What's happening in the late March edible garden

Daffodils and hyacinth blooming, daylilies sprouting

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Spring in our garden came 2 weeks earlier this year with unseasonably warm temperatures.  Daffodils, hyacinths and Bradford pear trees are winding down their show.  Forsythias, redbuds and lilacs are in bloom.  Peonies are full of buds.  Dogwoods are just beginning to flower.  Spinach and snow peas are growing nicely from seed.   

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, asparagus, shallots, garlic and spearmint are all popping up in the garden bed and pots.  Overwintering arugula, carrots, celery, winter cress, strawberry plants, raspberry plants, blackberry bushes, sprouting broccoli, 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 February with snow peas and spinach in pots in the portable greenhouse (they're about 6" now).  I could start using the pea shoots and spinach leaves 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 Oriental Giant Winter, Spiros and Galilee spinach and Dragon's Tail radish in pots.  Giant Winter does well in cool weather and gives very big leaves.  All have sprouted and are growing well.

Last week, I transplanted lettuce I bought at the big box store in pots outside.  I have Buttercrunch, green Romaine and Red Romaine growing.  Buying plants will speed up the harvest date.  Should be able to start using leaves in a couple of weeks.

I have started other lettuce indoors that are heat resistant like Lunix, Solar Flare, Bronze Beauty, Royal Oak Leaf, Red Sails, Yedikule and Butter King.  Also started other summer salad greens in my Aerogarden system: Chinese pink celery, Hilton cabbage, Barese Swiss Chard, Japanese Mountain Spinach (a Swiss Chard), Chijimisai Greens, Molten Fire Amaranth, Pink Beauty Amaranth, Big Leaf Tong Ho, Aurora mixed colors orach.  They are all ready to transplant into bigger pots and harden off.

I did a round of herbs, too, in the Aerogarden.  Planting rosemary, flat leaf parsley, curly parsley, dill, sweet basil, cardinal basil, blue spice basil, sage, salad burnet, and cilantro.  They are not yet big enough to transplant into bigger pots.

Last year, we got our mulching done early in March.  Early March is an ideal time to mulch.  It's before the self-seeders are sprouting and it adds warmth to soil.  It looks like we won't be mulching until April this year.  

I had a soil test done in the fall that shows my soil is getting on the high side for alkalinity (pH 7.8) and needed nitrogen and a minor amount of potash.  I will add sulfur to lower the pH into the range preferred by most edibles, 6-7, and add nitrogen and potash right before mulching.  I will put a thin layer of compost and then top 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 which is a good source of nitrogen for planting and adding to my greens during the growing season.

If you are creating new beds, 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.  

The big box stores some herb transplants and more will be arriving.  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 them in a sunny window in the garage and they should be fine.

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.