that in mind!

I am no exception. I have been planning what plants I want to grow this year and how I am going to fit everything in these limited gardens! For those of you who are new to the show, I moved last June to a relatively small urban lot in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At this new house, I inherited two four-foot by six-foot square foot gardens. These raised beds do need some love and attention because the wood is rotting, and I have a plan to replace them with Wicking Beds in the near future.

Developing a Garden Plan

Planning what vegetables and plants you grow feeds right into your overall gardening strategy and seed purchase. It is almost time to get those seeds ordered and started!

If you are here, you fit into one of three categories:

• New gardeners who have never grown anything before.
  
• Somewhat experienced gardeners and really didn’t get the results we were hoping for.
  
• Seasoned veterans who have had literally tasted the success of gardening.

No matter where you fall in the Gardening Spectrum, we all start at the same place at the beginning of the season: The Garden Plan.

The Garden Plan is the foundation for your season’s success. It helps guide you through the seed catalogs, websites, seed kiosks and tables of live plants at the local greenhouse or big box store.

Your Garden Plan is all about you. What do you want to grow? Where do you want to start?

This can be overwhelming, and I have acted like a therapist talking with people who are overwhelmed by choices and options or talked with people who want to plant it all. The fact is: we can’t plant it all. We can’t grow it all. After all, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, there are 25,000 tomato varieties. Other sources say 10-15,000 varieties being actively cultivated worldwide. That is a lot of tomatoes!

We can’t grow it all, so you might be asking, where do you start?

Grow What You Eat

When you start your 2018 Garden Plan, you really need to think about what you and your family will eat. It doesn’t make sense to grow a ton of tomatoes, eggplant or squash if no one in your family likes to eat them!

Focus on what you eat and grow those things. For example:

• If you like salsa, you should look to grow tomatoes, peppers, onions, and cilantro.
• If you like dill pickles, you should look at growing cucumbers, dill, onions and maybe some jalapeno peppers (to spice it up a bit).
• If you like pesto, you should grow basil and maybe some parsley.
  Think about what goes into your favorite dishes and recipes. Grow the things that you use often or can preserve for that long march in the winter between December and April.

If you have trouble thinking about vegetables and herbs you use, take a notebook and keep a food log for a couple weeks. Write down the key vegetables and herbs you use on a daily basis. That can be a starting point for not only your Garden Plan but also your plan to prepare for tough times (some folks call it prepping or modern day survival).

Write Out Your Garden Plan

Once you have thought about those dishes, recipes and preserved foods, you can start to write down a list of vegetables and herbs that you want to grow this year.

Start big; write them all down.

I am serious: write all those vegetables and herbs down on a piece of paper. We will start with a “Pie in the Sky” Garden Plan and then start to hone it down to a manageable, realistic plan.

How do you do that?

Look at your available space in your growing area. Remember: your space in the garden might be very limited. Some of these plants can get pretty large (i.e., squash, zucchini, pumpkins and tomato varieties). You will need to balance your “Pie in the Sky List” with spatial realities (i.e., you want to grow pumpkins but are limited to a north-facing condominium balcony).

I cannot emphasize this enough: do not waste your time and very valuable space for growing things that you and your family don’t like or won’t eat. Grow what you eat; otherwise, you will be making compost out of plants, herbs and vegetables that you do not eat.

If you are tight on space or want to experiment with new vegetables and herbs, I recommend buying those items at the local Farmer’s Market, buying from a local farmer or finding a local gardener or friend who will trade with you. If you like those items, maybe you will expand your garden or work those items into your plan next year.

If you have an opportunity to expand your growing area and grow more, there are a lot of options. We will discuss that in future posts and podcasts as well.

My 2018 Garden Plan

I started planning my garden in late January 2018. I sat down with my secret Small Scale Life Notebook (it has nuclear codes in it, trust me) and started roughing out my “Pie in the Sky” Garden Plan.
As I wrote everything out, I started to think about how the gardening season has gone for me over the past few years. I plant everything in one shot in mid to late May, and certain plants just don’t fare well in the hot days in late June and July. Some plants, like spinach, lettuce, sugar snap peas and other greens, actually prefer cooler weather.

I decided to develop a two stage approach to my Spring Garden Plan. As you can see in the image, I am going to plant greens, green onions and sugar snap peas in the early spring (i.e., April). These plants tend to grow quickly, and I can get a harvest before the Late Spring Stage kicks off.

In the Late Spring Stage, I am going to plant the bulk of the other vegetables and herbs after the first frost date (May 10 in Zone 4B – Twin Cities). I will intercrop the Late Spring Stage Plants with the Early Spring Stage Plants. That means I will plant tomato starts next to sugar snap peas, and I will use companion guides to intercrop the peppers, onions, and greens.

The other thing you might notice is that I don’t have enough room for all of the Late Spring Stage Plants. I have two four by six foot raised garden beds, and while they can handle a lot of plants, I am going to need more capacity. It is time to show you my plans for constructing and operating wicking beds. It is time to launch Wicking Bed Nation!

Putting It All Together

Newbie or experienced gardener, we all start at the same place in the Long March of Winter. Before you get overwhelmed with the seed catalogs, websites, seed stands or plants available at the local greenhouse or big box store, do some planning! Develop that basic foundation that will set you up for success this year by following these steps:

• Develop your Pie in the Sky List
• Narrow the Pie in the Sky List down by visualizing your available growing space and what you and your family actually will eat
• If you want to experiment with new vegetables and herbs, plan to purchase them at the store, farmers market, local gardener or trade with someone
• If you can expand your growing area, go for it! We will discuss some ideas that you might want to try this year!

Your Turn

I am curious about your 2018 Garden Plan. How do you plan your garden? Have you completed this process yet? Have you purchased your seeds yet? Put your thoughts and experiences in the comments section of this post on smallscalelife.com or join the Small Scale Life Facebook Group and share your experiences there.

What’s Next?

In our next Gardening Podcast, I will be walking us through some seed catalogs and purchasing seed. It is time to move ahead with my 2018 Garden Plan and take it to the next level. I will also start discussing my Wicking Bed plans, so stay tuned for that.

In addition, we are lining up some more guests for the podcast. I am going to talk about Minimalism with my wife Julie, Homesteading with Greg Burns and the Urban Farming on the February Bellcast with Michael Bell. Stay tuned, I feel that we are off to a strong start to the year and really starting to get some great momentum!

Thank you again for listening to the Small Scale Life Podcast and visiting smallscalelife.com. We appreciate you and your time. Our wish for you is that you remove some of that stress in your life and live simply this week. This is Tom from Small Scale Life, and we’ll see you next time! Take care, everyone!