March Gardening Tips
I sure hope you had some great success in starting some plants indoors to have them ready for transplanting into your garden. If it didn’t workout for you to get transplants from seeds by starting them yourself indoors over the past month, don’t fret too much! You still have two other viable options that will put you “in the green” this summer with a bountiful garden to supply you and your family with an abundant harvest. 1.) you can purchase plants from one of the local garden shops; 2.) you can start your crop seeds right in the garden. Wherever you find yourself today in regard to “planting” your garden, now is the time to “Just Do It”!
Right now is the time to get into action in your garden plot. This is the case especially if you will be starting your crops from seeds right into your garden soil. Tomatoes, chili’s, peppers, and all of your cool weather crops such as lettuce, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, and broccoli need to go in the ground. Follow the planting recommendations regarding the number of seeds, depth of planting, spacing between plants that can be found on your seed packets.
Whether you have grown your own transplants or you will be purchasing plants from a nursery, the transplanting process will be pretty much the same. The time to set-out your transplants depends a lot on the particular crop. Cool weather plants need to go in the ground the first or second week of March if possible. Otherwise you won’t get much of a crop before the hot weather will cause these plants to “bolt”, meaning they put on flowers so they can propagate by producing their seeds to ensure a future generation. Tomatoes need to be transplanted as early as feasible to allow them plenty of time to set fruit before the temperatures hit 95 degrees. Chili’s and other peppers also need to have an early start too in order to formulate mature foliage to protect the plant from the hot sun that comes in June. Summer squash and cucumbers are other plants that generally do well with early transplanting. Melons, pumpkins, and other winter squash can wait until the hot weather is upon us, and this is the case whether you are transplanting or sowing seeds directly in the garden. If you want an early crop of melons, you need to start seeds indoors and then transplant them as soon as all danger of frost is past.
Before we cover the transplanting process, here is a list of those crops that should be started from seeds directly into the garden around the second or third week of March: radish, carrots, spinach, beets, cabbage, eggplant, cauliflower, turnips, lettuce, kale, chard, parsnips, potatoes and onions – (whether seeds, sets, or plants), can all be planted a couple of weeks before the last predicted frost, (March 30). All beans, okra, rutabagas, peas, and corn need to be planted once all danger from frost is over. Even transplants of these crops may need some mild “protection” from an unusual cold snap, especially if the wind is blowing significantly.
Now for the transplanting tips that were promised:
• If you started your own seedlings, they need 12 – 16 hours of direct light each day. They must “sleep” at least 8 hours each day.
• Watering: be gentle. Water from the bottom rather than “sprinkling” from above. Place your seedling container in a tray or in the sink with warm water and they will “drink” like a wick.
• Give seedlings a light dose of houseplant food once a week.
• “Harden-off” plants before transplanting by exposing them to cooler outdoor temperatures increasingly each day about a week before transplanting into the garden.
• Don’t overly expose your seedlings to either sun or wind at the time of transplanting. I always wait to transplant until one hour before sunset. New transplants need the cooler night temperatures to fight through the shock of the transplanting. Also, the less the transplant’s roots are disturbed, the better off you are in reducing shock to the plant at the time of transplanting.
• Give plants a good soaking before transplanting.
• Put a little compost into your transplanting hole before placing the plant in it.
• Cup the roots with your hand to protect them when lifting the plant from the tray.
• Put plants about one inch deeper in the transplant hole than they were in their container, except tomatoes. They can be put so deep that only the top leaves are an inch or two above ground.
• Quickly cover the roots with soil and firm them in with the soil all around the plant.
• Water generously. Don’t worry about almost drowning your plants for the first couple of days after they are placed in the garden.
To print off click on the square icon on the far right next to the magnifiying glass.
No comments:
Post a Comment