The 2015 Rugged Homestead Garden Starts in Earnest

The Rugged Homestead garden circa Spring, 2014

It's not even the end of January, but here at the Rugged Homestead we're already beginning our 2015 vegetable garden. We've completed the planning of what we're going to grow where, and how much of each vegetable to plant. Now we're diving headfirst into starting the seeds!

No, it's not too early for us here, even though we live in northern New Jersey and there's a forecast for snow overnight (and a heavier snowfall predicted for the weekend too!). Our first seeds of 2015 are onions, and they need a lot of time to get going and now's the time to start!

I found this neat planting calendar at Margaret Roach's A Way to Garden that plugs in your seed starting time for all your vegetables based on your estimated Last Frost Date (LFD). Sure, there are a lot of calendars out there that help you count back, but this one calculates the dates for you. Yeah, I'm easily pleased by things like that.

For my area I determined my LFD was Apr. 29 and the calculator said onions can be sown indoors beginning Jan. 21 to Feb. 11. So here we are on Jan. 21, and I've got my seeds soaking in water to give them a head start (I'll discuss my seed starting/growing methods in another post).

Walla Walla onion seeds presoaking to give them a head start

Last year was my first year with a pretty sizable garden: two beds 4-foot wide by 16-feet long, or 144 square feet. That's big for me. Up until three years ago all I had was a simple 4'x4' plot. Then two years ago I tripled its size with three 4'x4' plots. I was going to double it again last year going for six 4'x4' plots, but having stumbled upon a garden system known as the Mittleider Gardening Method, I decided to build my garden following those methods.

After building my raised-bed garden I ended up not using the system because it's not organic (it relies upon commercial fertilizers for its super-abundant production), but I kept the beds and have melded it into the Square Foot Gardening method popularized by Mel Bartholomew that I typically follow.

Because it was such a hybrid system last year -- and I was also battling ravenous groundhogs for a good half of the year -- my success was somewhat middling. This year I am to achieve greater success and document more of my efforts, both here and in my garden journal.

And this entry is the first step in that effort. Along the way I'll also be discussing my efforts at turning my home into a homestead as we strive towards creating a more sustainable future. I hope you'll come along for the journey.