Hello for Minnesota!

[MagicMama]

I've been reading through past posts and thought I would join in!
I'm in southeast Minnesota. My family and I recently moved to a country place with loads of gardening space and we are learning as we go. This year will be our first full gardening season here, and we are very excited at trying to grow our own food. We are planning on a big vegetable garden, planting fruit trees and bushes, and we have chicks and ducklings arriving in a few weeks! We had a small backyard garden at our previous house in the city, but this is a much different situation. I'm reading a lot this winter (books & forums) and will be trying things out and learning from my mistakes when the season begins. I'm particularly interested in organic gardening, permaculture, and no-dig. My kids want sunflower houses, bean teepees, and watermelons.

 

[Smart Red]

Howdy from southest, central-est Wisconsin.

 

[aftermidnight]

Another hello and welcome from Vancouver Island, just north of the border. So glad you are going to join us.

Annette

 

[valley ranch]

Hi MagicMama~ Glad to meet you on your first post``` Tell us what you have planed or have done in your garden ``` We hear things~ like how cold is it there ~ Damn cold` ```~~ Now if we hear wrong ~ please tell us```

Glad you came in ~ close the door ~ n come closer to the fire``` Welcome ~ in deed```

Richard


Just reread your post ~ you guys have a lot going~ sounds good ~ but ~ we kinda like pictures```

 

[Nyboy]

Welcome from NY. One of the mistakes people make is tiring to garden to large a space. It can get over welling.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome from Arkansas, glad you found us.

At least you had a small garden before, hopefully in the same general climate, so you are ahead of a lot of people starting out. My growing climate is totally different from yours so I can't help you out much on varieties. There are some good people on here from up north that can help you with that. Also your county extension office should have brochures and other information on varieties for your area. Trust them more than what you read online about varieties for your area.

My first suggestion is to get ready for your animals. I don't know where you are brooding them, but if it is in your house you may be ready to get them out as soon as you can. A lot of things other than your weather can get in the way of construction schedules. I don't know your experiences with that type of animal but a lot of people on here have quite a bit of experience. If you have any questions start a new thread and ask. We like our animals.

My next suggestion is to plan how you are going to compost and get that started. With your goals it's not a question of if you are going to compost, you will. That stuff is black gold and you can never have enough.

Since you recently moved you surely have a lot on your plate, inside as well as outside. I imagine your ground is frozen, that might interfere with doing stuff outside. If you have been in Minnesota long I'm sure you can handle the weather. So pull up a chair, grab a mug of your favorite cold weather beverage, and join right in. Plan your priorities like those bean teepees and how you are going to go about it. That may mean doing things this summer to get ready for next year. As hard as it is try to not overdo it to start and burn yourself out.

You might modify your profile to show your general location. That info can come in handy in a lot of ways. And once again,

 

[ninnymary]

Welcome MagicMama! So jealous of all that space you have. I'm going to enjoy living vacariously through you.

Mary

 

[Collector]

Welcome from eastern Washington, glad you joined

 

[MagicMama]

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone!
Yes, everything is frozen and under more than a foot of snow at the moment.
We did try to do a lot in the fall to prepare for spring.

My husband built a chicken coop and some compost bins. There are four guinea fowl in there currently. They joined us last summer to help with the tick problems we have here. We will be brooding the chicks in the house, and we've done it before, so I'm feeling prepared for that.

Here we are putting in some garden beds in the fall. Photo taken by my 6 year old! We wanted to get all the beds prepared, but we didn't manage to before the snow arrived, so we'll have more work to do in the spring.

I just ordered lots of seed from Baker Creek and I'm excited to be starting seed indoors for the first time.

I am probably taking on too much at once, but that is the way I do everything! I am going to try to write every little detail in my garden journal and try to learn the most I can from this first season here.

 

[MagicMama]

Sorry, apparently I don't know how to insert photos correctly.