Newsletters: March - April 2007
Plant a Spring Garden
By Bridget Kamke
Spring is here. If it crept up on you and you still haven't started your garden, don't worry! It's not too late to get a beautiful spring garden growing. If you did not yet plant any seeds for your favorite flowers, herbs, and vegetables, you can always buy the starts in pots from local growers and nurseries. There are also some things you can still grow from seeds very easily.
The helpful folks at Native Nurseries have suggested some flowers that are great to add color to your yard in spring. You can brighten things up with impatiens, salvias, petunias, torenia, and rubecia.
Plant herbs for textures and scents. Later in spring and summer, you will enjoy the pleasure of stepping right outside to gather herbs to add healthful zest to salads, soups, sandwiches and more. Some great herbs to buy potted and plant now are parsley, rosemary, oregano, mints, and fennel. It's good to plant basil, a warm weather herb, in April after the frosts are over.
If you put your tomato and cucumber plants in the earth in March, watch the weather closely because you may need to cover them some nights. Bell peppers and hot pepper plants can go into the soil now. Wait until May to put in your sweet potatoes. The leaves make a lovely and lush ground cover.
You can plant watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe from seeds now that the weather is heating up. They germinate at warmer soil temperatures. Squash and zucchini will also grow from seeds in the earth. Look for seed packets at New Leaf Market.
Those living at higher elevations and closer to town can plant earlier because their temperatures are usually higher. For instance, you may be able to put in your little baby tomato plants and not have to worry about a freeze as much in town as you would in outlying areas.
Enrich your soil organically with compost or worm castings. Some local farmers sell their compost and soil mixtures at the Wednesday afternoon Grower's Market at Lake Ella. The FAMU-sponsored Grower's Market is a great source for starts, especially for your vegetable garden. Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and various herbs are usually available there, as well as flowers to grow, or fresh-cut flowers for your home. The growers who sell there have years of experience and are glad to share their knowledge with you.
Grab a trowel and get started!
