The Best Laid Plans

[Ridgerunner]

Good call... frost advisory tonight for much of the state. The below-normal temps are preventing me from moving my nightshades out into the solar greenhouse, they are getting crowded under the lights (and I need to start more transplants soon).

My target date for transplanting (and direct seeding warm-weather crops) has always been Memorial Day too. However, my target date for tilling & prepping the garden has been when the dandelions bloom - and that day has come & gone. In recent years, those April showers seem to hang on until mid-June... and it never really stopped raining all Summer last year. Way too early to panic yet, but I'm hoping that the weather warms & the soil dries out so planting can be on schedule this year.

I don't so much have target dates. Part of it is making an assessment of the weather and part is when I can. They say to start green peas you plant them whenever you can work the ground. For some people that may be when the ground thaws, for me it's usually when the ground is dry enough for me to get out there. That might be mid-February or it might be early March. This year it was mid-February but I got horrible germination, maybe because the ground was too dry. I probably should have watered them but that's just not something I think about in February here, I'm always battling wet ground. I replanted early March and I think every one germinated. The other cool weather crops are really looking good.

I have a lot more leeway in getting my warm weather crops going than you do with my growing season so I can be more relaxed about getting them going than you can. You can grow certain crops better than I can but I do have some advantages in some things. But it feels like it's time. The ground has dried out enough from my 5.6" rain that I can get out there and get it going. I plan to get my nightshades (tomato, pepper, and eggplant) in the ground this coming week. And I'll plant some beans to see if the ground is warm enough for germination. If they sprout well I'll know to get the others started.

Unlike some people I need to get my tomatoes going as soon as I can because they normally don't set on new tomatoes after the nights get consistently warm. If I can't get them going early enough I have to keep them alive all summer so I can get good production when the weather cools off in the fall. If they ripen in quantity before a heavy frost hits. Everything is a trade-off.

To me the best time for me to plant is often when I can, not necessarily go by a certain schedule. If I only planted certain things on a new moon or by a certain date some years I'd never get them planted.

 

[ducks4you]

It doesn't help newbies either that the local grocery & farm supply stores are now selling tomato plants 18" high with green fruit in April!! People think that they should go into the ground after they buy them. I think that we could learn a lot about our gardening from those here with greenhouses and also people who do a lot of houseplants. I like to use my east/south facing front porch for a nursery, and also my south facing dormer windows on the 2nd floor where I have my mini greenhouse for a staging area for my vegetable garden. I also routinely now bring in some annual flowers and they will tolerate a west or north facing window during the winter as long as I remember to water them! I have kept my DD's tropical hibiscus downstairs in the cave temperature (50's) south facing basement window and it has had a few flowers this winter. I plan to repot it outside like I did last summer with some purchased petunias flanking.
I would like to get a handle on the spring/fall crops. I always seem to miss the right windows for those.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I asked at a garden shop why they have these plants for sale so early. They said it's for people with greenhouses. But how many people buying them know that?

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i know. i went last monday to my large greenhouse & they were just bringing out the veggie plants. if people shop there realized those plants are still in a greenhouse! i put mine out this morning to help harden off & each time i've done that it seems to perk them up & grow even more! at least today was nice in the low 60's & not cold, dreary & raining.

i got to till a little but it was still too damp to get much done. came in for lunch around 1:30 & then fell asleep for couple hours. been exhausting vacation trying to clean house when i wanted to be outside gardening all week. chickens got some time outside the coop & someone decided they couldn't lay their egg in the coop so left it in the middle of the garden.

 

[Nyboy]

Easter egg hunt

 

[lcertuche]

I've always heard that you should plant English peas when the leaves are the size of a squirrel's ear. Plant potatoes no sooner than St. Patrick's day. Don't even try beans, squash, cucumbers, or okra until late April but better if you wait until May. My tomatoes and pepper transplants are sitting outside for a month now ready to go in the ground. If I don't plant them soon they are really going to suffer. I still haven't finished my garden though.