This year we have had unusually low lows in March. It has caused me a delay of two weeks for planting my cool season plants. Since they are using the growing trays, lights and heat mats that I need to grow my summer plants, I have some delays on those too. I’m only going to get 4 weeks head start for my warm weather plants. Man plans, God laughs. All this crazy has gotten me thinking about what I want to achieve this year. What defines my Gardening Success in 2022?
My Resources
I have expanded my beds. Unlike my plan developed in fall, what I ended up with was different than the plan. I pitched the Bradford pear and expanding my garden to a new row rather than expanding the existing rows. If following a plan was a measure of success, I failed.
My fertilizer reserves are good, I have plenty of kelp, blood and bone meals. There is even a bit of ash from my fires this winter. This should be good for some potassium and save some of my expensive kelp this year.
There is plenty of seed as I got my orders in early.
I have my bt and neem ready to go. All in all, I have everything needed to succeed. Except of course, a goal to strive for.
I have several plant starts. They were a bit stunted because of my sickness that took me out for the first week of germination but they did pretty well despite this.
I do have concerns that the onions and lettuce are a bit leggy as well as the end caps of each tray. It will probably be ok.
My Garden Goals in 2022
So I have been rambling on about my issues in the garden this year but have not really outlined my final set of 2022 goals.
After much thinking, here is what I want to see this year.
I really want to see my ice plants get to maturity. This and the purslane may have to become indoor plants in summer because of the heat. I want to see my edible succulents grow well.
Next, I want to try to master my onions. I fear I have already fouled this one. I am trying a new technique to mass plant onion then transplant as they got larger. Unfortunately, I fear I have waited too long and they got too leggy. We shall see. I’m not sure onions can get leggy.
I want to work on my flowers. I keep thinking I need to be better to my pollinators, so I want to try to get a deceit flower garden going this year.
Finally, what I really want to do is to see if I can force my garden into overdrive and really get succession planting rolling at an aggressive rate.
When I get my summer seedlings out into the garden, I really want to see if I can squeeze a bit more spring planting before I enter the heat of summer. An empty seedling rig is a sad thing so I want to get things going to fill in the garden. I want to get my radishes rolling one after another. I really want to see if I can keep lettuce year round by moving it into pots under shade.
Last year my baby bok choy did really well being kept in partial shade. I hope the lettuce will do as well.
This year there is going to be an entire bed of determinate tomatoes. I should be able to get at least 2 rounds of plants from this. I have always lost my nerve pulling healthy plant because they were determinate tomatoes. This year, I intend to pull them. Hopefully, I won’t lose my nerve again.
So that is where my head is for where I want to take my gardening in 2022. Everything is subject to change. It could be a 100 day of 100F and just getting something is the goal. Because nothing fouls your garden goals in 2022 or any year as much as 110F+ temperatures.