March 7, 2026
Prepping the garden and hardening the seedlings
As temperatures start rising and the ground starts to dry out, I took the time to till the area I plan on putting down a portable, homemade greenhouse with netting for broccoli, cabbage and collards. I have a plan using t-posts and using some pvc 1/2" pipes for the roof area. The idea is to begin with plastic covering and, as the weather gets warmer, take the top plastic off and leave a netting covering. The sides will be greenhouse plastic, anchored down with wiggle wires.
I don't like to spray and just covering the plants with nets is a mess. I hope this will help. I will also be putting onions into the raised beds, as they can take cold weather and they are just getting too big in the trays.
I am going to look at mushroom soil from Lancaster County and see if I can use some of it for compost and some for mulch, as I want to do a much better job of landscaping around the house.
Today started out raw and a bit wet from some overnight rain and fog. By the time I decided to clean out the strawberry field, the sun had come out and it was really comfortable weeding where I put the strawberries in the fall. I lost about 10 strawberries out of 80, but I left a row of strawberries from last year alone and I can now dig them out and transplant them to this new site.
I had a limited number of strawberries last year, since it was the first planting. I had 6 plants from Walmart and 15 plants from a place in North Carolina. Naturally, the North Carolina strawberries, sold by a veteran of the Iraq war, are much better.
I then used my 40V HP Ryobi rear tine tiller to clear out an area on the far left of my garden. The soil was actually in very good shape. I had cleaned out the area last fall, where there were left over marigolds, tomatoes, peppers and lots of weeds. I used to get some leaf mold delivered to this same location by a neighbor of mine, so the soil is in excellent condition.
This coming week is supposed to be quite comfortable with temperatures heading over 70º, so I assume I will be busy continuing to prep the garden and begin planting some of my cold crops, including the broccoli, onions, cabbage, and collards. I bought about 10 lbs. of seed potatoes (Eva, Yukon Gold, Norland Red and one other). I will give them a couple more weeks before I put them into the ground.
What I do in my spare time.
I am very excited by the growth and health of the seedlings in the "grow room". I am hoping it gets warmer pretty soon, so I can put out the cold seedlings (Broccoli, cabbage, onions) under some plastic and slowly let them harden off.
My plan is to build a modified hoop house that will consist of greenhouse plastic on the sides and netting on top, with PVC tubing and t-posts used to make the arch that will support the netting. I have had a lot of difficulties with insects beating up my broccoli, cabbage and collards. I used some netting last year, but it collapsed during a heavy rain and then I didn't use it in late summer. I did get some nice collard greens and broccoli heads, but it was not a consistent crop.
It is supposed to warm up to close to 70º next weekend, so I need get working on this latest project. Of course, I can't do anything until the snow all melts and the ground gets soft enough for me to pound in the t-posts.
Tonight I decided to double the recipe for my rye bread and it came out super. The bread was 14 inches long and weighed in at 3 pounds 2 ounces. I bought a new deli slicer last week, so slicing up the bread will be easy to do. I will probably cut the bread in half so it will be easier to slice.
In the meantime, below are the latest photos of the seedlings as they continue to grow. I am hoping the Campari tomato plants mature pretty soon, as I would love to see how the tomatoes taste. I cut back the top of these plants, as they are indeterminate and would keep on growing way above the lights.