Prepping For Spring

The last day of January!!!! 

 

 A wake up call to gardeners......Spring is just around the corner!!!

 

 Get yourself in gear!!!!

 

It is way too early to plant summer veggies, but it is time to get your soil prepared.  I prepped three of my vegetable beds back in the fall and have been growing cool weather plants in them, but this week I prepared the rest of the veggie beds. (And wasn't it wonderful to have this glorious, unexpected warm weather to work outside.)

 

 

I removed the pine straw and tilled in ammonium sulfate and potash.  I also added a little cotton seed meal.  These beds will be ready for spring transplants in late March.  My neighbor is much more organized than I; all of his beds have been prepped since early fall.

 

James and I have been eating kale and spinach salads from the garden all winter and have pretty much over harvested those plants, so I planted more spinach (from seed) and kale (transplants) to carry us through springtime.

 

It is also time to plant Irish potatoes. I've always heard that you plant them on Valentine's Day, but the LSU AgCenter says you can plant them from January 20 through February 28.  One of their recommended varieties is Norland Reds which we find at Lowes every year.

 

By the way, the AgCenter website has the Louisiana Vegetable Planting Guide that lists planting times, recommended varieties, and everything else you could possibly need to know about planting vegetables.

 

 

In spite of all the tilling and prepping going on in gardens this time of year, it won't be time to transplant many warm weather vegetables and flowers into the garden until the threat of late frost is past, after mid-March.  In the meantime, seeds are a gardener's late winter obsession.

 

I shared this obsession with the gardening girls at the junior high.  They were excited to hear that we were going "shopping" and loved pouring over the catalogs choosing the plants we will now try to germinate in the school greenhouse.

 

I emphasize the word "try" because I am a novice at starting plants from seeds. I have experimented a few times at home with disastrous results, but this year I have the guidance of the Master Gardeners!  They have a huge plant sale in the spring and met two weeks ago to start germinating seeds in the Louisiana Tech greenhouses.

 

 

I thought starting seeds would be fairly easy - dig a little hole, stick in a seed, water, grow!  Through the MGs, I have learned that there is so much more to it!!  Some seeds need light to germinate and aren't covered with any soil.  Some seeds require partial coverage, while others must be completely covered. (A bit of Internet research can get you this information for the plants you want to grow.) And you don't use soil at all; you use a potting mix formulated just for germination as the base of your seeds and do the covering with vermiculite.

 

Working with Louisiana Tech gives the Master Gardeners the ability to use their misting room where the seeds are treated to the perfect amount of moisture and heat, but our "propagation leader" says she used simple containers to start her seeds at home...
 

 

I know!  I was so inspired!  She said that she pokes holes in the top and bottom and then puts these "mini-greenhouses" in a sunny spot. I can't wait to try some! I ordered some Profusion series zinnia seeds that I will be experimenting with. The seedlings are transplanted when they have their first true leaves, but I will have to work in the greenhouses with the Master Gardeners before I can pass that information on to you! 

Love ya'll,
Shelli (The Seed Novice)

 

In every gardener there is a child who believes in The Seed Fairy. ~Robert Brault,