What's happening in the late March edible garden

Daffodils and hyacinth blooming, daylilies sprouting

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Spring in our garden started early with unseasonably warm temperatures and has now slowed with below average March temperatures.  It got down into the lower 20's 2 nights this week.  We are back up to normal temps so I think spring is here to stay!  Daffodils, forsythias, hyacinths, Bradford pear and reduce trees are flowering now and most of the edibles I started outside are sprouting.   

When forsythias bloom, it is time to apply corn gluten for weed suppression in the garden and yard.  Corn gluten keeps seeds from sprouting and provides nitrogen.  It will also keep grass seed or garden seed from sprouting so use only where you don't want seeds to come up.

In the edible garden, onions, tarragon, garlic chives, mountain mint, and spearmint are all popping up in the garden bed and pots.  Overwintering arugula, carrots, celery, lettuce, cress, pok choi, cabbage , thyme and oregano are growing again.  Chickweed is flowering and growing vigorously.  The garden is giving greens for fresh picked salads.

I have been sowing cold season crop seeds outdoors for a while now.  I started in January with Austrian peas in pots under the portable greenhouse cover (they're over a foot long now).  At the first of February, I planted snow peas-Avalanche with 30" vine, Little Purple Snowpea with 24" vine and Oregon Sugar Pod II with a 28" vine.  I planted these in pots outdoors, too.  All are a few inches long now.  I could start using the pea shots for salads.  Peas and potatoes can be planted as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring.

In late February, it was quite warm.  I planted Giant Winter and Galilee spinach and Dragon's Tail radish in pots.  Giant Winter does well in cool weather and gives very big leaves.  Galilee is a new one for me this year and it is supposed to be very heat tolerant.  All have sprouted and are growing well.

The last week of February, I planted lettuce in pots outside.  I started Royal Oak leaf, Oak Leaf, Red Sails, Forellenschluss, Green Salad Bowl, Butter King, Bronze Beauty, Solar Flare and Lunix lettuces.  These pots are under my portable green house frame so can be covered if it gets really cold as it did last week end.  

I also planted other greens that stay sweet in the heat of our summers-Hilton, Golden Beauty and Scarlett F1 Chinese cabbages (they have large leaves that can also be used as wraps), Aurora mixed colors orach, Perpetual Spinach and Verde de Taglio chards. 

I did a round of herbs, too.  Planting rosemary, flat leaf parsley, dill, sweet basil, garden chives, and cilantro.  It is early to be planting basil and rosemary so I will have to cover them when it gets below freezing at night.  A packet of seeds is way more than I would use in years so if they do get frost bit, I have lots more seeds to try again.

At the beginning of April, I will sow seeds for amaranths (beautiful foliage or flower varieties and edible to boot) and New Zealand spinach to finish out my salad greens for summer into fall.  As soon as all frost danger has passed in April, I will sow seeds for Cardinal basil and sage.

I also started separating garden plants, too.  A couple of weeks ago, I dug all my volunteer garlic chives and repotted them for our annual master gardener plant sale.  I separated mountain mint and the cute blue flag iris for the plant sale, too.  Both of these are natives, too.  When it warms back up, I will separate my daylilies and native spiderwort flowers for the sale.

Last year, we didn't mulch until late April.  This was too late and smothered many of my self-seeders that were just starting to sprout.  Early March is an ideal time to mulch.  It's before the self-seeders are sprouting and it adds warmth to soil.  

This year, we mulched and amended the beds in early March.  I had had a soil test done that showed my soil was getting on the high side for alkalinity (pH 7.6) and needed nitrogen and a minor amount of potash.  I added those as well as sulfur to lower the pH into the range preferred by most edibles.  I added a thin layer of compost and then topped it all with mulch.  It is best to either dig in your nitrogen fertilizer or cover it soon after you spread it.  If not, the nitrogen reacts with the oxygen in the air and doesn't stay in the soil.

For growing edibles, you can count on needing at least nitrogen addition unless you are doing nitrogen fixing cover crops.  I have tried a few different all natural nitrogen fertilizers.  Kelp adds a variety of minerals plus it has growth hormones in it so is a great choice for plants you want a lot of height for.  Many of the organic fertilizers use chicken manure as a main component.  We have chickens so I compost their bedding to use in the garden.  I use alfalfa meal too for planting and adding to my greens during the growing season.

If you are creating new beds, which I did this year, put down cardboard first before fertilizing and mulching.  This added layer will keep the grass and weeds smothered while attracting earthworms.  Earthworms love cardboard!  They not only loosen the soil, but also fertilize it.  A real win-win. 

If you don't have a lot of time this year, transplants are always a great option.  Cool season crop transplants are at the local nurseries and big box stores now.  They have broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onion sets, lettuce, strawberries, potato sets, boxed dormant fruit bushes and trees.  The rest of the cool season transplants will be coming in over the next couple of weeks.  It's time to buy what you want for your spring garden and transplant!  

Overwintering cabbage and broccoli

I'll be buying lettuce and spinach to supplement what overwintered and what I have already sown.  I won't need more than a couple 6 packs with everything I have already sown.  Buying plants will speed up the harvest date.

Soon the big box stores will have herb transplants.  The ones that can be planted now are thyme, sage, garlic, parsley, and celery.  I'd hold off on the rosemary and especially the basil.  If it gets even close to freezing, basil can be killed in the garden.  You can buy and keep in a sunny window in the garage and they should be fine.

It won't be long before there are tomatoes in the store, too.  I'd wait on those.  Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant all need warm days and warm soil to thrive.  A freeze can kill them.  I usually wait until May to plant these summer lovers.