During March, I get the outdoor planting beds ready. We had so much snow last month, raking, pruning and weeding were erratic. I was out of town for a week, but got down to serious clean-up when I got back.
March 25 – Broccoli, kale and lettuces have sprouted! It took four days. I love those APS starters – they are so reliable! (photo to left)
March 31 – I had tomato sprouts when I returned home!
April 8 – The weather’s been sunny, dry and windy, which means the soil is drying out. I got in the garden and turned over the soil in a new bed, added a bag of compost and turned it over again. It’s ready for planting cool weather crops, like peas, beets, radishes, carrots, greens and broccoli.
When I lived in New Hampshire, it was a contest to see who got their peas in the ground on April 1. It was never me, and was always a farmer I remember as Tut. I think his last name was Tuttle. That was too long ago and is a foggy memory! But even though it seems cold out, there are many plants that will withstand the last cold spell.
April 9 – I transplanted some lettuce seedlings into three 1-gallon pots. I’ll either keep these in the greenhouse or put them outside where they will get morning sun. Plants in containers do not need full sun, like plants in the ground! They don’t have access to the water or nutrients of in-ground plantings, so must be tended to tenderly and manually. I love container planting, because:
> You can grace entryways and walkways with beautiful containers of exotic plants. I love to mix flowers, herbs, succulents and grasses in containers for interest.
> You can shuffle them around, making your garden look different when you need a change.
> You can grow things that your soil will not support. Remember, our soil in New Mexico makes bricks for homes, so it does not grow vegetables without a lot of improvement. Containers let me bypass the soil amending and grow what would need a lot of work in the ground.
> You can grow plants inside until it is warm enough to bring them out, then you can bring them inside at the first sign of frost, prolonging the growing season.
April 10 – The greenhouse was 53 degrees this morning. That is wonderful! Warm weather seedlings, like tomatoes (right), do not like temps below 50, so they are happy. The cool weather plants like greens and broccoli don’t mind. They are actually the plants that grow all winter long – slowly, due to short days and the cold, but they grow. You need to plan ahead for winter harvest, more plants to get enough food, since they produce so slowly.
The beet greens (left) took off with a bit of organic nitrogen fertilizer a while back, so I chopped them down for breakfast this morning. Always harvest in the morning when the plants are fresh. During the day, they are working hard sucking up water and putting out new growth. They can be wilted to save water. They are tired by the end of the day, just like you, so plan for morning harvest and storage.
I am headed out to the garden soon to do that cool weather planting I mentioned above.
- Japanese Garden Design - 5 Simple Steps to Create a Magnificent Japanese Garden!
- 7 Elements of Organic Container Gardening
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow….they are looking good! I’m jealous…need to turn my brown thumb a little greener I think ;)
:) lol Thanks, Tara!