It’s not too late to get your garden planted with those vegetables that prefer cooler temperatures; it’s just nice to be eating fresh lettuce at the end of April.
Cold crops are those that prefer cooler temperatures and tolerate light frosts. These include radishes, lettuce, spinach, kale, potatoes and others.
Some of these don’t tolerate heat of summer, therefore, they get need to be planted in mid-March and harvested before temperatures start to climb or they bolt (go to seed).
Plants such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and potatoes can go in the ground now as they tolerate cool temperatures and mature at various times throughout the season, depending on the type of vegetable.
Warm season crops such as sweet corn, tomatoes and peppers, squash and green beans don’t like cold soil temperatures. If you start them at this time, there is a good chance the seeds will rot.
Wait until around mid-May to plant these. If they do germinate and a late frost is predicted, you will have to protect the tender foliage by covering for the evening.
The biggest issue right now holding me back from planting is the fact that the soil is too wet. It truly hasn’t dried out since that last snow that we had in March.
One of the biggest gardening sins committed this time of the year is working the soil when it’s wet. I know it’s hard to avoid but it’s just a bad practice.
We work really hard on improving our soils. Adding compost each year helps to improve the structure of the soil.
Soil structure is the binding together of soil particles into aggregates or clumps of varying sizes and shapes. This helps to create macropores and micropores in the soil which allow for good water drainage as well as space for oxygen (essential for root growth).
Each time you work in wet soil, or even walk on it (stay out of the garden when the soils are wet) you are compressing the soil, thereby destroying the pore spaces that you worked to establish.
If you are tilling and digging, you are doing the same thing. Don’t do it! Resist the urge to plant when the soil is wet. Believe me; if I can do it (and it’s been a real struggle) you can too.
My family is really tired of me complaining about not having anything in the ground by now.
I have another question to ask of you about your soil: When was the last time you did a soil test? Ever? Next week I will talk about the value and importance of soil testing in your landscape.
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