The temperature outside is currently 38* with wind gusts up to 20 miles per hour so of course, I want to give a square foot garden and chicken update.

I had decided last year that with all the additional expenses we had including 2 new Greenstock’s/vertical planners that this year I would try to just use up the seeds we already had.

I had purchased bare root strawberries last year which did not survive well. I contacted the company and received 25 more this year. I planted these in one of my green stocks. The goal is for this entire planter to be strawberries which will be a total of 48 plants.  These bare root strawberries have really taken off. I currently think we only have 5-7 empty spots on this planter. I will be hopefully using runners to fill these. In the future, I would like to have 2  entire green stocks filled with strawberries.

I did my research and started my pepper plants on February 4th.  I did break the rules and buy a heat mat that I was hopeful would help with germination.  I was wrong. Using the heat mat we got one of 20 plants to germinate. I think that the mat actually dried the soil out too much. We did go ahead and attempt to start a second 20 seeds as this was a packet that I already had, We currently have 11 small pepper plants!  I did not use the heat mat this time.  After thought and debate. I am planning to plant all 11 of these in our greenstock.  I am also going to plant some basil seeds in the green stock with the pepper plants.  This will be a total experiment to see how well they grow.  One plan with the green peppers is to make and can sloppy joes for next year. I would like to can 8  pints of sloppy joe  mix.

Tomatoes were started on Monday February 20th.  We had almost an 100% germinate rate with these.  I think we have close to 30 tomato plants. We planted a variety of different kinds including Roma, and cherry tomatoes. . We currently have 7 bags of diced tomatoes and 10 jars of spaghetti sauce left from last year. My goal is to can at least 24 quarts of spaghetti sauce and freeze 20 bags of diced tomatoes by the end of the year.  Both the tomatoes and green pepper plants will be relocated to the greenhouse during our Disney trip (approximately 2 weeks) and then moved outside to their permanent beds after we return and when there is no frost risk for 2 weeks.

My plan is to plant one 12 foot bed of cucumbers. The goal would be to can up some whole pickles as well as pickle slices to use instead of buying. I also would love to find a good bread and butter pickle recipe to use for canning as well.

Another 12 foot bed will be filled with succession planting of green beans. I will start one 4 foot section then 2 weeks later another 4 foot section and finally 8 weeks later a third 4 foot section.  The goal is to freeze 50 packs of green beans before canning. I would absolutely love just to freeze 50 packs.

I will be planting a 8 foot bed with snap peas.  The goal is to eat as many as humanly possible and freeze the rest of stir-fry in the winter.

As I have already mentioned, I will not be planting sweet potatoes this year.  I currently have carrots planted in this bed. I will be adding watermelon seeds to this bed. I have never had much success with watermelon but want to use up the seed packet I have.  I also plan to plant the remaining cantaloupe seeds in a couple of ground planters again to just use up seed.

I am still working on plans for both squash and zucchini plants.  These will likely either go in a bed with green beans or be split between several beds. I know I do not want to plant them directly next to each other as I don’t want cross pollination. I have 4 packs of zucchini left in the freezer so this is a definite need for the year. I do have plenty of squash in the freezer so squash may be a fill in or not at all plant this year.

Currently, I have Kale growing both in a black plastic bin and in one end of a bed.  This will be used to feed the chickens.  Again I am using up seeds that we already have.

Speaking of chickens, we are consistently getting 4 eggs a day with 5 eggs about 3 days a week.  I am leaning toward purchasing 3-4 new chicks this Spring to add to the flock. This should give us enough eggs to share with my mother. I also am thinking about the 1-2 month laying break for them in the winter.   I will make the final decision once we get back from Disney.

With the plan limits on our grocery budget, a huge garden with lots of stuff in the freezer is going to be essential for the summer.