This Week: Get Your Winter Garden Going!

If you've been reading along with us, you may remember our April posting about planting a garden. Well, if you started gardening with us, than by now most of your spring/summer plants will have stopped producing and should be removed to make room for plants that can handle the colder temperatures. If you planted pepper plants, watermelon, basil, mint, rosemary, or eggplant, you may still be getting results. In fact, our pepper plants are producing rapidly right now since the higher temperatures have left, the basil has to be cut down bi-weekly it grows so fast, and the eggplant is putting out new flowers! These plants can remain in your garden until they stop producing, and sometimes can last through the year (depending on what climate you live in).

Once you have removed your non-producing plants, it is time to add new mulch, manure and any additional soil (if needed) to enhance the nutrients in your garden. Churn the dirt to help break up any old root systems or dirt clods and move the nutrients of the new material into your garden bed. If you have any disease or insect infected plants, be certain to completely remove those and discard so that your new plants don't get the disease and insects from the infected plant.

Now its time to plant your garden! First off, you need to decide what you want to plant and where in your garden you want each plant to go. Crops that withstand the cooler temperatures are: kale, turnips, mustard, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, Brussels sprouts, onions, lettuce, parsley, parsnips and carrots. Now is the time to get the seeds in the ground as the warmer temperatures help the seeds to germinate, and your plant will have sufficient time to grow and root before a frost may come.

In April we talked about the many benefits of growing various plants, whether indoors or outdoors. These benefits are stress relief, healing and well-being, purer air quality, reduced cost to feed your family and can be considered a part of your food supply (when producing) for emergency preparedness. We've also received comments that it is a great way to involve children and that gardening and harvesting are great family activities.

Read the full April article here.

Let us know how your garden is coming! We love to read your feedback to our weekly planning blog series and hope that it has helped you and your loved ones prepare to weather the storms in life!