Garden writer Susan Mulvihill takes you on the first tour of her vegetable garden for 2023. You’ll get updates on how everything is growing, what Susan’s doing to keep damaging insect pests away from certain crops, how the carrot-germination experiment went, and get updates on the seedlings she started indoors. The covered raised beds and copper rings that Susan shows you are DIY projects from her book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook.
Susan gardens in Spokane, Wash. While most of this region is in hardiness zone 6, her garden is in a microclimate, making it zone 5b. Be sure to visit her website, SusansintheGarden.com.
Susan’s newest book, The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook, is now available! You can order a signed copy of the book or Susan’s previous book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook, by sending her an email at Susan@SusansintheGarden.com.
Here are her affiliate links to the books on Amazon:
1. Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook: https://amzn.to/3uIMA0A.
2. Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook: https://amzn.to/3Jh6aXS.
Susan has much more than this YouTube channel! Follow her on:
Blog: https://susansinthegarden.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susansinthegarden
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susansinthegarden
Email me: Susan@SusansintheGarden.com
16 Comments
06:36
Lovely garden! Enjoy your blogs and books!
Very interesting, I enjoyed your video
I saved the seeds from our Pac Choi and just tossed them over the soil. They grew like crazy and our soil is nothing to crow about!
Nice tour. Its interesting that 5b can be quite different in some areas. You had a cold winter, 5b south of Chicago had a mild winter. I started hardening off warm weather plants today. At this point our gardens are close, but your ahead on the number of plants, and likely will continue to be. Different gardens, different plants. I cant wait to get the melons in, but they just popped out of the soil in the 3'' pots.
Garden looking great. Thanks for the tour. Hello to your new co-host Nancy. How fun.
My broccoli and kale that were started with winter sowing method do not look nearly as good as yours. This is the first year that I am using raised beds and I added what was supposed to be composted cow manure. the look and texture is very woody, and I am thinking it is more a mulch than a potting mix. Do you think it is tying up nitrogen? I added blood meal 2 weeks ago across the bed, but they still are not growing. I live in SW Ohio, zone 6b. Any ideas?
Your garden is looking great, Susan. Thank you for the tour and showing us Nancy. Your garlic bed is stunning. After this year of my horseradish horror I hope to be back to growing nice garlic in 2024. On the bright side, the garlic bed is loaded with Red Russian Kale volunteers. I think I'll just pop on a floating row cover and be grateful for the surprise crop.
Strong growth! My 5b onion starts aren't nearly as far along as yours. We need to squint to see our green sprouts. Curious how you will water your grow bags? That is our struggle as they seem to require more water than our raised beds. Happy gardening!
Thanks for the tour, Susan. I've been harvesting the outer leaves of the garlic I planted in the fall. I wonder, does that hamper the growth of the garlic heads?
Just curious, what is a groe bag made from?
Do you keep adding 3 potatoes with each added layer of potting mix?
Thank you so much for reviewing your onions and mentioning which are good keepers. I tried winter sowing this past winter and it worked well for quite a few things but didn't try onions so may try that this winter. All of your seedlings look great too. I used grow bags this year to test how garlic do and so far they seem to coming along.
In Z5a, WI we’ve had a warm winter. It’s been temperature extreme all the way until yesterday. Hooray! 🎉 I think spring has arrived. You are a bit farther than I am. We had 32*F night before last. I started some brassicas in WS jugs a couple weeks ago and hope they catch up. The Brussels sprouts did not germinate so I need to hurry up and get some more.
I will definitely be using netting on the Brussels sprouts as they were difficult to clean. I have a couple of raised beds and plant onions about 5” apart in a solid mass in all directions as I did last year and they did great. We planted last year’s potatoes last week in a new bed so not sure how they will do.
The celery I am growing in bags half filled as were yours and set them in a kiddie pool to ensure they get plenty of water when they need it. I have to pop a drain hole in the pool yet. They are big plants so they should love it. It’s the only way I can ensure they will have the moisture they need. It’s worked great so far as the celery has been low enough in the grow bags and easy to cover because of cold spring weather.
You are in Walla Walla country and planting onions😂. I understand. I’m trying those this year and Ailsa Craig, Patterson, Blush, Spanish Sweet, Redwing and Sierra Blanc. 😂we like onions also. The Blush are our favorite so far and kept well. I still have some leeks and scallions and a bunching onion that are new.
There is so much to do it seems at once, like fencing for our second garden/orchard. Husbands friend said, that’s why they make tomorrows 😊. However in gardening sometimes timing is important like now they are calling for chances of rain for a week. Well, can’t really do too much when the soil is wet and our spring is so short so the show must go on.
Sooo excited to get garden stuff out of house and switch plants out in GH! 🤪👏🏼👏🏼🎉🎉👩🌾
Sorry Susan, but Nancy stole your show today! 😂 how adorable!
Birds are so funny. Had my garden wren visit in GH today. She must have liked the size of the house😅. Those chickadees are so friendly. As I was watering yesterday I looked up and there was one a couple feet away watching😊
Thanks Susan. I grow in Southern Ireland. It’s been slow going here this year. Carrots took almost 3 weeks to germinate ( longest I can remember) and I pre sprouted my parsnips inside and I’d almost given up. Wet and cool persists. I enjoy your calm, educational vlogs very much.