Spring is for lovers...of gardening
March is finally time to get outside and see what's happening in and around my garden. I did spend a bit of time a week or two ago pulling weeds and leveling my raised beds. In my earlier post I spoke about my unfortunate situation with the latest frost this spring. Patience is a virtue...and one that I have not inherited from any member of my family. Many of my seedlings have grown quite well this year and I sprouted some snap pea seeds (patting my own back) and so it is time to transfer them to the garden.
The snap peas were sprouted indoors, but not in any growing medium. There is a trick to sprouting peas with out using any seed starter, all you need is a paper towel, zip top bag and water. Take a doubled up paper towel and give it a good soaking, not dripping, but thoroughly wet. Lay it out and put your pea seeds on the wet towel and fold it over. Fold over the sides like a little paper purse and slide this into the plastic zip top bag. Zip it about 2/3 of the way and mark the date. Check them every day and add water to the towel as needed to keep it very moist. In a few days, usually no more than 3 or 4 the seeds will poke out their initial root and they are ready for the garden. These were much easier than the seed starting I did in my basement/garden center.
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Spinach, Shasta daisy, Red bell peppers, Basil in front; Viola, Lavender, Banana peppers, Parsley in rear |
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Romaine, Chinese broccoli, Broccoli Rabe, Lupine, Lolla Rosa in front; Tomatoes in rear |
All and all, seed starting was a success! Time to transplant and so I took a trip to the Lawrence Township Ecological Facility and picked up about 1 1/2 yards of compost (black gold...great quality and best of all, FREE to Lawrence Residents...most townships in NJ will have a comparable facility) and sprinkled the fairy dirt over my raised beds to feed the newly planted and new to be planted seeds and transplants.
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Swiss chard and Lolla Rosa |
After the Chard, Broccoli Rabe, Chinese Broccoli frost debacle, I was gun shy on moving anything else to the garden. But after a bit more research, there are certainly some candidates that are ready, like Radish. So off they went. And by early April, I had moved a large variety of seeds and transplants into the garden. I direct sowed a variety of seeds: Mesculn Greens, Mustard Greens, sprouted Snap Peas, Kaleidoscope Carrots, Champion Radish, Arugula, Red Russian Kale, Tuscan Kale (Thank You Shannon), Bok Choy, Razzle Dazzle Spinach, mixed varieties of Basil, Tomatoes (again, way way way too early to plant these) Romaine, Lolla Rosa, Lupine, and...I think that is it. Wish me luck!
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Corn in front, radish in rear. |
I cannot wait to get this sweet corn in the ground!