The Waiting Game

 This is the time of year when there is a lot to do, and everything to plant, but you must wait.  We have had some very good weather, but we still have occasional cold nights and so many vegetables and annuals need consistent warm nights to take hold and thrive.  Tomatoes, peppers, dahlias etc should not be transplanted until soil is warm and nights are consistently 55F.

But lettuce and cole crops love this sort of weather.  We have warm sunny days and cool nights in the high 40s or low 50s.  We've had a touch of frost on the roofs, but is is still warm in the corners.  I have begun to pick some outer lettuce leaves for sandwiches and soon the little heads can be cut for salads.

The Cabbage, Broccoli and Cauliflower transplants are doing very well.  Its time to get some fertilizer in there for them.

Peas and Lettuce doing well.

Like I said before, I got terrific germination on the lettuce.  This will need to be trimmed as cut and come again baby greens to keep it from getting too crowded.

Scarlet Nantes Carrots.
First seeding on the left, and newly seeded on the right,

Strawberries blooming very well.

Its time to prepare the Sweet Corn Bed.  I watered it well and weeded.  Raked over the surface to disturb the roots of the tinier weeds, and then placed the Polycarbonate panels over it to cook the weeds and warm the soil.

After this bed is ready, the panels will move to the Bean bed, then Cantaloupe and so on and so forth until each crop is planted.  I had the panels on the Dahlia bed below all week.  When I removed the panels first thing yesterday morning, before the sun had even burned through the clouds, the soil temp was 79F.  I raked over the top to break the winter crust and sprinkled Urea for Nitrogen.  I will water that in a couple of times this week.  This Wednesday night is still supposed to get down into the 30s but after that I will be ready to set out Dahlia tubers.

The perennial beds are all weeded and fertilized.  I have most of my annuals for container planting but am also holding off on those.  This week I will be getting frost covers out and direct seeding the empty raised beds with Cosmos, Zinnias, Dill and Parsley.  The frost covers will protect the seedlings as they germinate.  I have Tomato and Pepper transplants growing out in the cold frame but no hurry to pot up.  In another week I will be thinking of seeding Cuccumbers and Cantaloupes in pots.