Garden Tips for September
Thinking about what you can start doing to prepare your garden for Spring? If the answer is “Yes”, here is a list of things to do now.
- Compost: If you didn’t work compost into the soil last fall, throw fresh compost over the garden – even if it’s snow covered. It will settle over the soil and you can work it in right before planting.
- Get going on seed: You can plant cool season crops as soon as the ground can be tilled (March, April). So have your seed ready. Find a local garden center from the link at the right or order seed online or from catalogs.
- Select your crops: Carrots, spinach, lettuce, beets, green onions, radishes, pak choi and peas are veggies to plant soon.
- Plan what grows where. Rotating veggie placement each year is a good practice in order to avoid insects and diseases that can overwinter in the soil and attack specific veggies. They are more threatening if debris was not cleaned out of the garden last the fall. Tomatoes and corn are crops to move to a new place each year.
- Before planting, rototill or hand till the ground to work in the compost before planting.
Want to really jump start the garden? After working the soil, place black plastic over it. This will warm up the soil and give 2-3 weeks head start on growing. Pinch holes in the plastic to plant seeds. The plastic can be left as mulch during the growing season.
And if your sweetheart is a gardener, tuck some seed packets into your Valentine card!
Source: ALCC, February 2012
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