Earliest Ever

[roony]

If memory serves me right, today is the earliest I have ever planted anything in the garden. Today I put in lettuce, kale and peas. I know I planted some things on the St Patrick's day in 2012 but never this early. The ground didn't even feel cold on my knees. We'll see what happens.

 

[Early Riser]

Way to go! Why not? You can just keep planting when you feel like it, and keep going until you get the results you want. 

Typically planting in my garden starts early, and doesn't stop until late July, or early August for my fall greens. 

I gave it a thought today before trying to turn my huge compost pile, and it was still frozen. However the ground itself seemed pretty soft under the leaves in my beds. 

[Dotch]

Kudos roony! Thought about it as well although after the ovine management bomb session yesterday, it was starting to get dark and I hadn't located my radishes yet. As ER said, the ground on the south facing slope garden was ready. If it doesn't rain any more than it did, .08" so far, I may sneak out there this afternoon and put a small patch in just to say I did it. Just lightly raking and tamping them in as mellow as that ground is should be about all it would take. I see the rhubarb has broken dormancy. Mmmmmm...can't wait. 

[Early Riser]

That does it guys! Today I am going to sow radish and greens seeds left over from last season. After all part of the fun of gardening is ongoing learning from experimentation. 

I noticed buds on silver maple and lilac swelling pretty good yesterday. 

 

[roony]

My little early gardening experiment has gotten snowed on a few times now. I took a look at it today and I have very good emergence on the leaf lettuce and kale and quite a few of the peas have emerged as well. So far, so good...

[Dotch]

Was wondering how that was going. Been watching the squirrel plant corn around the yard. I'm sure he won't contract and will hold out for higher prices. 

[roony]

Squirrels Union #1109. 

[Early Riser]

So far so good...

I planted a mix of kale, spinach, radishes, mesclun lettuce and chard on 3/13 and it has been sprouting over the last weeks, and doing quite well despite the cold snap of last two mornings (27f and 31f). 

Last weekend I started a strawberry bed, along with another bed of asparagus which I laced with a succession  sowing of another companion mix of kale, spinach, radishes, mesclun,  and chard.

Yesterday I planted my carrots. 

Today I plan on planting potatoes, beets, shallots, onion sets, and my first round of sweet peas.

My Hovland gardens will begin 4/23 with potatoes, onion, carrots. Then beans and squash at the end of May. 

 

[Dotch]

Finally. After the wind yesterday dried the surface sufficiently decided to toss a few radishes in ahead of tomorrow's Mr. Yuck forecast. Digging through my vast leftover seed collection, found radishes dated 2014 and some others dated 2015. Basically made a trial to see whether or not the stuff was still good.The soil was very friable so one pass with the rake, seeding four 2 1/2' "plots" with the scatter method then tamping in firmly with the rake was it all took. If they grow fine, if not they can be tossed. As Ken W has pointed out in the past, things don't necessarily have to be planted in nice rows with a lot of wasted space in between. Especially with some of this early stuff, I tend to agree with him. Besides, I'm getting lazier in my old age.   

[leechlake]

about 4 years ago for Mothers Day the kids and I made a small garden and planted two different Strawberry varieties for mom.  Mom never tended to them and late last Summer I dug it up and planted lettuce, radishes and kale.  Worked great.  Saturday I went out to look things over and half the garden was back to strawberries so I figured that's what it should stay.

Any tips on keeping the weeds away from the berry patch besides old fashioned hard bi weekly weeding?

[smurfy]

Preen works OK not foolproof but.......... it is suppose to prevent germination so don't be putting any down until all seeds are poking outta the ground.

[Early Riser]

Dotch I also really like the practice of not planting in rows. Since I have moved to raised beds I broadcast seed almost everything and only thin a little bit for things like beets and radishes. The thinnings get used for salad greens. My carrot bed is typically packed with plants. In the soft soil I have built up of the years, they grow out from each other, and I end up with all different sizes, with plenty of big ones. 

I still use row planting for potatoes and beans. 

[Dotch]

I like it where it works here. Started doing it a few years ago with small seeded stuff in areas that were odd shaped and little short rows were tough to justify. The soil in the small garden south of the house lends itself to using this method on some things as it's maybe only 16' - 17' long. The soils have been built up by many years of sheep manure and the wife dumping her big pots in the fall. It's very soft now and easy to work with. It was like a brick when we first started planting it. And the weed control is good, something I can't say about some of our larger garden areas.

[Early Riser]

17f here this morning. I threw a canvas tarp over my early planted raised bed. I will be interesting to see how the small radishes, spinach, lettuce and chard plants faired overnight. 

[roony]

I covered the peas but left the lettuce and kale uncovered. 18 here. Well see what happens.

[Early Riser]

It looks to be warming up a bit after Monday. 

After considering the fact that there is still over a foot of snow pack on the ground, and that is near likely 0 or below right now in Hovland, I am not too confident rthat I will be able to do much up there in the gardens by the 23rd of April. 

Edited April 9, 2016 by Early Riser

[Dotch]

About 18 here too. Nothing germinated and while I can see the rhubarb from the window, it's nowhere near big enough to think about picking. I can roll over and go back to sleep. 

[eyeguy 54]

13 here... brrrrrrrrrrrr. we usually plant mid to end of may. 

[smurfy]

4 hours ago, eyeguy 54 said:

13 here... brrrrrrrrrrrr. we usually plant mid to end of may. 

yep usually start around fishing opener. that and setting out the hummer and oriole feeders!!

maters and others around memorial weekend!!!!!

[Early Riser]

I just unfurled the tarp and the small plants are OK. It is still pretty cold outside, but at least the black ground should absorb some heat from the cloud filtered sun today. Low of about 32 tonight, so no tarp needed. 

Carrots, onion sets, shallots, beets, peas planted last Sunday are all still underground. 

 

[roony]

The covered up peas look fine. The uncovered lettuce and kale look fine too. Tough little buggers.

 

[JIvers]

It got down to the mid-twenties here in east-central Iowa yesterday morning.

I covered up my roses, which are leafing out pretty well.

It is my understanding that strawberries can handle temps down to the upper teens, but to be safe I covered them up anyway.

I have two small pear trees that are starting to bloom, so I covered them, too.

My garlic and onions are starting to come up, but that stuff can handle a night in the mid-twenties, so I am not worried about them.

My apricot tree is in full bloom, and is too large to cover, so that may be my big loss due to this freeze. Nothing I can do about it now.

I have peas, carrots, and potatoes in the ground, but none have started to poke through, so they should be fine.

The buds on my peach trees are not quite open, so I hope I got lucky there, because peach blossoms do not handle cold well.

[roony]

Ground was a little sticky under the surface but I managed to get my first yellow onion sets planted this morning. I didn't check the soil temp but I will guarantee it is a lot cooler than it was on March 12 when I planted my peas, lettuce and kale. 

[KEN W]

JIvers.....you don't have to cover strawberries unless they are in bloom. Frost will kill the blooms and you can tell if they are damaged if the yellow eye turns black....no berries. For this reason when we get an early spring, I keep them covered until late April. Mine still have the straw and old cornstalks on to keep the ground under frozen.

You won't get berries as early....but that is better than no berries at all.

Edited April 11, 2016 by KEN W

[KEN W]

Planted peas,onions, radishes,and lettuce. Earliest I've planted anything in 40 years or gardening.