How does your garden grow? April Edition
Posted on April 16, 2021
We don't know about you, but we are positively dying to get out into the vegetable garden! It's still a little early to put some seeds in the ground, but there are quite a few things that you can start planting now that can tolerate, and even kinda like the cooler weather.
Seeds germinate based on the temperature of the soil they are planted in at seed level… which is generally an inch or two beneath the surface. At this point, soil temperatures are probably in the 50s… maybe even a hair lower after the recent cold weather we’ve been having. Some seeds will germinate at these soil temps, and some are a no go… they will just sit in the ground and rot.
Stuff you DON’T want to plant now: tomatoes, peppers, green beans, or any kind of squash or vine vegetable. These guys need warmer, sunnier, drier weather to do well (don’t we all??).
Veggies that will germinate and sprout at these cooler temperatures are spinach, beets, peas, lettuces, chard, kale, cabbages, parsley, onions and turnips. Some say kale even tastes better after a frost. And spinach and lettuce like this weather even better than the hotter sunnier months-- in the heat of the summer, they bolt really quickly. All of these plants can handle a frost or two once they’ve sprouted, but if we get a really cold snap where the nighttime temperature will go into the 20s, you’ll want to cover them. But we will tempt fate and say that we are pretty confident those days are behind us now.
This is a great time to plant what you can, as there are fewer insects and diseases around to threaten them. So get out and get that garden started!
