In this month's issue of Timely Tips, I will be discussing what vegetables, flowers, and herbs can be planted outside this mont and methods of protecting these plants in case it goes down to freezing at night. I will also discuss hardening off seedlings and how to prep your garden soil before planting vegetables.
What is safe to plant outside this time of year?
Vegetables: Any cool weather vegetable start, seedling or directly planted from seed outside in the garden are safe to plant outside now. Here is a list of examples:
carrots
brussels sprouts
kale
cabbage
radish
peas
broccoli
spinach
lettuce
Herbs: The only type of herb that can be planted outside this time of year is Parsley.
Flowers: There are a few types of flowers that can also withstand the colder weather that is common this time of year. Here is a list of them:
Pansies
Snapdragons
Sweet Pea
If you have seedlings already growing that you started last month, you can plant them outside now, or you can buy starts and plant them, or you can plant the seeds of the plants mentioned above outside now.
Hardening Off: Before seedlings can be planted outside, they need to be hardened off so that they get acclimated to the outside conditions. This is done so that the seedlings don't go into shock by having their conditions changed to rapidly. Start by putting the seedlings out for an hour during the day, then every couple of days increase this time. Make sure you bring them in at night and place them in a protected area and gradually move them into sunnier areas little by little. After about a week to ten days of doing this, your seedlings will be ready to be planted in the ground. Another option for hardening off seedlings is placing them in a cold frame, which I will talk about building later on in this post.
Preparing Raised and In-Ground Beds for Planting: Before planting seeds, seedlings, or store bought starts, the soil needs to be built up and enriched with nutrients that the plants will need as they grow. The types of plants that require this soil enrichment are fruit and vegetable plants. Herbs thrive in poor soil and therefore don't require this to be done to their growing areas every year. This needs to be done every year, regardless of whether the bed is newly dug or existing (has had plants in it before). The reason for this is because every year that plants grow in the soil, they deplete the soil of nutrients, so these nutrients need to be replenished every spring. There are a couple of different things you can use to enrich your soil with. One way is by mixing in a product called "Bumper Crop" to the existing soil. This is something that you can get at the garden center that contains organic ingredients, like: leaf mulch, cow or chicken manure, shredded bark and other natural ingredients found in nature that can add nutrients to the soil. Another item you can add to soil to enrich it is dried or fresh chicken manure. If you have your own compost pile (which I will talk about making in another post), then you can mix compost into the existing soil. You want to add enough so that there is at least a good couple of inches of whichever of those items, or a mixture of the items mentioned above added to the existing soil. You can either leave it on the surface and plant on it as is, or you can turn it under before planting.
Cold Weather Protection: After planting seeds, seedlings or tender starts, they need to be protected when the overnight (or daily) temperature goes down to freezing or below. This can still happen this month quite a bit in this area. As long as the plants mentioned above are protected when temperatures dip, they should survive. Sometimes people prefer to keep this protection on all the time, especially if they have planted seeds directly in the ground. This helps keep the temperature more constant and a bit warmer for germinating seeds. For this purpose you can use a sheet or a white, cotton sheet called a row cover that can be purchased by the roll at your local garden center. Carefully place them over the plants and either weight them down with rocks or bricks on the edges and ends or stake them down. The great thing about row covers is that it lets water and sunlight penetrate it, so you can leave it down even during the day or if you forget to take it up the next morning, there's no problem.
Another option for cold weather protection is something called hoop houses. This method uses the greenhouse effect to protect young, tender plants from the cold. It typically consists of curved metal poles (about 6-12" tall) placed over the plants every foot or two along the row. Then heavy duty, clear plastic sheeting is draped over top, pulled taught and staked down around the edges. This creates a type of "hoop" over the newly planted plants that can either be open or closed at the ends. When the sun shines on the plastic covering, it soaks up the heat and light, then radiates it on the inside to the plants to raise the temperature under the hoop by a couple of degrees. Supplies to make one of these are usually sold at your local hardware store or garden center.
The last option that I would like to mention is called a cold frame. This is simply a box made of wood, straw, or metal that is placed in the ground with a clear plexiglass glass or glass pane laid over the top. This method also uses the greenhouse effect to protect newly planted plants from the elements. You can buy bales of hay from a local farm if you have access to it. Hay like salt hay works well for this purpose. Get at least 4 bales of hay and lay them out in a square shape (like a box) on the ground. All edges have to touch so there is no gaps in between. You can then either use an old storm window from your property, someone elses or a local builder/contractor. You can also use a sheet of plexiglass, too. The glass has to be clear and not frosted to allow for light to penetrate it. You can also build your own cold frame out of metal or wood, too. There are also cold frame kits that you can either order from garden supply catalogues or your local garden center that require minimal assembly and come with everything you need. Make sure that the glass tilts toward the sun slightly and that it is in a sunny area of your yard. On hot days, you will want to prop the front of the glass up somehow to prevent overheating, but remember to put it back down at night. I will provide sources for cold frame building plans below.
Good luck and Happy Gardening!
Cold Frame Building Plans: