Let's Talk: THE PLAN

The temperatures are warming up! Time to break out the gardening tools! If you're like me, there's a few plants that just didn't get cleaned up before the cold hit in the fall. I have a couple of dead tomato plants still standing. Oops! This happens almost every year. But, luckily for me, I plan as I'm cleaning up the garden beds. It's a good visual of the space I have and what I need.

If you're a seasoned gardener, you probably already know what you're going to do. Sometimes I need to draw it out. This helps me (and my budget) figure out what is needed for the coming season. It's SO easy to buy too many plants.

This year, I've rented two plots at the community garden here in Ulysses. They're the 8x16ft in-ground plots. The community garden also has smaller raised beds for rent too! The gardens are provided thanks to a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield Pathways to a Healthy Kansas and in partnership with Impact Ulysses, Inc., the City of Ulysses and K-State Research and Extension Grant County (KSRE). Last year, I had four of the in-ground spaces and I had great produce all season long. My family and I mostly eat tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, and onions. So that's what I plan to plant this year!

In case you didn't already know. One zucchini or squash plant is enough. They can go nuts. Last year, I took pity on a sad little zucchini seedling at the store. I really thought he wasn't going to make it. But then he grew into a 5ft circumference of a monster. I named him Seymour and he produced so much zucchini, we're STILL pulling it from the freezer.

For my tomatoes, I always get Jet Stars. I've also grown Big Boys, Celebrities, Early Girls, and other less known varieties. But Jet Stars have been unbeatable. They're smaller than the big beefy tomato, but they're the most split-free and bug resistant tomatoes I've ever grown. They're big enough to put on sandwiches, but small enough to cut up for a salad too. Jet Stars do well in pots.

I also get Sunsweet 100s and Sungold seedlings. Both of these are cherry types of tomatoes, one is red and the other is yellow! One plant will yield a thousand tomatoes, so I definitely don't overbuy these. I typically get one plant of each because I like having the variety of color at my dinner table.

I do not typically grow my plants from seed simply because I get too excited and start them too early. Between the kids and the cat, the seedlings get destroyed, dumped, or die in the first frost. I buy seedlings from stores. There are a number of stores and greenhouses around. Here are the ones I shopped from last year:

Koehn's Country Gardens - I bought several flowers and a couple of squash plants from them last year. I discovered them later in the season and I wish I had shopped there sooner! I highly recommend it!

Ulysses Ace Hardware - I like to shop here because it's the closest to my house and they have really good deals. Sometimes, though, I take pity on some of their plants. The peppers I get here have routinely done very well over the past couple years.

Ward's (Garden City) - I bought most of my cucumbers, peppers, and flowers from here. It's got a bunch of variety and it's a fun place to shop at.

Menard's and Walmart (Garden City) - While quality is always a hit and miss, I did buy a few Jet Star tomatoes from these places. They generally come in a 4 or 6 pack.

I think it's important to shop around and get plants from different places. It doesn't happen often, but  greenhouses can have diseased plants. They look fine but may not yield anything. Variety works well!

My plan for this year's plots is as follows:

- 6 tomatoes

- 1 zucchini

- 6 bell or random pepper plants

- 2 pumpkins

- 6 string beans

- 2 cucumbers

I also buy pretty pollinator friendly flowers to stick between and around my vegetables! Lantana, geraniums, and pentas are some of my favorites.

The community garden offers large 8x16ft inground plots, raised 4x8ft plots, and raised 2x4ft plots. The hoses are provided by the grant and the City of Ulysses provides water. The raised 4x8ft plots have nifty square foot irrigation systems that you can hook a hose up to!

I bring my own trellises, tomato cages, and tools. It's $10 to rent any size plot for a year (cleanup is in November). The garden is fenced with a lock and I did NOT have any rodents or snakes at all in the past year.

If you’re thinking about renting a space from the community garden, there are plenty available! There are in-ground plots, and raised beds at various sizes. The 4x8 raised beds are equipped with square-foot gardening water systems that make it really easy to water each plant in 1 or 2 minutes! If you're interested in renting a plot and planting your own garden, stop by the KSRE office for more information or call 620-356-1721!