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Welcome May!  This month in the vegetable garden we are planting. Our cool weather crops are entering the garden soil which has been rejuvenated with compost and organic fertilizer and lightly aerated as it warmed up in April. When transplanting a seedling there are many tips that can help your plant get off to a great start.

All seedlings need time to get acclimated to the outside elements. We bring them out from our greenhouse once the night temperatures remain in a range that the plant variety can tolerate. These seedlings then spend a few days adjusting before we move to plant them. The strength of the sun, the addition of wind and the humidity level all differ from the protected environment of greenhouse living and these baby plants need a little time to get adjusted.

Planting technique is so important. We begin by loosening the garden soil in an area twice the size of the pot holding the seedling and then furrow out a hole in the center roughly the size of the pot. Next, we gently urge the seedling out into our palm by turning it upside down and pressing the outside of the container with a little squeeze. We then check the root structure. We should see lots of roots! A nice white network is optimal, but roots that are over developed and are creating a mat around the soil must be gently loosened or they will continue to intertwine and stunt the plant’s potential. Once our roots are checked we can place our seedling into our hole, but don’t push the soil back around it yet. We must water in and around our seedling as it rests in its hole. This brings moisture all the way down and around all of the roots allowing the seedling to settle in with adequate dampness. After filling the hole with water, we allow it to drain down into the soil before settling and pressing the soil in and around our root ball.

The timing of your planting is essential for success. We release our seedlings for sale at the optimal time for planting. A tomato seedling’s potential will be stunted if planted when night time temperatures dip to forty degrees. This is the month where patience is tested. We are eager to see our garden in and are tempted by the thought of earlier harvests, but be cautioned because a seedling planted too early will fail to thrive for the entire season. Our tomatoes, basils, cucumbers, and peppers all wait for planting until June. This can be seen as a wonderful thing for those gardening in small spaces as these crops can follow an early crop of lettuce, greens, or spinach sharing the same garden space. A fall crop of greens, radishes or small turnips could then follow the late summer harvest utilizing the same space. With careful planning and practice a small garden space can produce a bountiful harvest throughout our growing season.

Gardening by the month… April

Today we begin a blog series designed to guide you in your vegetable garden tasks as you move through the calendar year. For us in the northeast, April begins our time spent in the garden. We thought we would share with you the tasks and timing of our garden efforts this month.

At the beginning of April, we begin monitoring our soil condition for wetness.  We stay clear of soil that is more than damp. If we were to begin disrupting soil when it hadn’t drained from the winter wetness, we would destroy the soil structure. We refrain from even walking through the garden during those wet, soppy, early spring days. Once the days have thawed the ground and sufficiently drained the excess water from the soil we begin our work. We rake all cover material of leaves or straw into our pathways between our planting rows.  We top dress our planting areas with 2” of compost to build up the soil with organic matter. In addition to this, we spread a dry granular organic fertilizer sprinkled over the rows at 5lbs/ 100sq’. North Country Organic’s ProGro or Espoma’s Plant-tone are recommended choices for this. We then lightly pitch fork these top dressings into the soil to a depth of 6”.  We do not till as this collapses the soil rearranging its many layers and disturbing the microorganisms colonizing at their ideal soil depths. Many perennials and cold tolerant vegetables can be planted well before the final frost date of May 10th in our area of Connecticut, however we must allow the soil temperature to reach 50 degrees F before we plant any delicate new roots into our garden. We often check with a soil thermometer for a few days before planting. Completing this soil preparation before any planting, fortifies the base creating the environment necessary to ensure the abundant harvest.