I’ve held on through this incredibly mild February and resisted the urge to plant any seeds until today, February 22. The guy at Woods Garden and Nursery said it was ok. He sold me some seeds and a whole bunch of those expanding pellets for starting seeds. Also, I like the whole concept of planting with the liturgical calendar.
Around here, the common Catholic wisdom is that the seed potatoes go in the ground on Good Friday. Or maybe “by” Good Friday those years when Easter is late. The thing about Good Friday is that it is almost always a time when the ground is no longer frozen, and it is never before the last frost date, which up here is May 15.
I don’t know of any Ash Wednesday planting traditions, but it was a great day to bring the scent of peat and soil into the house and lay out the trays of seedlings. I planted peppers, cherry tomatoes, huckleberry bushes and leeks. One thing I know is that it’s never too early to plant leeks. They take 120 days to grow to maturity, perhaps longer, and they can sit in the ground awhile when they’re done growing, too. It will be a long time before I see the plants, which look like single blades of grass.
I figure the huckleberry bushes have to grow to 3-4 foot tall bushes before they’ll bear the berries, so it can’t be too soon to get them started. Last year, what I learned about peppers is that they need warmth as well as light to get started, so I tucked the heating pad under their tray.
It probably is too early for the cherry tomatoes, but I have a new secret weapon that will allow me to put out my tomato plants maybe even in late April, but certainly in early May. Last year I left a note to myself in all caps next to tomatoes: DO NOT PUT OUTSIDE UNTIL JUNE 10! I end up planting and replanting because of the winds that come in just as it’s finally warm enough for the tomatoes to make it through the night. But this year– secret weapon. I’ll let you in on it when it’s time to move the tomatoes outside.
I also planted a little garden box with some radishes, mizuna (an Asian green) and lettuce. Maybe I’ll get some microgreens or something that can count as the earliest plant that I can eat just when the other seeds are going in the ground– which in a month I hope will be “just able to be worked.” Meanwhile, I now have the task of watering and watching, which is certainly a good practice for Lent.