Friday, March 27, 2015

Turning Hostile in to Habitat

Spring in Minnesota can be wild and unpredictable. You won't be able to do any serious tillage until middle to end of April. So what do you do if you want to get a jump on the growing season and get things planted as early as possible?

You plan ahead and prep some beds for planting before freeze up in the fall of the previous growing season.

Then in March, when the snow first melts and the ground is thawed about two inches you can put your muck boots on and head for the field to plant. There maybe ice in between the beds but as long as the snow is off the beds and they are thawed 2-3 inches deep you can plant such things as radishes, lettuce, spinache, kale, arugula, cress and beets.

The seeds may not germinate that day or even for several weeks. They are on autopilot and will germinate when the conditions are right. You don't have to be there on that first warm day, they will just take care of themselves.

Pretty slick trick! I have done this for years and rarely loose any of these plants. If you do get a sub zero stretch in March, well you have only lost a few pennies in seed and you can just start again.

Planting early is a bit of a roll of the dice. But the odds are in your favor.

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