#48 Gardening while Safe at Home

These are strange times we live in. But, like we said last week, gardening hasn’t been cancelled and we are safe at home.

We saw a pair of Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) at the feeder the other day (March 24, to be exact).  Coupling this with a Red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) sighting on March 17, the madman commented that spring seems to be coming early. So he pulled out our notes from last year.

Last Year’s Notes

Guess what? Last year we saw a Red-winged blackbird on March 12, and the first Cowbirds on March 17. The notes get stranger. In 2019, we had 12” of snow in March and 4 days of below 10˚ weather. This year, we recorded our last reading below 10˚ on February 15 when the temperature dipped to 5.5˚, and the snow this March has been negligible. For most of March the soil temperature was above 50˚. Last year we didn’t hit 50˚ until mid-April.

Last year we didn’t plant the peas until April 13 in 2019 when the soil temperature jumped up to 58˚. And, the crop was fantastic. This year, the madman was so excited, no snow on the ground and a soil temperature above 50˚ on St. Patrick’s Day. He planted the peas. What a celebration we had! By the first of April, not one pea had popped through the ground. The madman was devastated. He gently probed the soil and could not find a pea seed – sprouted or otherwise.

Lower Temperatures Mean Less Sprouts

According to the guide at Cornell University, peas planted in lower temperatures have a much lower germination rate and take longer to sprout. At a soil temperature of 50˚, peas germinate in 13 days; at 60˚, seeds germinate in 6-13 days. And, later plants usually catch up to the earlier ones. The University of California at Sacramento suggests that the optimum range for pea seed germination is 65˚-75˚.

So, the madman replanted his peas, and do you know what he found in the process? Rotted pea seeds – now he knows what happened. Maybe he has learned two lessons here. 1. Don’t rush the season. And 2. Read the journal from last year. It clearly says, “The peas were planted on April 13 as the forsythia popped.” And, “the crop was fantastic.” In his defense, he says other Master Gardeners plant on St. Patrick’s Day. In fact, it was master gardener friend Maureen Gillis who first told us about the tradition of planting peas on St. Patrick’s Day.

And, in an on-line video chat organized by Gail Reynolds, Middlesex County Master Gardener Coordinator, several other master gardeners had already planted peas. One even reported that seeds had sprouted. The madman will be interested in comparing final results.

First Thing in the Garden

The madman always gets excited about the peas (and I think that’s why he always tries to rush them) because they are the first things we plant in the garden. Sure, he has started his seedlings and has a nice crop in the greenhouse, but planting the peas is his first real chance to get his fingers into the soil. And, speaking of getting fingers into the soil, it is time to get ready for the season.

Soil Sample

We sent our soil samples to UConn in early March. According to Gail Reynolds, the lab is open with reduced staff, but they are still analyzing soils. We almost sound like a broken record because we test our soil yearly. Why bother? There are a few good reasons, according to the madman.

Because plants need the appropriate nutrients to flourish, it is important to know what is lacking in the soil. The soil test results will tell you what to add now so in July you aren’t scratching your head trying to figure out why your plants aren’t as productive as your neighbors are.

Don’t Overdo It

Also, if you follow the recommendations of a good soil analysis, you will be less likely to over fertilize – a practice as dangerous as not fertilizing at all. Remember, plants won’t overeat so excess fertilizer runs off into our waterways causing pollution all down the line. Besides, throwing fertilizer away as in run off is like throwing money away – a practice the madman doesn’t like to encourage.

Still talking soil, I do try to keep the madman from going out too early. At one time he planted a fall cover crop, green manure he called it. Putting the garden to bed back then meant rototilling and planting winter rye. In the spring, he ran the rototiller through the entire garden at least three times to make sure the rye was buried. He loved the look of the bare soil. Then we took the UConn Master Gardener Program – that forever changed our method of gardening.

New Garden Philosophy

The madman learned that too much rototilling was not necessarily good for the soil. And, although he liked the look of bare soil, Mother Nature didn’t and was ready cover it with weeds. You see, garden soil has a lifetime supply of weed seeds built in. At 6” below the surface, they won’t germinate, but as the rototiller kicks them to the surface, they are off to the races. Speaking of 6” (the usual rototilling depth), the soil beneath that level is never touched. It becomes compacted by the weight of the rototiller and the madman creating a barrier to both moisture and roots. After the Master Gardener course, we laid out the garden in beds and paths. Beds for the plants; paths for people and no cross-overs allowed.

Double Digging

But the beds saw the rototiller one final time to loosen the soil for the madman’s double digging project, another tip from the MG course. After tilling, the madman removed all the soil in each planting bed. The tiller was then run through the bed again to loosen the remaining hardpan. The original soil was returned to each bed. During the process of this deeper tilling, the rototiller occasionally encountered what appeared to be a stray plumbing pipe which the madman removed.

Surprise!

In one bed, he hit what he thought was a large rock. Let me rephrase that, a huge rock. When he started digging around it, the madman realized the object was metal. It also had pipes sticking out of one end. We attached a rope to the pipes and with the help of a vehicle hauled out an old water expansion tank. The madman was stunned. Who would have buried that in the front of a house? More surprising, with the tank and all the pipes removed, our next soil test showed a marked drop in the level of lead. Two compelling reasons for double digging your soil, especially around an old house. With negligible levels of lead, we felt more comfortable planting root crops.

Semi-Raised Beds

Over The years of adding compost and mulch to the garden beds, they have become higher than the level of the path. Because there are no fixed barriers, the madman refers to them as semi-raised beds. Since we remove all dead plant debris in the fall, all we have to do is work in the appropriate amendments when we get the results of the soil test. In the meantime, we remove winter weeds and straighten irrigation lines.

Don’t Rush!

The madman is anxiously awaiting the results of his soil test; so anxious, in fact, that he can’t wait for the mailman to come. We still have plenty of time because it is still early to plant much. Adventurous gardeners have been known to put leaf, cole and root crops in now, but the madman prefers to tinker in the greenhouse. So, we’ll wait and follow other signs of spring like growing degree days, migration notes, budding of native plants, appearance of ephemerals and the most important one – the arrival of the madman’s onion plants from Dixondale Farms. But, these are topics for a future blog.

                While we wait, we’ll have a cup of cocoa.