The Winds of March

Spring is Sprung...well, almost.  I missed posting last Sunday mostly because I didn't have anything new to report.  It is just not quite time to plant the summer garden yet.  We had a frost on Sunday that was so hard it nipped my Celebrities in my unheated greenhouse.  The last three years have seen a frost in April not to mention 3 years ago when it snowed on Easter and stayed around 32 for several days!  So, my advice, don't let the March spring days fool you.  WAIT!...just a little longer, I promise.

Heirloom Tomatoes Are Ready.  My heirloom tomato starts are just about ready for transplant.  They were started on Feb. 1 so that is just about 6 weeks.  It really is good for the plants to give them an extra couple of weeks so I'm planning on planting them in two weeks.  Some people are just now trying to start seeds - it is too late...sorry!  Six weeks will put their transplant time May 1st which means they will be trying to set in some serious heat.  Actually it may work; it just depends on the weather.

Starting Peppers.  I don't start my peppers especially early.  Unlike tomatoes, peppers refuse to grow until things warm up.  I started a wide variety of peppers, including my mother-in-law's LaJoE (Largest Jalapeno on Earth - yes it reaches lengths of 6 inches or more!), about 10 days ago.  Pepper seeds are a little slower to sprout than tomatoes but they are up and starting on their first mature leaves.  They should be ready for transplant by the end of April and that is just about right for this country.

Starting Summer Veggies.  Lots of people start many of their summer vegetables directly in the garden, but I like to start my own melons, cucumbers and squash, protect them in the safety of my greenhouse, and pick the biggest and strongest plants for my garden.  This is the easiest of all the seedling starts as they would probably sprout in saw dust!  It does give me a little head start in advance of our last freeze date of around April 15th.

Starting Fall Tomatoes.  Surprisingly, around May 1st is the time to starting fall tomatoes!  Add six weeks to transplant (Jun 15th) and 75 days to fruit and you're in September.  That will give you a couple of months of tomatoes before the first frost in mid- to late- October.  Starting fall tomatoes is a good idea especially if you like determinate varieties, such as Celebrity, which produce their crop and die.  You may want to mark your calendar as it is difficult to worry about a fall garden in the middle of weeding and watering in May.

See you in the garden!