Preparing for Cole Crops

This weekend I was able to get a couple of my raised beds ready for early season plantings such as cole crops and peas. I have 2 beds that I put in post with wire for peas now and to support tomatoes later. One of my beds I prepared for beans and potatoes. I will plant my potatoes in the 'valleys' and my beans on the 'hills'. As the potatoes grow and I add dirt to 'hill' them, they will end up slightly higher than the beans but they will be more secure in between the hills of beans. (I'll post pictures of what I mean as they grow.) I have one bed planted with green cabbage and Chinese cabbage. My husband helped me to put down soaker hose. I then used fiberglass rods to make hoops over the bed so I could protect the bed with frost cloth. I'm not done prepping beds, but I think I'm off to a good start!

Starting Seeds

Today was the day that I started my first seeds for the garden. Yeah! I'm so excited to finally get things moving for the garden!

I use a combination of very small peat pots and plastic cell inserts. I find that the seed starter soil from Henry Fields is fantastic. I always have very good results with it and I do not have a problem with my soil drying out. (A big hazard with delicate seedlings.)

I have heat mats that are placed under my seed trays to help keep the temperature of the seed trays a little warmer. Last year was my first year to try them. I had two and I found they really helped with starting seeds such as tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. I bought two more this year and I am excited to see if they help push my cole crops along so that they have a good size in time for early spring planting. Word of advice, when buying heat mats for seeds, search online at Amazon.com so you can find the best deal. They can be very expensive and I have found I can get them for about $16 online.
I have a plant rack that my husband and I have attached aquarium light hoods to in a way that allows me to move them up and down as the plants grow. The plant rack has been a great investment! I start most of my plants from seeds and purchase very few plants for the garden. (Sometimes, I can't resist a cool new variety of a vegetable or a flower that will make a great companion plant.)

My plant rack will hold 8 trays, right now I only have 3 1/2 trays started. These are the seeds I started today;
Fast Vantage Cabbage, Farmer's Extra Early Cauliflower, Hybrid Premium Crop Broccoli, Perfection Drumhead Savoy Cabbage, Cherokee Purple Tomato, San Marzano Tomato, Black Krim Tomato, Diamond Eggplant, Baby Bok Choy, Riesentraube Tomato, Black Cherry Tomato, Fish Pepper, Italian Pepperoncini Pepper, Mulato Islano Poblano Hot Pepper, Hybrid Twilight Eggplant, Sweet Bell Mix Sweet Pepper, Lg. Leaf Italian Basil, Tango Celery, Coriander, Cilantro, Curled Parsley, Bok Choy, Jalapeno Pepper, Sweet Bell California Wonder, Blue Scotch Kale.
Whew!
The cole crops need to be started so they are of good size and strength for early spring planting. If I don't start them early enough, they will not mature before it begins to get too hot and then they will bolt. The warm weather crops, such as tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, always produce so much better if they are a good size when they are introduced to the garden. It's the hardening off process that is a pain, but it's all worth it!

I feel that I'm off to a good start with this year's garden. Now I just have to figure out where my different 'neighborhoods' will be and make sure I rotate my beds. Back to my notebook!

Spring Companions

Cauliflower, Marigolds, and Radishes

Lovage, Mustard, Gourmet Mix, Cabbage

Onions, Radishes, Marigolds, Cole Crops

Red Leaf Lettuce, Cabbage, and Butter Crunch

Garlic Chives, Cauliflower, Celery, Lettuce

The advantages of companion gardening comes to light every spring. As the cole crops and lettuces begin to climb up to their harvesting size, the marigolds, radishes, and onions are in full protection mode! No, they don't actually defend the tender leaves of your veggies. It's actually believed that they confuse insects with their wonderful fragrances which keeps their leaves hole-free! This is where careful planning begins to pay off. And then there's the artist in me that just appreciates a pretty vegetable garden!

Go with the flow! (but use frost cloth!)

 So, I don't know what the weather has been like for you in your part of the world. But I know that here in Owings Mills, just outside of Baltimore, Maryland, it has been unseasonably warm for weeks. I can't get over how it seems to be late spring already. We have had several 80 degree days, and many days are in the mid to upper 70's with lows at night only in the 50's. This is crazy and it's really messing with my time table for starting seeds. 

This weekend I decided to just go with the flow because at this point my seeds will never be plant ready for the garden before it's bolting weather. So, I will save my seed planting of cole crops for the fall harvest. With that said, I went to my favorite garden center in Westminster, Maryland. (Bowman's) I went ahead and bought my cole crops and a few lettuce plants to get things started.

Today, I had an opportunity after work to plant the first Cabbage Neighborhood which at this point is a combination of cabbage, lettuce, and greens. I will be interplanting the other companions after I see which way the weather is going to go. I'll probably get some of the root veggies interplanted this weekend.

So, it was 78 degrees today and I was able to get the first bed of the garden ready. But with a couple of years experience, I also know to expect the unexpected. I used my fiberglass rods to create my hoops and then covered the bed with frost cloth that is anchored with lawn staples.

I'm going with the great weather and getting things rolling- but I'm prepared for what we sometimes call the 'broccoli snow'.  You never know . . .