So ready to get started.

jal_ut · Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:05 pm

I was looking through pictures and saw this one. This is an August harvest picture, but it made me really want to go plant something. Drat, there is still a foot of snow on my plot.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/veggie%20table.jpg[/img]

alaskagold · Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:08 pm

Gosh look at your bounty! I am in the same boat jal, wishing deperately for break up.

What is your "range" are you 4B or close? I would very much like to contact you concerning how you cultivate and grow your garden as it seems you and I have the same growing seasons.

jal_ut · Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:32 pm

I am right on the line between zone 4 and 5. Depends on the season. This year zone 5 temps. Of course all that tells you is that certain perennial plants will make it through winter.

The thing that matters most to gardeners growing annuals, is the average dates of first and last frost, IOW the length of the growing season, and the temperatures during the growing season. I think it is probably your temperatures that make it so that pumpkins and melons won't do well there. They need quite warm weather. We get some temps in the 90s here in July and August. I put a link to my gardening tips in another thread just recently. Did you see that?

alaskagold · Tue Mar 01, 2011 2:46 pm

jal, no I didn't see it, but I will look for it soon. Thanks for the heads up!

sheeshshe · Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:17 pm

I hear you!!! I want to garden SO bad right now. my plot has FOUR feet of snow on it! we got hammered this year.

I just told my 6y old that I want to plant my garden right now but I can't bc of the snow

I cant wait at all, I have the itch BAD. its nealry 40* today and everything is melting so yeah, hehehe.n plus I usually start seeds on march 1st, but I can't today bc I'm not ready, I have to move everything downstairs to make room...

gixxerific · Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:57 pm

We are all in the same boat. I have been wanting to get going for a bit now myself. But there is either snow on the ground or big rainstorms it's just too wet to plant anything, this week is the week I have to pull the trigger or I will just be set back yet again. More rain this weekend so Thur or Fri I have to do something.

Good luck, hopefully they weather will break for you James and the rest of you.

tedly · Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:28 pm

Right there with everybody else. I can finally see most of the lawn today, so it's not too much longer here in Wisconsin. I just dug out the trays and soil so I can get the tomatoes and others a head start.

Here's a couple of pics from a harvest day last year, just to torment all of us a little more.

[img]https://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7362/0801102039.jpg[/img]
[img]https://img704.imageshack.us/img704/4485/maters4.jpg[/img]

DeborahL · Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:44 pm

I'm looking forward to your posts when you're all happily planting. Hang on, friends !

jal_ut · Thu Mar 03, 2011 5:41 pm

Here is the proof:

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/plantin_snow.jpg[/img]

Planting spinach on March 3. Had to move 8 inches of snow to do it.

alaskagold · Thu Mar 03, 2011 5:52 pm

jal, is your land not frozen? Or is it that squish?

tedly · Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:19 pm

Jal, I am in a similar climate zone - officially 5a but less than 10 miles from 4b. I had no idea you could start anything while there was still snow on the ground! Please tell me more, like what else are you planting now or very soon?

jal_ut · Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:28 pm

The ground is not frozen. The snow apparently insulates it from the cold.

Just spinach. I think I could plant lettuce now too, but am not going to.
The reason I say this is because every year, there is spinach and lettuce that goes to seed in my garden. The following year it comes up volunteer all over. If it happens to be in a spot I can let it grow, it will be my first harvest of the season. So, if the seed will lie in the ground all winter and still grow, it is likey to do well planted very early don't you think?

Generally speaking, things don't grow much here in March. Too cold. April 1 is about right for planting all my early crops.

DeborahL · Thu Mar 03, 2011 7:53 pm

You're planting !

tedly · Thu Mar 03, 2011 8:22 pm

Will the lettuce freeze? or will it just not sprout for a few weeks? What about mesculin greens?

jal_ut · Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:11 am

Seeds planted now this early with snow still on the ground will lie there until the temperature is right for them to germinate. I know lettuce and spinach seed will survive the winter in the ground and germinate in the spring. Some seeds will spoil if left in the cold ground all winter or even for a couple of weeks if the temoerature is not right for it to germinate.

Lettuce, spinach, carrots, peas, cabbage, broccoli, turnips, and all of the early crops have some resistance to frost. They can be planted six to eight weeds before your average last frost date.

My objective here is two fold. One, to go for the earliest possible crop of spinach, and two, dispel the winter doldrums.

sjohnson9206 · Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:26 am

You have snow, this year I think I'll be held off by rain.

jal_ut · Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:34 am

Here is a pic of volunteer lettuce growing between rows of onions. The onions, by the way, were planted from seed right where they are growing.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/Garden/lettuce_onions.jpg[/img]

I will sometimes transplant volunteer lettuce to a row. It moves easily when only two or three inches tall.

jal_ut · Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:03 am

Woo Hoo, the spinach (planted March 3) just came up. I guess that means the soil is warm enough to plant a few more early varieties.

I did plant some onion sets and plants.

This evening it is raining. The next time the surface of my garden gets dry, I will go plant something.

Dixana · Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:49 am

*GROAN* You are KILLING me Jal!! Knowing I could be planting something if we had moved already is making the waiting worse!!! As it is Dale think I've gone off my rocker seeing as I started seeds in the house for me, his aunt, and his sister. Yep, there's 7 flats of seedlings in my house right now.....and I just got a couple more special tomato seeds in the mail.....
It isn't helping that I don't know WHEN we're moving. The snow is off the ground and it's supposed to stay over 40 the next 2 weeks. I could be working in the garden!!

jal_ut · Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:00 am

Yesterday we got 4 inches of very wet snow, then it snowed again last night, looks like another 3 to 4 inches. Still overcast and foggy looking this morning. I am ready for some sunshine.

Dixana · Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:14 am

We just had 2 beautiful days of warmth and sunshine, and I had a NASTY flu so I couldn't enjoy it

Now we're supposed to have rain for the next 4-5 days. -sigh-

jal_ut · Fri May 27, 2011 9:49 am

I think it is time for a report. I planted spinach March 3 after moving snow to do it, as reported earlier in this post. Here is the spinach as of May 26. It took it a long time to get to this size. We have had a cool season here. This spinach is still way ahead of that I planted the 5th of April. So I must conclude that planting early did get me an earlier harvest. I just wish I had planted 5 times as much.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/spinach_2011.jpg[/img]

Here are some onions that were planted from seed on April 5, 2011. They are doing great.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/onions_2011.jpg[/img]

TZ -OH6 · Fri May 27, 2011 10:24 am

Will those onions have time to bulb up tlo full size this season?

jal_ut · Fri May 27, 2011 11:33 am

If I thin them, those left will get fair size. Maybe baseball size, but not as large as those planted from sets or plants. I will likely use these as green onions.

TZ -OH6 · Fri May 27, 2011 12:24 pm

My seedlings are a bit bigger than that and are just starting to perk up so I guess there is hope for them.

gardenbean · Fri May 27, 2011 1:59 pm

Jal, are you able to grow any warm crops like tomatos and squash? And do you get a fall crop? Just wondering.

jal_ut · Fri May 27, 2011 3:16 pm

Jal, are you able to grow any warm crops like tomatos and squash? And do you get a fall crop? Just wondering

Yes. I get good corn, squash, cucumbers, melons and peppers. Tomatoes usually make something too, but they are slow to ripen and I end up ripening them under covers in September. I am trying 3 new varieties this year to see if I can find something that will work better here.

Fall crop? Not sure what you are asking. I don't do much succession planting if that is what you mean. Radishes is about the only thing I can get two crops on.

August is harvest month. We can't hardly keep up with the goodies in August.

DeborahL · Fri May 27, 2011 5:04 pm

James, don't you have snails? If I planted spinach it would never get even that big.
I fight snails even in container plants.

jal_ut · Fri May 27, 2011 8:28 pm

No snails here. I think our humidity is too low for them. There are some wild snails that frequent the woodsy areas of our foothills, but you only see them out if its a rainy day. Otherwise they are under something to keep damp. You can find the shells around after the things die. I have never seen a snail in my gardens.