It’s almost time to get your early spring gardens planted!  Early salad crops and onions can be planted as early as the first week of March if you use low tunnels.  You’ll need to wait until towards the end of March if you don’t plan on using low tunnels.

If you haven’t taken one of my early spring gardening classes in the past, now is your chance to learn how to use your beds efficiently to get multiple crops out of the same space throughout the seasons.  If you time things right you can get two if not three harvests of different crops out of the same space.  My classes are $50 and include all of the plants and materials you’ll need to plant a 10 foot garden full of great salad ingredients and cover them with a low tunnel.  I’ll teach you how to plant and help you out with advice throughout the year to keep your garden growing.  I am offering 10 a.m. classes on Saturday and Sunday,March 7 and 8.

Kohlrabi

For those of you that have already taken my gardening classes, I have plenty of Agribong 19 and Hoop Loops ordered if you want to expand your gardens this year.  The Agribond is $1 a foot and the Hoop Loops are 3 for $10.

I’ve got a great selection of densely planted early spring plants for sale this year as well.  All plants will be $2 a set.  I’ll be open on  March 7th and 8th from 8-9 a.m. and from 1 – 4 p.m. both days.  If you can’t make it during one of those days, let me know what time and day work for you and I can work out a time for us to meet.

Here are the varieties I have growing for you:

Lettuces:  Rocky Top, Red Tide, Little Gem, All Star, Black Seeded Simpson, Buttercrunch, Bronze Mignonett,Red Romaine, and Paris Island COS,

Onions:  Several varieties of plants from Dixondale Farms

Kohlrabi:  Winner, Quickstar, Early Purple Vienna, and Kossack

Radishes:  Early Scarlet Globe, and Champion

Cauliflower:  Graffiti, Veronica, and Vitaverde

Broccoli:  Green Magic

Kale:  Red Russian, Toscano, and Starbor

Beets:  Golden, Merlin, and Red Ace

Brussels Sprouts:  Long Island Improved

Swiss Chard:  Bright Lights

Minuet Chinese Cabbage

Pac Choi and Extra Dwarf Pac Choi

Endive

Broccoli Raab

Graffiti cauliflower…tastes as good as it looks!

Well I’m a couple of weeks later than usual in posting my lists, but I’ve been a bit discombobulated the past few months due to some major life changes and am going to have to adjust things accordingly this spring.  The first big change in my life is that I am no longer a classroom teacher.  After 18+ years in the classroom, I switched careers and am now an Education Specialist for the Missouri Department of Conservation at the Gorman Discovery Center on Troost.  My new job is great as I spend my days teaching the public about the wonders of fish, forests, and wildlife.  Another major change this year is that my mother-in-law passed away last week and I’ll need to devote some time this spring with my wife as we cope with her loss and the estate she left behind.  Due to these two factors, I won’t have quite as much time to spend managing the plants so a few things will change.

The first major change will be that I will not be taking pre-orders for tomato and pepper plants as I have done in the past.  I hate to drop this convenience feature for so many of you, but organizing and preparing all of those orders takes three or four days and I just don’t have much spare time this spring.  Another change is that I will have a bit fewer days of sales this year.  I am committed to a special plant event on May 2nd and won’t be open for sales on the first Saturday in May.  The Grow Native event and SeedSavers KC plant exchange is that day at the Discovery Center and you’re welcome to come down there that day to swap some of your own plants with other gardeners and pick up some free native flowers and grasses that I am growing for the MDC.

I’ll post up the dates and times for tomato and pepper plant sales later on, but for now plan on weekends starting April 18th through May 10th with the exception of May 2.  I will have very limited evening hours this year as well, but will be available some evening by appointment.

So without further ado….here is the list  Make sure you print it off and bring your own boxes to carry your plants home in and you’ll receive a free plant of your choice.

2015 Plant Lists