It's now approaching the usual time to plant late spring crops. On the shortlist we have beans, tomatoes, basil, and nasturtiums. Off the shortlist, all the viney, meloney things like it very warm: zucchini, cucumbers, etc. Those ones might be better to plant out in another few weeks.
If you are planting tomatoes, basil, or nasturtiums (from the shortlist), you will probably be buying them as seedlings, unless you already started them from seed yourself, hopefully a few weeks ago.
(I did start things from seed, and my seedlings are still very tiny, as the cold weather inside my house meant that they sprouted very slowly. Next year, I think I will buy some seed-starting equipment: a germinating heating pad, and possibly a grow light.)
When buying seedlings, you have to consider whether they are 'hardened off' yet. If the seedlings have come direct from a greenhouse or indoor growing, immediate full exposure to direct sunlight and cool nights will be too much for them. That will shock them, slowing their growth or occasionally even kill them (unlikely). So it's worth giving them some gradual exposure to outdoor conditions after you buy them, if you're not sure. (Ask the seller, of course.)
Though actually, the weather forecast doesn't contain very much direct sunlight or cool nights right now. Nor much soil dry enough to plant in.
Next week, I'll talk planting the late spring crops, and about transplanting seedlings into the garden.
Weeding
Meanwhile, if you've already planted early spring crops, try to keep up on the weeding in regular small doses, to make sure your plants win. When yours are well established, then they will tend to shade out weeds and there will be less weeding to do.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Climbing Support for Peas
If you planted peas, remember they're going to need something to climb once they are about 3 inches tall.
Providing support often requires a bit of thought. For example, my fence is great for them to climb, but the good climbing part doesn't start until about a foot off the ground. So I have to bridge the gap with twine, which I wrap around and around from the bottom of the fence down to a long stick that lays on the ground. This gives each pea plant a string to climb.
The peas start spiralling around as they grow, trying to find something to climb. You can help them get where you want sooner by moving them to your string and winding their tendils around it. That is usually all it takes to get them clinging and climbing.
Providing support often requires a bit of thought. For example, my fence is great for them to climb, but the good climbing part doesn't start until about a foot off the ground. So I have to bridge the gap with twine, which I wrap around and around from the bottom of the fence down to a long stick that lays on the ground. This gives each pea plant a string to climb.
The peas start spiralling around as they grow, trying to find something to climb. You can help them get where you want sooner by moving them to your string and winding their tendils around it. That is usually all it takes to get them clinging and climbing.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Waiting, Weeding...
If you've planted early spring things, now is the time where mostly you wait. Since we've had such damp weather, if you are growing under open sky, it's unlikely you have even needed to water. In any case, make sure the soil where you have planted seeds stays damp constantly until the plants are a few inches tall. After that, the surface can get dry, though of course you'll need to keep the root zone watered enough. More about that in a future post.
Weeding is also good, since by now many weed seeds will have sprouted as well. But don't weed unless you are confident you know which plants are yours and which are the weeds. Once you know that, weeding frequently is a great thing. If you kept things small, then each time it's just a little work to weed, and the more often you do it, the less work it is next time.
If you are waiting to plant the late spring things like tomatoes and basil, don't be tempted to start early. It's really best to wait until about the May 24th weekend before you plant frost-tender seedlings outside. But to give you advance warning, you should buy the seedlings about a week before you want to plant them outside, so you can "harden them off". If the seedlings you buy have only ever lived in a greenhouse (which is typical), they will not be ready for the unshielded sun and normal night coolness. So you have to take a few days of putting them out in the sun for a little while, and bringing them inside on very cold nights, but leaving them out on moderately cool nights. That lets them get used to real-world conditions.
Fruit
Beyond our vegetable shortlist, if you would like to plant perrenial fruit plants, now is the time to plant strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and currants. These are all plants that live for years, so you plant them in a place that is their own. Of these, raspberries and currants need more sun (but will tolerate a bit of shade), and strawberries and blackberries are alright with a bit more shade, but still need to have a decent proportion of sun. They are all great to have, producing a lot of fruit for very little work. The main work is stopping them from spreading (all of them spread outwards by their roots, and blackberries will usually grow way too tall as well if you don't prune them through the year). Also it's good to spread lots of compost on the ground around them each year as well (except for blackberries, which don't need help).
Weeding is also good, since by now many weed seeds will have sprouted as well. But don't weed unless you are confident you know which plants are yours and which are the weeds. Once you know that, weeding frequently is a great thing. If you kept things small, then each time it's just a little work to weed, and the more often you do it, the less work it is next time.
If you are waiting to plant the late spring things like tomatoes and basil, don't be tempted to start early. It's really best to wait until about the May 24th weekend before you plant frost-tender seedlings outside. But to give you advance warning, you should buy the seedlings about a week before you want to plant them outside, so you can "harden them off". If the seedlings you buy have only ever lived in a greenhouse (which is typical), they will not be ready for the unshielded sun and normal night coolness. So you have to take a few days of putting them out in the sun for a little while, and bringing them inside on very cold nights, but leaving them out on moderately cool nights. That lets them get used to real-world conditions.
Fruit
Beyond our vegetable shortlist, if you would like to plant perrenial fruit plants, now is the time to plant strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and currants. These are all plants that live for years, so you plant them in a place that is their own. Of these, raspberries and currants need more sun (but will tolerate a bit of shade), and strawberries and blackberries are alright with a bit more shade, but still need to have a decent proportion of sun. They are all great to have, producing a lot of fruit for very little work. The main work is stopping them from spreading (all of them spread outwards by their roots, and blackberries will usually grow way too tall as well if you don't prune them through the year). Also it's good to spread lots of compost on the ground around them each year as well (except for blackberries, which don't need help).
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
What the New Sprouts Look Like
Depending on when you planted things, you might have sprouts now. Here are some photos to show you what those seedlings will look like when they come up.
But first, here is why chives are a great thing to grow. Not only to they come back year after year, but they do it very early, and in the exact time of year when good garlic is hardest to come by. So you can use fresh chives in things instead of cooked garlic. The photo is of chives in my garden a few weeks ago, so now they're even bigger. I have a few patches, and they repel some problem insects and attract helpful bees when they flower in another month or so.
Now, here are the new sprouts.
Peas (they didn't rot in the cold wet weather!):
Chard:
Next are the mustards. In a previous post, I showed you what all the mustards look like when they first sprout. As sprouts, all these varieties have nearly identical pairs of wide heart-shaped seed leaves, the leaves that open up from within the seed. Broccoli and others in the family have similar seed leaves.
Now that these are all a little older, they still have the heart-shaped seed leaves, but they also have their first so-called true leaves, which show the distinctive shape of each plant type.
Arugula (true leaves have a generally wavy edge and irregular shape):
Red mustard (true leaves are rounded with a toothy edge):
Mizuna (true leaves get long and are very jaggedly toothed):
But first, here is why chives are a great thing to grow. Not only to they come back year after year, but they do it very early, and in the exact time of year when good garlic is hardest to come by. So you can use fresh chives in things instead of cooked garlic. The photo is of chives in my garden a few weeks ago, so now they're even bigger. I have a few patches, and they repel some problem insects and attract helpful bees when they flower in another month or so.
Now, here are the new sprouts.
Peas (they didn't rot in the cold wet weather!):
Chard:
Next are the mustards. In a previous post, I showed you what all the mustards look like when they first sprout. As sprouts, all these varieties have nearly identical pairs of wide heart-shaped seed leaves, the leaves that open up from within the seed. Broccoli and others in the family have similar seed leaves.
Now that these are all a little older, they still have the heart-shaped seed leaves, but they also have their first so-called true leaves, which show the distinctive shape of each plant type.
Arugula (true leaves have a generally wavy edge and irregular shape):
Red mustard (true leaves are rounded with a toothy edge):
Mizuna (true leaves get long and are very jaggedly toothed):
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Update, and Starting Seedlings Indoors
With weather like we've had, if you planted outdoors in the last week or two, it's quite possible you don't have any sprouts coming up yet. If I could have stayed dormant this past week, I would have too.
The good news is that some warmer (if rainy) weather is in the forecast! That should warm up the soil again and get things growing.
The bad news is that if you planted peas, this was the worst possible weather for them. When peas get very cold, wet weather right after they are planted, they tend to rot rather than germinate. That is life and death in the garden. But there is nothing for us to do but wait until we've had a week of warmer weather. If they haven't come up after about 3 weeks, then we have to soak some more, and plant them. The risk is replanting too early, and killing the original ones if they just were about to break the surface. So it's best to try to insert the new ones individually in the same area as the old ones but disturbing the soil as little as possible, in case the old ones are actually starting to grow.
Anyway, for now, you just have to wait and see.
Starting Seeds Indoors
This is not really an easy topic, and actually I don't really recommend it for followers of this blog!
You should probably stop reading right here! (Unless you're just too curious, or determined to start your own seedlings.)
Tomato plants, in particular, are the one thing on our short list that definitely should be started indoors. But most people just buy seedlings that have been started in a greenhouse. Purchased plants they will almost certainly be larger and stronger and mature sooner than if you start the seedlings yourself.
Basil and nasturtiums are other good choices for starting early indoors.
So if you are sure you want to grow those from seed, instead of buying seedlings, I will describe how to do it.
I do start seedlings myself. I haven't had too many failures with starting, but once in a while things don't sprout or die soon after they sprout. That's why I don't really recommend this unless you just really want to. If you want to try, do! There's not really much to lose, and for me it is always more satisfying to do it myself.
And now is the time to start them: it's now about 5 weeks or so until it will likely be a good time to plant warm-weather plants outside.
Note that greenhouse growers start their seedlings earlier than this, and so at planting time theirs will be bigger and stronger than home grown ones. However, new seedlings need a lot of light. So I plant later (now), when I will be able to put my little seedlings outside more of the time (because the weather generally will get better now - this past week notwithstanding).
Containers
If you have ever bought seedlings before, you know that they are usually grown in quite small plastic pots that are joined together. You can buy "flats" like that to grow in at garden centers. Those flats are very fragile, difficult to re-use because they tend to break when you take the seedlings out.
You can also grow in any small pots, in paper or styrofoam cups, or in other small containers that are not for this purpose, as long as they are a few inches deep and you put lots of holes in the bottom.
Lee Valley Tools has a careful selection of specialized reusable seed starting containers. Some of these are "self-watering", which means that the bottoms of the containers are open and rest on a fiber matting that wicks water into the pots from a reservoir below. I have one of these, given to me as a gift a long time ago, and it does work great, and has lasted very well. So if you want to get all fancy, they are a good place to look.
Generally speaking, whatever you use, you want lots of holes or large holes at the bottom, so you can "water from the bottom", which means you can have the containers sitting in a tray, and pour and inch or so of water in the tray, to soak up into the pots through the holes in the bottom. Soil, especially potting soil sucks water up from below quite effectively. That kind of bottom watering is much better for small seedlings. Watering from the top, it is hard to not crush the plants. Furthermore, dampening the plant foliage makes them more susceptible "damping off" (see below).
Self-watering systems, as I described, are definitely the easiest of all, because they constantly water from the bottom, as long as you keep enough water in the reservoir underneath that wets the fiber sheet.
Planting
Commercial growers, and very serious amateurs, start seeds in one container type, then transplant them into larger pots later, and then transplant outside, or possibly even into larger containers again. I don't do that, as you might have guessed, because that is too much work!
Fill your containers, whatever you are using, with potting soil. Potting soil is usually very light, so you need to fill the containers very full and compress.
Soak the material quite well, so that it will be wet enough to keep the seeds damp. Also, if you will be bottom-watering (which I recommend), the potting soil should start quite wet - it's hard to get it soaked through from the bottom if it starts dry.
Once your containers are filled and wetted, plant the tomato or basil seeds in them at the recommended depth - about a half centimetre deep for both.
Tomato seeds will sprout fastest and best if kept warm. My house is cold. They would probably sprout faster if we cranked the thermostat up. If you live in one of those apartments that is always boiling, you are lucky, at least for sprouting seeds.
While waiting for the seedlings to sprout, it also helps to keep them covered, so the surface doesn't try out. However, as soon as they sprout, uncover them, to help prevent damping off.
Damping Off
"Damping off" is plant jargon for very small seedlings dying of fungal infections. There are many recommendations to prevent damping off, including sterilizing potting soil and container, fungicides (both chemical and natural).
I haven't done those, but I don't usually have problems with damping off.
Bottom watering keeps the soil surface and foliage not too damp.
Keeping new seedlings uncovered and well aerated helps too.
Lots of sun is supposed to help, as well. That probably both strengthens the plants, and sterilizes the exposed areas (UV kills fungus).
Light
Seedlings need lots of bright light, as mentioned above. If they don't get it, they desperately try to grow unnaturally tall, hoping to get through whatever is between them and the sun. If they get enough, they will stay very short while they work on their root systems instead, which is what you want. Sunlight also is said to help prevent damping off, as mentioned above.
In general, you should try to get your seedlings in bright sunlight or bright outdoor light as much as possible without exposing them to killer low temperatures (say, below 5 degrees celsius).
The only caveat is if they have been indoors for many days to start with (not great, they will be spindly), too much sun all at once can shock them quite badly as well. This is also often a problem with commercial seedlings, actually, since they were grown in greenhouses or under lights, where the intensity was well below that of full sunlight.
In my attached house, I have only east and west window, nothing south, so whenever possible I ferry my plants back and forth, east in the morning, west in the afternoon, and put them right outside whenever it's not too cold.
The good news is that some warmer (if rainy) weather is in the forecast! That should warm up the soil again and get things growing.
The bad news is that if you planted peas, this was the worst possible weather for them. When peas get very cold, wet weather right after they are planted, they tend to rot rather than germinate. That is life and death in the garden. But there is nothing for us to do but wait until we've had a week of warmer weather. If they haven't come up after about 3 weeks, then we have to soak some more, and plant them. The risk is replanting too early, and killing the original ones if they just were about to break the surface. So it's best to try to insert the new ones individually in the same area as the old ones but disturbing the soil as little as possible, in case the old ones are actually starting to grow.
Anyway, for now, you just have to wait and see.
Starting Seeds Indoors
This is not really an easy topic, and actually I don't really recommend it for followers of this blog!
You should probably stop reading right here! (Unless you're just too curious, or determined to start your own seedlings.)
Tomato plants, in particular, are the one thing on our short list that definitely should be started indoors. But most people just buy seedlings that have been started in a greenhouse. Purchased plants they will almost certainly be larger and stronger and mature sooner than if you start the seedlings yourself.
Basil and nasturtiums are other good choices for starting early indoors.
So if you are sure you want to grow those from seed, instead of buying seedlings, I will describe how to do it.
I do start seedlings myself. I haven't had too many failures with starting, but once in a while things don't sprout or die soon after they sprout. That's why I don't really recommend this unless you just really want to. If you want to try, do! There's not really much to lose, and for me it is always more satisfying to do it myself.
And now is the time to start them: it's now about 5 weeks or so until it will likely be a good time to plant warm-weather plants outside.
Note that greenhouse growers start their seedlings earlier than this, and so at planting time theirs will be bigger and stronger than home grown ones. However, new seedlings need a lot of light. So I plant later (now), when I will be able to put my little seedlings outside more of the time (because the weather generally will get better now - this past week notwithstanding).
Containers
If you have ever bought seedlings before, you know that they are usually grown in quite small plastic pots that are joined together. You can buy "flats" like that to grow in at garden centers. Those flats are very fragile, difficult to re-use because they tend to break when you take the seedlings out.
You can also grow in any small pots, in paper or styrofoam cups, or in other small containers that are not for this purpose, as long as they are a few inches deep and you put lots of holes in the bottom.
Lee Valley Tools has a careful selection of specialized reusable seed starting containers. Some of these are "self-watering", which means that the bottoms of the containers are open and rest on a fiber matting that wicks water into the pots from a reservoir below. I have one of these, given to me as a gift a long time ago, and it does work great, and has lasted very well. So if you want to get all fancy, they are a good place to look.
Generally speaking, whatever you use, you want lots of holes or large holes at the bottom, so you can "water from the bottom", which means you can have the containers sitting in a tray, and pour and inch or so of water in the tray, to soak up into the pots through the holes in the bottom. Soil, especially potting soil sucks water up from below quite effectively. That kind of bottom watering is much better for small seedlings. Watering from the top, it is hard to not crush the plants. Furthermore, dampening the plant foliage makes them more susceptible "damping off" (see below).
Self-watering systems, as I described, are definitely the easiest of all, because they constantly water from the bottom, as long as you keep enough water in the reservoir underneath that wets the fiber sheet.
Planting
Commercial growers, and very serious amateurs, start seeds in one container type, then transplant them into larger pots later, and then transplant outside, or possibly even into larger containers again. I don't do that, as you might have guessed, because that is too much work!
Fill your containers, whatever you are using, with potting soil. Potting soil is usually very light, so you need to fill the containers very full and compress.
Soak the material quite well, so that it will be wet enough to keep the seeds damp. Also, if you will be bottom-watering (which I recommend), the potting soil should start quite wet - it's hard to get it soaked through from the bottom if it starts dry.
Once your containers are filled and wetted, plant the tomato or basil seeds in them at the recommended depth - about a half centimetre deep for both.
Tomato seeds will sprout fastest and best if kept warm. My house is cold. They would probably sprout faster if we cranked the thermostat up. If you live in one of those apartments that is always boiling, you are lucky, at least for sprouting seeds.
While waiting for the seedlings to sprout, it also helps to keep them covered, so the surface doesn't try out. However, as soon as they sprout, uncover them, to help prevent damping off.
Damping Off
"Damping off" is plant jargon for very small seedlings dying of fungal infections. There are many recommendations to prevent damping off, including sterilizing potting soil and container, fungicides (both chemical and natural).
I haven't done those, but I don't usually have problems with damping off.
Bottom watering keeps the soil surface and foliage not too damp.
Keeping new seedlings uncovered and well aerated helps too.
Lots of sun is supposed to help, as well. That probably both strengthens the plants, and sterilizes the exposed areas (UV kills fungus).
Light
Seedlings need lots of bright light, as mentioned above. If they don't get it, they desperately try to grow unnaturally tall, hoping to get through whatever is between them and the sun. If they get enough, they will stay very short while they work on their root systems instead, which is what you want. Sunlight also is said to help prevent damping off, as mentioned above.
In general, you should try to get your seedlings in bright sunlight or bright outdoor light as much as possible without exposing them to killer low temperatures (say, below 5 degrees celsius).
The only caveat is if they have been indoors for many days to start with (not great, they will be spindly), too much sun all at once can shock them quite badly as well. This is also often a problem with commercial seedlings, actually, since they were grown in greenhouses or under lights, where the intensity was well below that of full sunlight.
In my attached house, I have only east and west window, nothing south, so whenever possible I ferry my plants back and forth, east in the morning, west in the afternoon, and put them right outside whenever it's not too cold.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
What to Expect Now
Most seeds at this time of year take quite a while to germinate in the cool weather and cool soil. Don't worry if you don't see anything for a week or two after your plant. Peas, chives, and chard take even longer, while the mustardy ones: arugula, mizuna, and mustard, tend to sprout a bit sooner.
The most important thing is to make sure the soil stays moist the whole time while the seeds are germinating and also while the plants are extremely tiny.
On the other hand, it's pretty easy to wipe out the tiniest seedlings if you water them too heavily.
So being very careful not to kill anything, keep the soil moist. In the current weather that may mean you don't need to do anything, if occasional rain falls on your patch or containers. And once the seedlings have more than the first two leaves, they will have generated enough roots to gather moisture from a bit wider and deeper and it won't be so critical to keep the surface moist right at the surface. (But you'll want to make sure it doesn't dry out deeper down.)
It can be hard to tell what sprouts are weeds and which ones are your plants. That's where careful planting helps, because you can see the pattern when the seedlings start growing.
Here is what arugula, mustard, and mizuna look like when they sprout:
Notice the approximate straight lines of the rows. The spacing in my rows is pretty irregular. As I mentioned, I try to get them evenly spaced, but handling the tiny mustard seeds is a bit hard, and I'm not too patient. (Possibly some of those extra seeds were planted by my 4 year old who was helping me, but it's not all his fault.)
In any case, a little thinning is still much easier than a lot of thinning. Once the seedlings have grown a little, you can pull out the smallest duplicates, being very careful not to hurt the ones you are trying to leave in. With these types of plants (arugula, mustard, etc.), you can wash and eat the sprouts you pull out: they are very delicious! Of course, don't eat seedlings with poisonous leaves, like tomato seedlings! But all of the early plants for this blog have edible leaves - including the peas.
Even at this stage, the leaves of different vegetable types are often distinctive, however. These mustardy sprouts all have those very distinctive heart-shaped leaves. (Broccoli and Cauliflower have the same shape, since they're in the same family. Their seeds all look quite similar too.) Here is a close-up:
Peas look completely different - I'll post a picture when mine are up. (They don't look like the beans I posted pictures of earlier, because peas don't raise their seed leaves above the soil like beans do.)
You may also now start to find weed sprouts as well. I have seen some now. As long as they're outside your rows and you are sure they are not the seeds you planted, you can pull them out as you see them. But there's no hurry to pull them out if you are not sure - better safe them sorry! I have, sadly, occasionally weeded my own vegetables. Hopefully once you have your own seedlings clearly growing and identifiable, then you will be able to tell for sure which are the weeds.
The most important thing is to make sure the soil stays moist the whole time while the seeds are germinating and also while the plants are extremely tiny.
On the other hand, it's pretty easy to wipe out the tiniest seedlings if you water them too heavily.
So being very careful not to kill anything, keep the soil moist. In the current weather that may mean you don't need to do anything, if occasional rain falls on your patch or containers. And once the seedlings have more than the first two leaves, they will have generated enough roots to gather moisture from a bit wider and deeper and it won't be so critical to keep the surface moist right at the surface. (But you'll want to make sure it doesn't dry out deeper down.)
It can be hard to tell what sprouts are weeds and which ones are your plants. That's where careful planting helps, because you can see the pattern when the seedlings start growing.
Here is what arugula, mustard, and mizuna look like when they sprout:
Notice the approximate straight lines of the rows. The spacing in my rows is pretty irregular. As I mentioned, I try to get them evenly spaced, but handling the tiny mustard seeds is a bit hard, and I'm not too patient. (Possibly some of those extra seeds were planted by my 4 year old who was helping me, but it's not all his fault.)
In any case, a little thinning is still much easier than a lot of thinning. Once the seedlings have grown a little, you can pull out the smallest duplicates, being very careful not to hurt the ones you are trying to leave in. With these types of plants (arugula, mustard, etc.), you can wash and eat the sprouts you pull out: they are very delicious! Of course, don't eat seedlings with poisonous leaves, like tomato seedlings! But all of the early plants for this blog have edible leaves - including the peas.
Even at this stage, the leaves of different vegetable types are often distinctive, however. These mustardy sprouts all have those very distinctive heart-shaped leaves. (Broccoli and Cauliflower have the same shape, since they're in the same family. Their seeds all look quite similar too.) Here is a close-up:
Peas look completely different - I'll post a picture when mine are up. (They don't look like the beans I posted pictures of earlier, because peas don't raise their seed leaves above the soil like beans do.)
You may also now start to find weed sprouts as well. I have seen some now. As long as they're outside your rows and you are sure they are not the seeds you planted, you can pull them out as you see them. But there's no hurry to pull them out if you are not sure - better safe them sorry! I have, sadly, occasionally weeded my own vegetables. Hopefully once you have your own seedlings clearly growing and identifiable, then you will be able to tell for sure which are the weeds.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Planting the Early Spring Vegetables
If you have finished the previous steps (including Stuff You Need and Preparing Your Plot), and if you're growing any of the early spring vegetables:
If you're not ready yet, don't fret, just go step by step. The next month or so is prime time for planting these. And after that, they will still grow, but will typically finish their life cycle very quickly and not produce as much.
On the other hand, if you're only planting late-spring things this year, you have to wait. Sorry, the late spring vegetables will all die if you plant them outside now!
If you haven't already bought your supplies, including seeds, obviously you need to do that now.
And you can watch the weather forecast, and try to seize a good day when we get one. Light showers are okay, but heavy rain will usually make the soil too muddy for planting for a day or two afterward.
When it's time to plant, you should also get your drawing of your layout, which you stored somewhere safe after making it a few weeks ago.
One more thing: this is another very detailed post, trying to help out people who are really unsure how to plant things. I am happy to say that after this, the posts will generally be much shorter, since much less detail will be needed. (I like to write, but trying to say everything has been a bit grueling! And I'm sure I've forgotten things, at that. Please let me know in the comments about things you find unclear or confusing.)
Soak peas overnight before you plant them.
If you are growing peas, it's best to soak them in water at room temperature for about 24 hours beforehand. Before they start to grow, they need to soak up a lot of water. That happens only very slowly in the soil if you plant them dry, so it will take longer for them to sprout. The cool soil temperatures also make germination slow. If you forget to soak them the evening before you plant, soaking them for even a few hours before you plant them is better than nothing.
Now, even if you plant them dry, they will eventually sprout, so you could just ignore this advice. On the other hand, if you do soak them, you really need to plant them within about 24 hours, or they will start to sprout before you plant them and the sprouts will be very easily damaged when you handle them to plant them.
Also remember that your peas will be planted about 3 cm apart, in a row, or in a circle around some supporting structure, so try to only soak the amount you will need. Extra seeds can be kept until next year, as long as they stay very dry. Any peas that you soak will have to be planted or thrown away.
Preparing the Soil
Every time you plant in any area, dig in plenty of compost with your trowel, right where you are going plant the seeds. This is the only reason you can plant so intensively: because you are constantly adding rich organic matter back into the soil.
(Note: if you just filled new containers with compost and soil, or just prepared new ground by single- or double-digging in lots of compost, then just this one time, you don't have to dig in any more compost. But next time you plant there, you will have to add compost!)
To prepare to plant, first, spread an inch or so of compost over the area you are going to plant. Then, using your trowel, break up the earth where you are planting and mix it well with the compost. Mix as deep as you can with the trowel. The deeper the loose the soil is, the easier it will be for your plants to form healthy root systems. Try to break up most of the obvious lumps of soil, and generally remove stones that are bigger than 1 cm or so.
If I'm planting stuff that goes close together filling an area, like arugula, then I prepare the whole area all at once (as I described above). If I'm planting stuff that will go in a row, like peas along a fence, I prepare just the narrow row, still mixing in the compost as deep as I can go with the trowel. If I'm planting individual seedlings that I bought in pots, then I prepare just the hole where I'm going to plant the seedling. The idea here is to avoid cultivating too much area that you aren't planting anything in. If you do that, you will encourage weeds to grow. Disturbing the soil causes weed seeds to start growing, and putting in compost there will feed them. So you can be strategic when you prepare for planting, and try to cultivate and compost just where you need to.
Planting Tiny Seeds
Mizuna, arugula, and mustard greens all have extremely tiny seeds. Traditionally they are scattered ("broadcast"), but this makes them grow irregularly and too close to each other, so they have to be thinned later, which is quite laborious. It's also a waste of seed. And if you don't get around to thinning them, they will compete with each other and stay small and spindly. Furthermore, it's harder to weed them when they are irregularly spaced: for one thing, you can't see as clearly which ones are the weeds and which are the vegetable plants. That's even harder if you are planting something for the first time and you don't even know what its seedlings will look like!
So though it's tricky to plant them one at a time at a regular, optimal spacing, it is actually easier in the long run.
When planting very tiny small seeds, after the compost is dug in, I use the trowel to try to level out the soil a bit. Then I make shallow, narrow trenches in the soil - maybe about 1 or 2 cm deep. I make these parallel so the bottoms of the trenches are the recommended distance apart for the plants. (Say, 5 cm apart for arugula. See the table at the bottom of this post for other distances.) Then I take a small amount of seeds in the palm of my hand, and pick them up one at a time, and try to drop them in the trenches, again spaced out at the recommended distance. (I'm not terribly patient, so the actual spacing is definitely somewhat random. Often I drop more than one at a time just by accident.)
Last, I use the trowel to just slightly cover the seeds in the trenches. With very tiny seeds, you should not cover them deeply: no more than a millimetre or so of soil - just enough to keep some moisture around the seed. (Also this hides the seeds a bit from birds that might come poking around. The seed-eaters - sparrows, etc. - are looking for leftover weed seeds at this time of year.) Since you didn't really fill them in, the little trenches will still be present, and those will also help you to see where to water - which is the next step.
Ideally, you water very, very lightly, from very very low to the ground. If you water heavily onto the soil, you will really pack down the soil on your seeds, and as that dries it will become quite hard, making it harder for the seeds to grow. I put my hand close to the soil over the trench, and pour water from a container into the palm of my hand and let it drip through my fingers as I move along the trench.
Once the plants start to get a few inches tall, you can become gradually less careful - you can just pour water gently on the roots (avoiding dumping it on the plants themselves).
Larger Seeds; Rows and Groups
Larger seeds need to be buried deeper when you plant them. Seed packages will usually recommend a depth. But a simple rule of thumb is to plant seeds at about their own depth or a slightly more: for example, a pea is about 1/4 inch in diameter, so plant it about 1/4 inch under the surface, or slightly more. (In softer, looser soil, you can go slightly deeper, because the seed will be able to push up easily.)
The above section about small seeds assumes you are "area planting" - filling up an area with plants in a grid at the optimal spacing. On the other hand, if you are planting climbers like peas in a row along a fence, then you just make one trench, and then you leave some extra space between that trench and other plants.
The same goes for plants in a group, such as peas planted around a central climbing support (like a teepee of sticks). The peas in that case would be planted in a circular trench, and then you'd leave a little extra room around that circle before planting other things around it.
Spacings for Early Spring Vegetables
- Mizuna
- Arugula
- Mustard Greens
- Chicory
- Chard
- Peas
- Chives
If you're not ready yet, don't fret, just go step by step. The next month or so is prime time for planting these. And after that, they will still grow, but will typically finish their life cycle very quickly and not produce as much.
On the other hand, if you're only planting late-spring things this year, you have to wait. Sorry, the late spring vegetables will all die if you plant them outside now!
If you haven't already bought your supplies, including seeds, obviously you need to do that now.
And you can watch the weather forecast, and try to seize a good day when we get one. Light showers are okay, but heavy rain will usually make the soil too muddy for planting for a day or two afterward.
When it's time to plant, you should also get your drawing of your layout, which you stored somewhere safe after making it a few weeks ago.
One more thing: this is another very detailed post, trying to help out people who are really unsure how to plant things. I am happy to say that after this, the posts will generally be much shorter, since much less detail will be needed. (I like to write, but trying to say everything has been a bit grueling! And I'm sure I've forgotten things, at that. Please let me know in the comments about things you find unclear or confusing.)
Soak peas overnight before you plant them.
If you are growing peas, it's best to soak them in water at room temperature for about 24 hours beforehand. Before they start to grow, they need to soak up a lot of water. That happens only very slowly in the soil if you plant them dry, so it will take longer for them to sprout. The cool soil temperatures also make germination slow. If you forget to soak them the evening before you plant, soaking them for even a few hours before you plant them is better than nothing.
Now, even if you plant them dry, they will eventually sprout, so you could just ignore this advice. On the other hand, if you do soak them, you really need to plant them within about 24 hours, or they will start to sprout before you plant them and the sprouts will be very easily damaged when you handle them to plant them.
Also remember that your peas will be planted about 3 cm apart, in a row, or in a circle around some supporting structure, so try to only soak the amount you will need. Extra seeds can be kept until next year, as long as they stay very dry. Any peas that you soak will have to be planted or thrown away.
Preparing the Soil
Every time you plant in any area, dig in plenty of compost with your trowel, right where you are going plant the seeds. This is the only reason you can plant so intensively: because you are constantly adding rich organic matter back into the soil.
(Note: if you just filled new containers with compost and soil, or just prepared new ground by single- or double-digging in lots of compost, then just this one time, you don't have to dig in any more compost. But next time you plant there, you will have to add compost!)
To prepare to plant, first, spread an inch or so of compost over the area you are going to plant. Then, using your trowel, break up the earth where you are planting and mix it well with the compost. Mix as deep as you can with the trowel. The deeper the loose the soil is, the easier it will be for your plants to form healthy root systems. Try to break up most of the obvious lumps of soil, and generally remove stones that are bigger than 1 cm or so.
If I'm planting stuff that goes close together filling an area, like arugula, then I prepare the whole area all at once (as I described above). If I'm planting stuff that will go in a row, like peas along a fence, I prepare just the narrow row, still mixing in the compost as deep as I can go with the trowel. If I'm planting individual seedlings that I bought in pots, then I prepare just the hole where I'm going to plant the seedling. The idea here is to avoid cultivating too much area that you aren't planting anything in. If you do that, you will encourage weeds to grow. Disturbing the soil causes weed seeds to start growing, and putting in compost there will feed them. So you can be strategic when you prepare for planting, and try to cultivate and compost just where you need to.
Planting Tiny Seeds
Mizuna, arugula, and mustard greens all have extremely tiny seeds. Traditionally they are scattered ("broadcast"), but this makes them grow irregularly and too close to each other, so they have to be thinned later, which is quite laborious. It's also a waste of seed. And if you don't get around to thinning them, they will compete with each other and stay small and spindly. Furthermore, it's harder to weed them when they are irregularly spaced: for one thing, you can't see as clearly which ones are the weeds and which are the vegetable plants. That's even harder if you are planting something for the first time and you don't even know what its seedlings will look like!
So though it's tricky to plant them one at a time at a regular, optimal spacing, it is actually easier in the long run.
When planting very tiny small seeds, after the compost is dug in, I use the trowel to try to level out the soil a bit. Then I make shallow, narrow trenches in the soil - maybe about 1 or 2 cm deep. I make these parallel so the bottoms of the trenches are the recommended distance apart for the plants. (Say, 5 cm apart for arugula. See the table at the bottom of this post for other distances.) Then I take a small amount of seeds in the palm of my hand, and pick them up one at a time, and try to drop them in the trenches, again spaced out at the recommended distance. (I'm not terribly patient, so the actual spacing is definitely somewhat random. Often I drop more than one at a time just by accident.)
Last, I use the trowel to just slightly cover the seeds in the trenches. With very tiny seeds, you should not cover them deeply: no more than a millimetre or so of soil - just enough to keep some moisture around the seed. (Also this hides the seeds a bit from birds that might come poking around. The seed-eaters - sparrows, etc. - are looking for leftover weed seeds at this time of year.) Since you didn't really fill them in, the little trenches will still be present, and those will also help you to see where to water - which is the next step.
Ideally, you water very, very lightly, from very very low to the ground. If you water heavily onto the soil, you will really pack down the soil on your seeds, and as that dries it will become quite hard, making it harder for the seeds to grow. I put my hand close to the soil over the trench, and pour water from a container into the palm of my hand and let it drip through my fingers as I move along the trench.
Once the plants start to get a few inches tall, you can become gradually less careful - you can just pour water gently on the roots (avoiding dumping it on the plants themselves).
Larger Seeds; Rows and Groups
Larger seeds need to be buried deeper when you plant them. Seed packages will usually recommend a depth. But a simple rule of thumb is to plant seeds at about their own depth or a slightly more: for example, a pea is about 1/4 inch in diameter, so plant it about 1/4 inch under the surface, or slightly more. (In softer, looser soil, you can go slightly deeper, because the seed will be able to push up easily.)
The above section about small seeds assumes you are "area planting" - filling up an area with plants in a grid at the optimal spacing. On the other hand, if you are planting climbers like peas in a row along a fence, then you just make one trench, and then you leave some extra space between that trench and other plants.
The same goes for plants in a group, such as peas planted around a central climbing support (like a teepee of sticks). The peas in that case would be planted in a circular trench, and then you'd leave a little extra room around that circle before planting other things around it.
Spacings for Early Spring Vegetables
| Height | Planting Time | Spacing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peas | climber | early spring | close row or group (3cm) |
| Mustard Greens | tall (1m) | early spring | close (5cm) |
| Mizuna | low | early spring | close (5cm) |
| Arugula | low | early spring | close (5cm) |
| Chicory | low | early spring | close (5cm) |
| Chard | low | early spring | med (8cm) |
| Chives | low | early spring | close group (1cm) |
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