seeds

Giant Dill Heads Going to Seed

by

The last rain storms that we had roll through here bent over the very tall dill plants so far that they don’t want to straighten up.

The seed heads that are still in flower have re-aligned themselves with the sun and are growing upright now, even though the thick main stems are bowed over.

Looking down on the dill weed from above you can see the plants are bowed to the ground.
Looking down on the dill weed from above you can see the plants are bowed to the ground.

There’s still plenty of time to make the dill pickles!

The seeds that drop now may have time to sprout before the days get too short. Keep a lookout for baby dill plants that could be harvested before the weather gets freezing cold.

After the weather freezes we’ll have to rely on dill weed or dill seed in the cupboard as it won’t overwinter, even if protected from freezing temperatures.

Protect Snow Peas from Freezing Weather

by

Spring gardening chores have started early for lots of gardeners. Some of us were probably a little too anxious with the very warm temperatures we had in late Winter, as the weather now seems more like it should be in the eastern United States for April.

The past couple of weeks we’ve had to cover the sprouts coming up in the garden to guard against freezing weather, but only two times. We covered the lettuces, peas, radishes and onions with an old sheet, a piece of muslin cloth, or black plastic sheeting or garbage bags. The covers were weighed down with rocks or boards. The next day the covers were removed at mid-morning.

Lettuce seeds were planted on the 11th, onion sets and snow pea seeds were planted on the 14th, and radish seeds were planted the 18th of March 2012. These ‘cold crops’ seem to do well in the chilly months if they’re protected from the frost.

Snow peas sprouting in a row.
Snow peas sprouting in a row. Photo taken 30 Mar 2012.

Snow peas will just about be finished for the season when we want to plant tomatoes, but until then we’ll be enjoying the fresh pea pods. It will probably take another 4 weeks until the snow peas are ready to eat, so we’ll just have to wait!