Hit the Dirt; When to Plant

Hello. And welcome to another thinking about when to sow the seeds. Each season's Garden one of the most important considerations to be aware of is when you can generally expect your last frost and the first frost of the fall for these two dates are the guide posts most commonly used to time the plantings. So if there is one aspect of the weather that you take the time to observe and record each year the dates of your last and first frost would be excellent choices. One could refer to climate zone maps or even data from some of the weather stations nearby. But the variation due to local trains is extreme and such data may not be very accurate for your gardens. I have two main microclimates in my place and over the years I have discovered that one of my gardens will usually have to last frost in the spring and early May and the other one will get frost into later than the time I saw in the props for the two gardens. Accordingly. Most of us here down East can expect our last frost of spring to occur in May or early June. Since there are a number of crops which up here ought to be stored six to eight weeks before the last frost now is a good time to be getting ready to plant those seeds.

Tomatoes eggplants peppers spring broccoli early cabbage spring cauliflower collards Kohl Rabi spinach and lettuce are some of the vegetables that do better with an early spring start partially based on time or herbs that I like to start about now. Snapdragons b bomb stocks status. Alyssum Larkspur Lobelia petunias in Diantha's are some of the many flowers and you might want to start inside. Early tomatoes eggplants and peppers are all heat lovers that come from the tropics. They require a long season to set and ripen their fruits. Thus they are among the first to be started when sowing these crops. A moist in the potting mix with very warm water prior to planting. This helps to hasten the germination. The seeds are fairly small so only cover them lightly with mix and press them gently to ensure good contact with the mix. I keep the flats in a warm spot which for me is near my woodstove although a friend had good results last year starting them in his gas oven with the pilot light providing the warmth. If you opt for that method definitely put up clear signs of warning

where someone is liable to turn on the oven and bake you flat. My tomatoes and eggplants will usually sprout within a week. But don't worry if the peppers take quite a bit longer they sometimes take up to two or three weeks to germinate after they are germinated. I continue to water with warm water and keep an eye on them making sure to transplant them on to bigger pots before they become root bound. I usually transplant them twice before setting them out in the garden. I bury the tomatoes right up to the top two sets of true leaves when transplanting as this results in a better developed root system. This trick isn't effective for eggplant or peppers. Given enough moisture plants thrive in the heat and are sensitive to cold so they won't get set out until a week or two after the last expected Frost peppers are also quite sensitive to the cold. And I set them out in the garden at the same time as my eggplant. Yet the peppers don't like the extreme heat either. So if you grow your proceedings in a sunny greenhouse keep an eye on the temperature during warm clear spring days. Tomatoes are the most cold tolerant of

the three and research seems to indicate that if you expose your tomato seedlings to two weeks of temperatures in the 50s they will actually produce fruit earlier and more prolifically. The members of the cabbage family however are cool weather crops which can be set out in the garden before the last frost. Yet they yield best as they mature before the heat of midsummer dusk. These are also started early. Cauliflower is a little more cold sensitive than the rest so I tend to start it about a week after the broccoli cabbage collars and kohlrabi the seed of all these is fairly small. So with these I only lightly cover with potting mix the brassicas are heavy feeders of calcium so I like to add bone meal to the mix and put finally crushed eggshells in the holes when transplanting them out into the garden. The warm water is not as critical of these and members of the cabbage family are known for the vigor of the seed. I often get over 90 percent germination even with 3 year old seed. So you might not want to sow these crops as thickly in the flats as you might other crops. Since you can expect most of the seeds sprout. Given adequate moisture in moderate warmth my

brassicas seeds are usually up 3 to 5 days though sometimes even sooner once up. They like it cool and I try to ensure that they aren't exposed to excessive heat on warm sunny days. I usually transplant them once and they are ready to move to the cold frame in about 4 weeks and then out to the garden week later. Spinach and lettuce are crops which do fine when seated outside but I like to start some indoors before the ground can be worked in the garden to get a jump on the season. Both will germinate better in a cool place and legacy will benefit from exposure to light. So don't cover the legacy when I sell it. I just gently press it into contact with a moist potting mix. My lettuce is usually up in a few days although the spinach seems to take longer. I don't transplant them before sending them out into the garden which is usually only a few weeks after sowing the seed and the seeds of herbs and flowers are often very very small and so I usually only cover them lightly at all with potting mix. Learning how to sew such fine seeds evenly and not too thickly is a skill that requires practice. Some suggest mixing the seed with sand to make the sowing

easier hazels a heat lover. And I try to treat it like I do pepper and eggplant parsley. Will Germany quicker of soaked in water for 24 to 48 hours prior to sewing. Even then it can take up to three weeks so don't give up on it after germinating parsley likes life cooling moist time I also take up to three weeks to germinate it germinates best around 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit and can be set up in the garden a week before the last frost. With Flowers alyssum snapdragons petunias and stocks all either need light to Germany or Germany best in light so their seed is best left uncovered snapdragons will sprout quicker if the seeds are kept in the freezer for two days prior to planting. Many of the flower seedlings which sprout from very tiny seed are quite small and delicate for the first couple of weeks so extra care and watering is needed. Well I hope all these tips and suggestions will help you get your garden off to a good growing start this year. By mid April I can usually get out and into the earliest of my garden to plant so tune in next

week to hit the dirt when I'll be talking. PS father's spinach parsnip sweets with Lily and sweet peas and other cool weather garden favorites that are best direct seeded. This is Keith Goldfarb. Bye for now.