Use That Herb – Page 4 – just another gardening blog…

Yes, it’s very early in Spring and it’s not officially Planting Season, but I did plant 12 alyssum next to the house this past Wednesday. The same type of plant did well there last year right up until a hard freeze. It’s a south-facing location protected on the North by the house, so captured heat from the daylight hours helps to keep the frigid cold at bay.

By the way planting season is considered to start in earnest when temperatures reach high enough that all danger of frost has past. Average last frost days can be looked up here. Take note: There is a 50% chance of a frost occurring after the spring date, so keep an eye on the weather or else!

In lieu of an actual chart for your specific area, just look around at what Mother Nature is doing. Have the grasses and trees greened up yet? Meaning, do the deciduous trees have their new leaves? Does the lawn look more green than it did in wintertime? The greening of the land is what you need to see before planting a vegetable garden or flower beds.

Cold Crops are those that can take a little cold and even grow without the heat of summer and that’s the only kind of plant that should be planted this early in the game.

Freckles Romaine and Buttercrunch Lettuce Starts

Planted my favorite Romaine-type lettuce called “freckles” and a buttercrunch lettuce on 23 Mar 2016.

Walla Walla Onion starts were planted then, too.

(Photos taken 26Mar2016. Click on any small image for a larger view.)

Covering the tender young plants when the nights dip into the low 30s will have to be remembered, but I’m ok with that. I’m always watching the weather reports for what’s going on out there in nature. We just cover the plants with an old sheet or sheer curtain material to protect them from frost.

If you want your garden to look “nice” you can buy polypropylene row covers for the purpose of protecting your plants from frost and from hungry critters like birds, bunnies and caterpillars. Row covers should be available at any good garden center, but there are always a lot of options available at Amazon: row covers for plants.

Row covers and sheets work the same way to protect your crops.

Garlic was planted in the garden the same day we planted fava beans. It was the middle of October. I made notes of what was planted where but forgot to note the date. As Bugs Bunny would say, “What a maroon!”

Garlic Sprouts in the Fall Near Fava Beans

By the middle of November the garlic cloves had sprouted and grew enough so that about 2 inches of the sprouts were sticking out of the ground.

Both crops, the fava beans and garlic, should overwinter just fine.

The weather was so mild in the last of Autumn and the start of Winter. We even had a day warm enough last month to break a high temperature record at 64 degrees. Any time we get to feel the 60s in December is an oddity in the mountains of Pennsylvania.

To assure that the eventually harsh winter won’t freeze out the young plants, they surely should have been mulched. That would afford some protection against wild swings in temperatures come Spring. Oh well, we like to test the extremes around here, so we’ll see what happens to the garlic and fava beans without a layer of winter mulch. We’ll make sure to add some old straw once the pile of snow melts away.

The garlic varieties that were planted came from Nichol’s Garden Nursery out of Albany, Oregon: Garlic Duganskij and Garlic Chesnok Red. We picked these garlic varieties from the ones we liked the best out of their Garlic Sampler that we planted two years ago.

Sure, you can find garlic offered for sale on Amazon, like Chesnok Red Garlic, but the best selection is available in late Summer. It’s a bit late this year to be planting garlic, but even if you have a clove or two from store-bought garlic, plunk them in the ground if it’s not yet frozen. Else, you’ll have to wait until Spring thaw.

Early Plantings Protected By Sheets

Garlic Sprouts In The Garden Before Winter