The Modern "Victory Garden"

2009 ended for us on a rather sad note.   We had to have our elderly dog (Spotty) put down on New Years Eve day.   She was extremely deaf, mostly blind, and was in failing health.   She took a significant turn for the worse several days ago and it was time to ease her suffering.   She was almost 13 years old and lived a good life.   I know we made the right decision, but it does not make it any easier.          

(Spotty 1997 – 2009 / Photo taken in 2003)           

I spent most of New Years day working on The Modern Victory Garden site – wrapping up 2009 and getting things set up for 2010.   Undertook a little reorganization so that the seed starting info, harvest tally, preserving tally, and garden economics data are now under one web page link for each year.   The 2009 Garden Season info link (on the side menu bar to the right) is now finalized with a last update to the garden economics page.   The calculated net economic benefit of my garden for 2009 (values after annualized costs) was $258.62.   The detail of costs and calculated benefits is included on the page.   I have already done the vast majority of my expenditures for the 2010 garden season purchasing seed, seed potatoes (necessary this year because of the late blight infection last year), raspberry plants, fertilizers, and germinating soil mix.   I always do a big purchase process at the beginning of the season and then make very little expenditures through the remainder of the year.   The purchases combined with what I have on hand generally get me through the season.   The only other purchases to be made (that I am aware of!) is for some additional half whiskey barrels and potting soil for the greenhouse.                            

The 2010 Garden Season info link is largely just set up with empty templates for future entries with the exception of the Seed Starting page, which is complete.   I changed this up a bit for 2010 by putting all of the seed starting activity on the schedule – both indoor starting and direct seeding.   It provides a more comprehensive schedule this way and also gives a more complete inventory of what I am growing in the given year.                

The kale and Chinese cabbage starts (in the shop under grow lights) are coming along nicely.   The lettuce seedlings had really poor germination (older seed).   I threw away the remaining lettuce seeds as a result and will just wait until the fresh seed order arrives to get the early spring lettuces started.   I also got the main bed of root crops (parsnips and carrots) covered with a grow tunnel last weekend.   The primary reason to cover it is to keep my visiting rabbit out of the bed.   Up till now he has only been  bothering the back beds of carrots and has not found this main winter root crop planting area.   However, it was only a matter of time before he did, so I wanted to get it protected.   Covering the bed also provides the benefit of keeping the soil warmer so it is easier to dig after periods of hard freezes. 

In just a few short weeks, it will be time to get the seed starting process underway for 2010.   In the meantime, I am hoping to get started on my winter shop project to make some planting jigs.