St Paddy's Day Garden Wit & Wisdom

[davidmcg]

Got this in an e-mail from The Old Farmers Almanac;

Cabbage Seeds are often planted today, and old-time farmers believed that to make them grow well, you needed to plant them while wearing your nightclothes.

On St. Patrick’s Day, the warm side of a rock turns up, and the broad-back goose begins to lay

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade in the United States was held in New York City on this day in 1762.

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Many gardeners look at the holidays as a guide for planting. St. Patrick's Day is the traditional time for sowing green peas. Peas are not difficult to grow. The earlier they mature, the sweeter they’ll be. Peas should be planted as soon as the ground can be worked. In some areas, you might have to drill holes in the soil to plant peas on St. Pat’s! Sow them right under the snow, if necessary, but save some for a later planting as well. Peas should be quickly steamed or eaten raw. They turn to starch several hours after picking—which is why peas that you buy are often sadly lacking in flavor. We enjoy our peas the way they taste best, right from the shell, and we savor them all season long!

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The Farmers Almanac is ok. I will never plant cabbage, and I know never is a long time. But if I ever did, I wouldn't do it in the middle of the night in my night clothes. If nothing else, St Paddys Day around here is usually very cold and wet.

[Texas-Hunter]

I have green onions in the ground, but thats it... I would like to plant this weekend but the ground is still to wet from 4 days of rain and about 5"... So hopefully I will get it planted early next week...

As for growing cabbage here. Its a waste of time... If the heat and bugs dont get them, and one or two happens to mature. Its not much bigger than a baseball to softball at best... So my dirt is to valuable to waste on them.. I could be more productive by growing peppers..

[Richtee]

Wish I had dirt worth...well- dirt! I live on a possible gravel/sand pit. And it's still frozen like a rock. I go have a small area that I moved in some good dirt to, but like Ken...it'll be a few peppers and my beloved Roma tomatos.

[desertlites]

rich Why not raised beds? proven to be much more productive-very easy to control weeds etc.give it a try. u have your issues, I have mine here-they do work.

[Texas-Hunter]

rich Why not raised beds? proven to be much more productive-very easy to control weeds etc.give it a try. u have your issues, I have mine here-they do work.

True dat..

[davidmcg]

Rich have you tried buckets? Potatoes and tomatoes grow great in buckets, so do peppers and strawberries. I myself wouldn't waste my time on cabbage or lettuce but there are those that do. I have somewhere on one of these computers a document on growing in large 15 gallon plus buckets. I'll find it and post it here. Then there are also those upside down growing tomato hangers. My wife tried one of those last year. The tomatoes were great, juicy, sweet and a great shade of red. Problem was she planted determinate tomatoes and they only put out 1 round of tomatoes. Don't know yet if she'll do them again, still too early.

Our ground is thawed here finally and the garden is tilled and ready for planting.

For those who still have frozen ground but want to get ready here is a slick trick for your seeds;

Seed Tape

Level of difficulty: Beginner

This is a great cold_weather project that'll save you plenty of planting time in the garden.

Seed tapes are strips of paper with seeds adhered down the center of each strip and evenly spaced. When you plant the strip, the paper and glue decompose and you are left with perfectly spaced crops.

To make seed tapes

1. Rip old newspaper into one inch long strips tearing from the top to the bottom of the page. Use only black & white sections since colored print can emit toxins into your soil.
2. Make glue using 1/4_cup water to one_cup all_purpose flour.
3. Dab each seed with the flour_water glue and stick them in the center of the strip. Be sure the seeds are spaced evenly apart__check the back of your seed packet for the recommended amount of space between each seed.
4. When the glue is dry, roll up the strips and place in separate sealable plastic bags. To keep the seeds dry add one tablespoon of salt. It's also a good idea to place the seed packet into the respective seed bag. That way, in the spring, you'll know exactly how to plant them.
5. Store in a cool place, such as a basement, until spring.
6. When it's time to plant your seed tapes, lay each strip seed side up in rows several inches deep. Cover with soil and water.