Things to plant first
I cannot wait till I can start the garden. I want to plant some hardy vegetables first, in the colder weather. My list includes lettuce, spinach, and celery. Any other ideas for some veggies that do well in the cold?
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ozark_rocks
- Senior Member
- Posts: 128
- Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 7:58 pm
- Location: Arkansas
Great stuff! Keep 'em coming! I just planted everything last year in May and the Hardy plants didn't do so well. I figure it got too hot and dry too fast. Yeah last year was the first year I had a garden and it didn't do so hot.
This year I hope will be better. I was told that I live in a suburb where the builders scraped off all the topsoil, leaving only clay and they just sodded to make grass. So I was told to add some compost and sand.
Back in September I tilled in one pickup truckload of sand, I added two pickup truckloads of horse manure that had been decomposing for 3 months and a half of bed full of llama manure. The manure has been sitting ever since. I plan on adding two more bed fulls of sand and then tilling it in as soon as the ground gets dry enough.
This year I hope will be better. I was told that I live in a suburb where the builders scraped off all the topsoil, leaving only clay and they just sodded to make grass. So I was told to add some compost and sand.
Back in September I tilled in one pickup truckload of sand, I added two pickup truckloads of horse manure that had been decomposing for 3 months and a half of bed full of llama manure. The manure has been sitting ever since. I plan on adding two more bed fulls of sand and then tilling it in as soon as the ground gets dry enough.
I don't think I saw cabbage.
Do regular potatoes need to avoid frosts? Or just hard freezes? I guess I should be fine either way really as long as I make sure to put them at least 3" down.
I still have a lot to learn about the taters.
I didn't know potatoes did that well in the cold/cool weather. Does that go for sweet potatoes as well? I think they're just warmer weather since they are morning glory cousins.ozark_rocks wrote:Carrots, beets, potatoes, turnips,snow peas,mustard,onions. Almost forgot radishes.
Do regular potatoes need to avoid frosts? Or just hard freezes? I guess I should be fine either way really as long as I make sure to put them at least 3" down.
I still have a lot to learn about the taters.
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ozark_rocks
- Senior Member
- Posts: 128
- Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 7:58 pm
- Location: Arkansas
Sweet potatoes need it to be warm, but spuds can withstand cooler temps. They will black off in a hard freeze, but do okay with a light frost. I always put my Irish potatoes in early, and pull the soil up around them as they grow. If I hear its going to freeze, I cover them completely with mulch or soil to protect them. Actually, bosaw might want to wait on the tators. He's further north than me 
,but if I wait the heat will get them.
,but if I wait the heat will get them.-
jal_ut
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7447
- Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
- Location: Northern Utah Zone 5
Carrots, spinach, cabbage, kohl rabi, lettuce, peas, dill, turnips and onions are the hardiest cool weather plants. These can be planted six weeks before your average last frost.
Beets, chard, parsnips and radish are not quite as hardy and can be planted a couple of weeks after the others.
I plant potatoes two weeks before the avg. last frost. They will grow in cooler weather, but the leaves will freeze if you have a frost. This won't kill them, but it will set them back. You may as well plant them so they won't get frozen.
I plant the first batch of corn 2 weeks before the date of avg. last frost. It takes a week to come up and many years we won't get frozen after that, but if we do get a frost when the corn is two or three inches tall it won't kill it. It may brown the leaves, but it sends up new ones when it warms up.
Check with your county extension to see if they can advise you on planting times in your area. Lets see, Indiana, you are likely in zone 5? I am thinking mid March may be a good time to start with the cold hardy crops. Soil and weather permitting.
You can actually get almost two months of growing in before you would plant your warm weather plants. Around here many people miss out on this time because they wait and plant everything on Memorial Day, then wonder why they can't grow good lettuce and spinach.
Beets, chard, parsnips and radish are not quite as hardy and can be planted a couple of weeks after the others.
I plant potatoes two weeks before the avg. last frost. They will grow in cooler weather, but the leaves will freeze if you have a frost. This won't kill them, but it will set them back. You may as well plant them so they won't get frozen.
I plant the first batch of corn 2 weeks before the date of avg. last frost. It takes a week to come up and many years we won't get frozen after that, but if we do get a frost when the corn is two or three inches tall it won't kill it. It may brown the leaves, but it sends up new ones when it warms up.
Check with your county extension to see if they can advise you on planting times in your area. Lets see, Indiana, you are likely in zone 5? I am thinking mid March may be a good time to start with the cold hardy crops. Soil and weather permitting.
You can actually get almost two months of growing in before you would plant your warm weather plants. Around here many people miss out on this time because they wait and plant everything on Memorial Day, then wonder why they can't grow good lettuce and spinach.