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I finally started going through the many gardening catalogs I've received over the last several months. Some of these colorful catalogs have new and really ugly flowers. Some of the flowers are distorted because of the number of petals crowded into the blossom while others have a combination of interesting yet unattractive colors. I'm sure many of these will sell at least for a year or two until someone walking by your garden points out how hideous those flowers really are.
I like to start my own plants from seed but some of the garden catalogs only sell tomatoes and other vegetables, and flowers as plants in four-packs. This is a great way for the company to get a greater dollar return for what they sell but it makes gardening much more expensive. If I want plants, I will visit one of the local garden centers and buy them there. I prefer not to wait for plants to be shipped across country. When I'm ready to plant I like to visit the garden center, pick up what I need, and go home and stick the plants in the ground.
Like many other gardeners I have had bad luck with mail-order plants. Dead plants due to heat stress or freeze injury, or drying out during shipping is quite common. Some mail-order companies are worse than others. Other than mixed up tags I seldom have bad luck buying plants at our local garden centers. The local stores don't always have what I want, thus the reason to buy seeds, and sometime the tags are mixed up so what grows on the vine is a beefsteak instead of a cherry tomato. I've always thought disgruntled employees mix up the tags on purpose.
If you cleaned up your garden last fall, you may have planted some of the cold-hardy vegetables during clean up for an early spring crop. Spinach should be up by now, at least in the valley, and you should be able to harvest and eat spinach and some of the other cold-hardy crops early next month. Using a frost blanket row cover over these rows of vegetables will encourage their earlier development.
If you didn't plant spinach and lettuce late last fall, you can do that now. As long as the top 1/2 inch of soil is soft, you can scratch a furrow and drop in the seed. Cover the seed with soil and the seed will germinate when soil is at the proper temperature. Peas may rot in the ground over winter so planting this very cold-hardy vegetable in the fall is not recommended. However, I have met people who did plant peas in early winter with excellent success and a full crop early the next spring. Peas certainly can be planted now, at least in the valley.
Covering the rows or blocks of seeded areas with a 1.5- to 3-ounce frost blanket speeds up germination and plant establishment. Frost blankets are rated in ounces per square yard and are common in width from 3 feet to 12 feet or more and on rolls several hundred feet long. You can also buy frost blanket at some of the local garden centers in packages that contain smaller quantities than the commercial grower would purchase. Even if we have a snowstorm that covers the frost blanket and non-protected newly emerged plants, these cold-hardy crops will not be harmed.
Other vegetables you can plant now from seed include broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, horseradish, leeks, onions and turnip. If you have onion sets, don't plant them out yet or they will most likely bolt resulting in a flower stalk and poorly developed bulbs. While you could plant carrots and beets at this time, I would suggest you wait until mid-March. While these two vegetables are cold-hardy they are not are cold-tolerant as the very cold-tolerant vegetables mentioned previously.
SOIL TESTING
Whether you are an organic grower and use only natural fertilizers, or don't mind using manufactured fertilizers, you can improve the yield and quality of your vegetables by having a soil test run and using that information to fertilize your garden. Keep in mind there are some vegetables that do not like to be fertilized so scattering fertilizer whether of the synthetic or natural form over the whole garden area is not recommended.
Following the recommendations of a soil test conducted on your garden soil will increase the production and quality of the vegetables you harvest and feed to your family. The Mesa County Extension office can have a soil sample analyzed and provide you recommendations for each of the vegetables you plan on growing. The cost is $25 per sample but one sample is often all you need to submit.
When your garden has thawed out sufficiently to spade up your garden, dig several holes eight inches deep scattered over the garden. Take a slice of soil off the side of each hole and throw it into a box or bucket. Make sure the shovel and bucket are free of fertilizer and rust. Mix up the soil and fill a quart-sized Ziplock bag with the mixture.
Drop it off at CSU's Mesa County Extension office at the fairgrounds with your payment and we will have the sample analyzed and provide you recommendations for the crops you are growing. If you have a flower bed, lawn, pasture or other area, we can analyze that for you also. While you are at our office ask for the packet we have put together on vegetable gardening. This packet covers starting your vegetable transplants, hardening them off, fertilizing the garden, planting, and other topics that will help you decide what and when to plant.
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Dr. Curtis E. Swift is the area horticulture agent with the CSU Extension. Reach him at Curt.Swift@mesacounty.us, visit WesternSlopeGardening.org, or check out his blog at http://SwiftsGardeningBlog.blogspot.com.
I like to start my own plants from seed but some of the garden catalogs only sell tomatoes and other vegetables, and flowers as plants in four-packs. This is a great way for the company to get a greater dollar return for what they sell but it makes gardening much more expensive. If I want plants, I will visit one of the local garden centers and buy them there. I prefer not to wait for plants to be shipped across country. When I'm ready to plant I like to visit the garden center, pick up what I need, and go home and stick the plants in the ground.
Like many other gardeners I have had bad luck with mail-order plants. Dead plants due to heat stress or freeze injury, or drying out during shipping is quite common. Some mail-order companies are worse than others. Other than mixed up tags I seldom have bad luck buying plants at our local garden centers. The local stores don't always have what I want, thus the reason to buy seeds, and sometime the tags are mixed up so what grows on the vine is a beefsteak instead of a cherry tomato. I've always thought disgruntled employees mix up the tags on purpose.
If you cleaned up your garden last fall, you may have planted some of the cold-hardy vegetables during clean up for an early spring crop. Spinach should be up by now, at least in the valley, and you should be able to harvest and eat spinach and some of the other cold-hardy crops early next month. Using a frost blanket row cover over these rows of vegetables will encourage their earlier development.
If you didn't plant spinach and lettuce late last fall, you can do that now. As long as the top 1/2 inch of soil is soft, you can scratch a furrow and drop in the seed. Cover the seed with soil and the seed will germinate when soil is at the proper temperature. Peas may rot in the ground over winter so planting this very cold-hardy vegetable in the fall is not recommended. However, I have met people who did plant peas in early winter with excellent success and a full crop early the next spring. Peas certainly can be planted now, at least in the valley.
Covering the rows or blocks of seeded areas with a 1.5- to 3-ounce frost blanket speeds up germination and plant establishment. Frost blankets are rated in ounces per square yard and are common in width from 3 feet to 12 feet or more and on rolls several hundred feet long. You can also buy frost blanket at some of the local garden centers in packages that contain smaller quantities than the commercial grower would purchase. Even if we have a snowstorm that covers the frost blanket and non-protected newly emerged plants, these cold-hardy crops will not be harmed.
Other vegetables you can plant now from seed include broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, horseradish, leeks, onions and turnip. If you have onion sets, don't plant them out yet or they will most likely bolt resulting in a flower stalk and poorly developed bulbs. While you could plant carrots and beets at this time, I would suggest you wait until mid-March. While these two vegetables are cold-hardy they are not are cold-tolerant as the very cold-tolerant vegetables mentioned previously.
SOIL TESTING
Whether you are an organic grower and use only natural fertilizers, or don't mind using manufactured fertilizers, you can improve the yield and quality of your vegetables by having a soil test run and using that information to fertilize your garden. Keep in mind there are some vegetables that do not like to be fertilized so scattering fertilizer whether of the synthetic or natural form over the whole garden area is not recommended.
Following the recommendations of a soil test conducted on your garden soil will increase the production and quality of the vegetables you harvest and feed to your family. The Mesa County Extension office can have a soil sample analyzed and provide you recommendations for each of the vegetables you plan on growing. The cost is $25 per sample but one sample is often all you need to submit.
When your garden has thawed out sufficiently to spade up your garden, dig several holes eight inches deep scattered over the garden. Take a slice of soil off the side of each hole and throw it into a box or bucket. Make sure the shovel and bucket are free of fertilizer and rust. Mix up the soil and fill a quart-sized Ziplock bag with the mixture.
Drop it off at CSU's Mesa County Extension office at the fairgrounds with your payment and we will have the sample analyzed and provide you recommendations for the crops you are growing. If you have a flower bed, lawn, pasture or other area, we can analyze that for you also. While you are at our office ask for the packet we have put together on vegetable gardening. This packet covers starting your vegetable transplants, hardening them off, fertilizing the garden, planting, and other topics that will help you decide what and when to plant.
---------------------------------------
Dr. Curtis E. Swift is the area horticulture agent with the CSU Extension. Reach him at Curt.Swift@mesacounty.us, visit WesternSlopeGardening.org, or check out his blog at http://SwiftsGardeningBlog.blogspot.com.
