Howie, Jerry, and I talk about what to do in the garden along with upcoming seed swaps and plant sales. Check it out!
Find KNCE at 93.5 or stream at truetaosradio.com.
I had to make a few changes this year. New sauce tomato varieties are Plum Regal and Hog Heart. Tropical Sunset cherry tomato will replace Sunrise Bumblebee, which I can’t find this year. I’ve discontinued BBH, a determinate slicer, also because I can’t get it anymore. The current list is below.
2024 TOMATO PLANTS
Moskvich tomatoes
Here’s the list of the 2024 CSA Shares at a glance. It’s the Master List, the nutshell. I’ve added Red Kuri Squash, Spinach, and Nasturtiums, and you can get Basil in a 4″ pot now as well as a 6-pack! I had to discontinue Mini Snacking Peppers because they’re not being carried anymore.
2024 CSA SHARES
Red Kuri winter squash, zinnias, dahlias, the first potatoes, and a heart-shaped rock I found on a walk.
Order here! Thank you!
In advance of the nannie plants 9th Annual Plant Sale on Saturday, April 29, I got on local radio station, KNCE, for a quick interview with Howie Roemer. Fun! I love radio. Take a listen!
Find KNCE at 93.5 or stream at truetaosradio.com.
Here is the list of tomato plants for 2023 with descriptions and a little history from the seed catalogs where I bought the seed.
2023 TOMATO PLANTS
Order tomatoes, peppers, flowers, basil, and other warm-weather plants here: CSA Summer Share
Thank you for your business!
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GREETINGS AND WELCOME TO THE NEW SUBSCRIBERS!After a very difficult year weather-wise and personally, I’m looking forward to 2023. For as hard as things were, though, I’m looking back on a surprisingly productive growing season. My freezer is full, I harvested lettuce until mid-October, I planted a lot of trees and shrubs, and 14 holes were occupied in my bee hotel from Taos Air Bee and Bee. |
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But now it’s time to get on to the next season and all new challenges!
My freezer is full of stir fry, tomatoes, fruit, and elk meat for winter.
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Ordering for CSA Shares is open!
Hope for next year begins by lining up plants and seeds early. As always, there is a Spring Share and a Summer Share, with plants ready to go in the ground at the right time. I also offer a bundle of Renee’s Garden seed packets for spring and summer planting, and for the second year, Renee’s Scatter Cans.
One of my favorite builders, David Donaldson, is also taking orders for raised beds and furniture.
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For gift giving any time of year, consider a Gift Certificate. Renee’s Garden seed packets and Scatter Cans Outdoor furniture & raised beds
‘The Book’Over the past year, I have been compiling 11 years’ worth of my newspaper and magazine articles, blog posts, and social media posts to create a book specific to gardening here at home and up and down the Rocky Mountains. ‘The Book’ now has an official title – A Monthly Guide to Growing a Sensational Garden in Northern New Mexico and the Rocky Mountains – and it should be out in the second half of December. That’s important because the January section is about planning your garden. Planning is essential to success, so spend the winter making maps of your garden beds and lists of plants to start from seed and to buy. Learn the benefits of succession planting and crop rotation and how to fit them into your overall plan. If you want to save seed, you’ll find out how to make room for a seed garden. I’ll also tell you the importance of keeping records of your entire growing season in a garden journal. That and more are in the January section! So A Monthly Guide to Growing a Sensational Garden in Northern New Mexico and the Rocky Mountains should be in your hands in time for the work you need to start after the new year! My lovely and talented friend, Christie Bundy, has done the illustrations for ‘The Book’. Hopefully, this one gets you motivated to write things down!
Thanksgiving Weekend RitualsWhen friends and family are around for Thanksgiving, it’s a ritual to get a Christmas tree and talk about the holidays. There are a lot of options from cutting your own on BLM land or in the Carson National Forest to buying off a lot and getting a live tree to plant in the spring. Find details here in this piece I wrote this for the Taos News a few years ago. Cutting, digging or buying a Christmas Tree
Spring Plant SalesIt’s early for the average gardener, but farmers are planning NOW for next year. I have dates set aside for plant sales, pick-up parties, and other events where you can get my book, A Monthly Guide to Growing a Sensational Garden in Northern New Mexico and the Rocky Mountains. Stay tuned in this newsletter, my website, or the nannie plants Facebook page.
The Return of the Seed Swap!After covid shut us down for a few years, Auntie Nannie’s Seed Exchange will finally be having a seed swap in the spring! Seed exchange stations will be placed around the county again. Watch for details in the new year.
Until next month!
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GREETINGS AND WELCOME TO THE NEW SUBSCRIBERS!
What glorious moisture we’ve had in March! And there’s more to come next week. I don’t like winter, but I’ve been rejoicing with each snowstorm this year.
Spring CSA Shares
Starts are all seeded and ready to grow on until they come to your garden! They’ll be ready for pick-up during the last week of April. I’ll send out a notification.
If you didn’t place an order, nannie’s Annual Plant Sale will be held on Saturday, April 30 from 11-2 at Earthgoods. Save the date, but I’ll send out a reminder before that.
This is the 10th year of the Plant Sale. It started out as me setting up in front of Re-Threads on Saturdays with a carload of plants in 2013. Over the years I set up at Pieces, More Pieces, and Taos Fly Shop. Kristen Davenport and I have teamed up to do Vagrant Heart and Earthgoods since 2018. Come to think of it, the only year we haven’t set up was 2020. We did squeeze in a seed swap in mid-March as things were getting shut down, but a public gathering, even outside, was off-limits. Last year we were at Earthgoods again with a few other vendors. People were happy to be able to congregate and eager to get gardening! It was a beautiful day, and a lot of plants got into the hands of local gardeners. Let’s repeat that this year!
Summer CSA Shares
The deadline for ordering Summer Shares is April 15th! Tomatoes, peppers, summer and winter squash, cucumbers, eggplant, basil, chard, kale, lettuce, and flowers! Shop here:
Yellow cherry and Amish Paste tomatoes
Social Media
I’ve had an Instagram account for years, mostly to stalk my children (who rarely post, by the way), but I decided to start using it for ‘a little gardening, a little art, a gardening book forthcoming’. Don’t laugh. There are only 5 posts so far. My Insta
On Facebook, you can find nannie plants and Auntie Nannie’s Seed Exchange. FB is where it all began for the seed exchange. I was sure it would fail, so I quietly made a FB page as I waited for all 5 stations to go unnoticed. Boy, was I wrong! It’s been a wonderful trip, but as you know, I handed it over to Alianza Agri-Cultura de Taos last year. It needed new energy and it got it! Tyler Eshleman of Virsylvia Farm is the new ED there. He’s a young energetic farmer with vision, just what I was looking for!
Seed Exchange Stations
Speaking of the seed exchange, the stations are up all over Taos County! Trade your seed stash for something new and exciting! The motto is Leave a Little, Take a Little. Please don’t steal. Thanks.
Locations are:
Questa Public Library
Rael’s Store and Coffee Shop in Questa
Mid-Town Market in Arroyo Hondo
Red Willow Farm on Taos Pueblo (Tribal members only)
Rio Fernando Park in Taos
Re-Threads in Taos
Habitat for Humanity Re-Store Southside in Taos
Carson Cafe and Grocery in Carson
The SPOT in Peñasco
Talpa Community Center
Hopefully next year we will be able to have a big seed swap in addition to seed exchange stations, like the old days!
Until next time,
nannie
GREETINGS AND WELCOME TO THE NEW SUBSCRIBERS!
In three weeks, I start planting! There’s much work to do before then, but I’m chipping away at it. I’ve rearranged the germinating room, which is a spare bedroom. Well, it’s a bedroom no longer! There’s still a lot to move around and clean, but it’ll be done in time for seeding green onions and chard!
I’m shaking off my covid weariness and replacing it with motivation and excitement for a new season. It’s not hard to do when the daffodils and tulips are popping up through the soil!
WATER
I don’t have to tell you it’s been a dry winter. We get most of our precipitation in February and March, and so far we’re way behind. Another storm is supposed to come through in the middle of next week. Cross your fingers it’s huge! As much as I dislike winter, I’ve never prayed so hard for snow.
This is a good year to set up drip irrigation in your garden so you’re not wasting water. Get water where it’s needed. Use thick mulch to reduce evaporation.
Install gutters and a cistern for rainwater collection. You’re probably saying, ‘It has to rain to catch water!’, but you’d be surprised how much water you can collect with a brief cloudburst!
GARDEN JOURNAL
Start a garden journal! Do you hear me say this every month? That’s because it’s important to your success as a gardener. Keep records of everything garden-related – weather, last and first frost dates, purchases, soil amendments, harvests, successes, failures, and dreams. Take lots of photos, too.
Use a garden planning app, a blank book, or an Instagram account. Anything that you want to engage with all season and beyond. Your garden journal will be a valuable reference for future years.
TREE PRUNING
February is a busy month for preparation. Clean your tools and seeding supplies, order seeds, plants, and summer flowering bulbs, and make plans for construction projects like walkways, fences, and patios. Houseplants will show signs of new growth, so repot those that need it and start fertilizing at half strength.
Prune your fruit trees! Get the details in this article I wrote for the Taos News last year.
CSA SHARES
Place your order for organic starts that are ready at the right time for planting. The deadline for Spring Shares is March 15, and for Summer Shares, April 15.
AUNTIE NANNIE’S SEED EXCHANGE
Seed exchange stations will be back in place by March 15! Many seed companies have been very generous with donations again this year. It’s so heartwarming to be part of this sharing of resources.
No big seed swap again due to Covid. Maybe next year? I think we said that last year.
Until next time,
nannie