{"id":2140,"date":"2025-02-11T14:21:45","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T19:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rt23.com\/hgjournal\/?p=2140"},"modified":"2025-09-18T15:23:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T19:23:33","slug":"garden-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rt23.com\/hgjournal\/garden-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern NJ Garden 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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defenseless strawberries<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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dollar store metal baskets secured by garden staples<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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fencing around patch<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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first strawberries for 2025! May 18, 2025<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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June 2025 – Spring into Summer in the\u00a0 Garden<\/h1>\r\n

The month of June starts off a bit cooler than we had hoped for. It\u2019s supposed to be summer, and the month does start with some rain, which isn\u2019t always a bad thing, but it\u2019s also cooler than normal, especially overnight. This means that we\u2019re off to an uneven start for our 2025 summer garden.<\/p>\r\n

So far this season, we have been harvesting Simpson Black Seed Lettuce<\/a>. I love this lettuce for so many reasons, but I\u2019ll highlight two here. The first reason is that I can clip what I need for a salad, and it regrows for more harvesting. That\u2019s very useful for a lazy gardener. The second reason is that it\u2019s delicious. The Black Seeded Simpson lettuce<\/a> has a great nutty flavor and is good raw in a salad or cooked. This is the first time I planted lettuce seeds, but this will be a new garden crop every year.<\/p>\r\n

We also harvested a few\u00a0 asparagus spears and radishes.\u00a0 Next year I need to add some sand to the radish plot to break up the clay soil.<\/p>\r\n

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“weather garden” from bottom to top; carrots, eggplants, bright green Simpson Black Seed Lettuce, and rows of Blue Lake Garden Beans (and lots of weeds)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

June 5, 2025 – Growth and Maintenance<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Indoor sprouted seedlings ready to transplant, from teh bottom: watermelon, cucamelon (Mexican Sour Gherkins) with eggplants on table<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Our plantings arte coming to a close. I dug a hole for each plant and added a handful of topsoil into the hole. Then, I filled around the plant with topsoil, pressing the soil around the roots into the ground, and watered it.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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“Terrace Garden” somewhat cleaned and planted with straight eight cucumbers and summer squash<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u00a0<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"GARDEN PESTS<\/strong> – The biggest complaint about having a home garden is “My garden got eaten up” by critters including both insects (grubs, caterpillars, etc.) and animals (rabbits, groundhogs, deer).For garden pests such as rabbits, groundhogs and deer, I dust cayenne pepper around the perimeter of the garden as soon as I have cleared my garden plot. I continue this nearly every day for the duration of the season.<\/h3>\r\n

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GWEEDS<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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“Don’t forget your water. Keeping a regular watering schedule, as much as it may be easy to forget, is key to a healthy and robust garden.”<\/p>\r\nrt23 staff<\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n

February 2025 <\/a>– March 2025<\/a> – April 2025<\/a> – Pest Control<\/a> – Spring Lawn Care<\/a> –
Outdoors May 2025<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It is February and in northern New Jersey, our gardens slumber underneath snow and ice. But this is the time to get an early start on our flowers and vegetables! Follow along with us as we prepare our 2025 gardens!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Organization<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Checking my gardening equipment and supplies<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Time to dig up (sorry!) all my gardening equipment and supplies. From my garden shed, I gathered my small pots and some \u201cwinter sown\u201d bottles that I saved from last year. I also took my saved seed packets from the refrigerator. I created a small work area using some lawn furniture stored in the basement and cleaned my grow light shelving to prepare for my seedlings. Now that all my materials are in one place, I am ready to sow seeds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Lets Start Some Herbs and Flowers!<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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It’s a little early (February 11) to start vegetables indoors, but it’s a good time to replenish my fresh dill <\/a>and basil<\/a>. I froze my basil and dill from last year, and my supply is getting short.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A good start to an herb garden is to buy an herb variety kit<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Herbs started in light trays<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Winter Sowing – start your plants outside in NJ<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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I started mammoth sunflower seeds <\/a>outside in bottles. The bottles have small holes poked in them. They are from the winter sowing method. I started them early outside, in this case outside in the snow and cold of winter.
Winter sowing, or overwintering outdoors, starts the season early and allows the seeds to germinate as soon as the weather improves.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Winter<\/a>\r\n
Winter-sown sunflowers outside <\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Winter sowing involves planting seeds in containers and leaving them outdoors to germinate as the temperatures increase over the winter. This process encourages the seeds to germinate naturally, which leads to stronger, healthier, more resilient plants. The plants then adapt to the local climate throughout the winter, as well as to any fluctuations in temperature, resulting in hardy plants and flowers. This method is also very simple to execute, which is also a big plus for your garden. You can just set your containers outdoors to do their thing and the nature will take care of the rest.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

March 2025 Garden Activities<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We had over an inch of rain last night and our daffodils and flower bulbs<\/a> are starting to peek out in the garden. We will be monitoring our asparagus <\/a>garden for sprouts. Hopefully the weather will hold out so we can start raking thatch from our lawn and weed the strawberry patch.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Our indoor herb garden<\/a> is growing. Basil<\/a>, Cilantro<\/a>, dill <\/a>and oregano <\/a>are growing slowly but soon we will be enjoying fresh herbs.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I have been adding to my winter-sown garden as I get new bottles form the recycling bin I have plenty of sunflower seeds to sow. Sunflowers attract pollinators, look great and the seeds are delicious!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Winter-sown Sunflowers<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\"filling<\/a>\r\n
trays with potting soil<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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I like to start my garden seeds indoors and then move them outside once the weather warms up. I save my nursery and seed starter trays<\/a> from the previous year. Then I put them together to create grow trays<\/a> to get my seedlings started.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I am planning to start marigold seeds<\/a> harvested from last year’s flowers in these trays.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I set up another tray for peat pellets<\/a> which I will use to plant Early Girl Tomatoes<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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peat pellet tray readied for tomatoes<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

March 10, 2025 – Outdoor Garden Cleanup!<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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garden shed (Bear Fort) open for 2025<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With the mild weather in northern New Jersey our attention is now focused on cleaning up our flower and vegetable gardens.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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My Garden Tools<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n