Frosts and freezes are finally gone from the weather forecasts. It seemed like winter would never release its grip on my planting schedule.
I put in my onions and potatoes at the end of February and my peas and Daikon radishes shortly thereafter. The potatoes were already coming up when we had a hard freeze that killed them back to ground level. Row covers might have helped, so I'll plan for that next year.
Fortunately, the potato eyes still had enough vigor to try again and the regrown plants are looking good.
Our peas are doing very well this year. Peas stand up to freezing temperatures better than to the heat of summer, so they are one of the first crops planted at the end of winter. I firmly believe that the inoculant I added to planting holes is making a difference.
Last year our peas did poorly. Germination was spotty, with only about a third of our seeds sprouting. This year is almost 100%. The plants we got last year grew unevenly, with some much shorter than others. Our plants shown above are very consistent in height and they are covered with leaves. If the rabbits don't discover them I think they will continue to do well and produce a good crop.
I'm limiting the number of crops I plant this year to allow more resources (my time, for one) for the vast number of tomatoes and peppers I'm planting. Around here I can never take a good harvest for granted, but assuming even a fair harvest, I'll be spending a good deal of time cooking, canning, drying and grinding. I can hardly wait.
Stephen
I put in my onions and potatoes at the end of February and my peas and Daikon radishes shortly thereafter. The potatoes were already coming up when we had a hard freeze that killed them back to ground level. Row covers might have helped, so I'll plan for that next year.
Fortunately, the potato eyes still had enough vigor to try again and the regrown plants are looking good.
Our onions had already been up for weeks when the freeze came, but they are doing very well. Onions can take cold weather better than most garden vegetables. I mixed a general purpose organic plant food into the soil at planting and I'll feed them for the first time when I water in a few days. Onions use lots of nitrogen, so I'll be feeding with fish emulsion, a 5-1-1 plant food (that's 5% nitrogen, 1% phosphorus and 1% potassium). Fish emulsion is slow release and will continue providing nutrients for over two weeks.
Last year our peas did poorly. Germination was spotty, with only about a third of our seeds sprouting. This year is almost 100%. The plants we got last year grew unevenly, with some much shorter than others. Our plants shown above are very consistent in height and they are covered with leaves. If the rabbits don't discover them I think they will continue to do well and produce a good crop.
I'm limiting the number of crops I plant this year to allow more resources (my time, for one) for the vast number of tomatoes and peppers I'm planting. Around here I can never take a good harvest for granted, but assuming even a fair harvest, I'll be spending a good deal of time cooking, canning, drying and grinding. I can hardly wait.
Stephen
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