Raising the Root

Pea Plants ~ about a month old

Are We There Yet?

I know.  I said planting day wouldn’t be until at least the weekend after Mother’s Day.  I said that.  I did.  However.  This unusually warm spring has got me thinking that it might be OK to bump planting day up a bit.  This weekend looks like it might be a little on the cool side, but next week looks exactly right for planting.  If you aren’t ready, no worries!  You will still be on schedule if you wait a couple of weeks.  However, if you are itching to get your hands dirty (like I am), I don’t want you waiting on me to do it.

There are still a few plants that should probably wait.  Summer squash hates to be cold, and besides, we planted all of those cool-season greens in our squash bed, so let’s hold off on those.  Cucumbers and corn are other plants that like really warm weather—let’s wait to put those guys into the ground until later in the month.  Check the back of your seed packets—if they indicate that you should wait until 1 to 2 weeks after the average last frost, wait a week or two before planting them.  I know, we haven’t had a frost for a couple of weeks, so technically it probably already is 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost.  However, May nights can (and are supposed to) still get down into the low 40s, and some plants just don’t like the cold, even if there isn’t a freeze.

Other than those few exceptions, feel free to plant any outdoor-sown seeds, and transplant all of your indoor seedlings (and take back those windowsills!)

Are You Ready?

If your soil has been amended, and if your seedlings are hardened off and acclimated to the outdoors, bust out your trowel and your garden plan!  If you haven’t done these things, you aren’t ready to plant.  See my previous posts, and get on it!

• Lesson #5: Down & Dirty ~ Direct Sowing Seeds
• Sending your Babies into the World

The Process

I usually start by planting my seedlings—they have been in those little containers too long, and they are dying to spread their roots!  Check your garden plan, and place your seedlings, in their containers, in their appropriate spots.  Make sure you have enough space between the plants, and then dig in!  Use a trowel to dig a hole the depth of the container.  Then carefully remove the seedling from the container, being careful to retain as much of the soil in the container as you can.  Place the seedling in the ground, and fill in with soil from the garden.  (If your seedlings are in peat pots, you can just plop the whole thing in the ground, container and all.)  Done!  Repeat with the rest of your seedlings, then water.

One exception: tomatoes.  If you are transplanting tomatoes, they like to be planted deep in the soil.  Do you see those little hairs that are sticking out of the tomato stem?  Those will turn into roots if they are below the soil.  If you have tiny tomato seedlings, bury them so that only the top set of leaves are showing.  If you have larger seedlings, then gently remove the bottom set of leaves, pulling straight downward, and try to pull some of the flesh away from the stem of the plant.  Bury the exposed flesh to promote even more root development.

Once you are finished with the seedlings, move on to planting seeds.  If you haven’t already, you can check out Down & Dirty ~ Direct Sowing Seeds, but here is an excerpt with the important stuff:

• Make a hole the correct depth for your seed in your garden at the correct spot according to the plan.  (The seed depth will be listed on the back of your seed packet.)
• Drop in the seed.
• Measure the correct distance for the next seed, and repeat (be sure not to overcrowd your plants—use the distances listed in the Thinning section on the back of the seed packet).
• Mark your seeds with a plant tag so you know what you planted where.
• Cover the seeds with soil.
• Water—but be sure not to blast your seeds out of the soil with a high-powered hose.  Use the shower setting on your hose nozzle, or use a garden wand.

That’s it!  Easy!

Be sure to check your garden every day to see if it needs water.  You never want the seeds to dry out, but you also don’t want them completely saturated all the time.

But What If…?

What happens when we get that oh so typical Colorado spring snow storm?
…or the temperatures do dip below 40 degrees?
…or even worse—a late frost?
…or the garden’s most evil arch enemy, HAIL???

Don’t panic.  It’s a little bit of work, but if the weather is threatening to misbehave, just cover your babies up.  Row covers are typically used to protect plants from frost and cold, but wait, we didn’t plant rows, did we?  You can use just about anything to cover your plants—old plant containers, sour cream containers, buckets, pots—anything.  The heat from the soil will keep the inside of any vessel warmer, even if it has some holes in it.  Cutting the bottom of a milk or water jug off turns it into a great plant cover.  If it looks like it’s going to get super cold, throw a blanket over everything to even further insulate your garden.  If it gets warm during the day, uncover everything and let it get some sun.  If it looks like it’s going to stay cold for several days (probably not this year, but…), you can create a makeshift green house out of some stakes and clear plastic sheeting—sun can still get through during the day, but the plastic traps the warm air from the soil.  Just be sure the sheeting isn’t touching any of the plants.  Frost will kill leaves right through plastic if it’s lying directly on green.  And if you can, make some openings in the plastic during the day to get some air circulating in there.

The Bok Choy Experiment: other than a couple of holes from hungry buggies, lookin’ good!