http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x7896Oh my.
The mother of the Bostonian Drunkard.
Raven Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-19-08 06:18 AM
Original message
I'm still sittin' here, twiddling my thumbs, waitin'....for the overnight temperatures to hit 50 so I can plant. Looks like maybe next week or the week after. Everything's ready to go...seed potatoes, corn, lettuce, green beans, tomato plants, cucs, carrots (those funny looking round ones), basil...the bugs will still be out but I got one of those funny looking net hats...I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas to come!
One doesn't have to wait for the lowest temperatures to be less than 50 degrees F.
In fact, the William Rivers Pitt here has been blooming and thriving with all sorts of flora and foliage since late February, and it was emerging, and growing, even while the Sandhills of Nebraska still had some below-32 nights.
But it could be that antique vintage swine manure is "warmer" than ordinary soil.
LiberalEsto Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-19-08 08:47 AM
Response to Original message
1. Here's hoping for a hot time in the ol' garden tonight!
Raven, have you tried solarizing?
In early April, I put sheets of heavy clear plastic over my planting beds, and weighed it down with bricks on each corner, to kill pests, weeds and some diseases. It also warmed up the soil. Two weeks ago I uncovered one bed and put in tomatoes and peppers, and they seem to be doing well despite the cool weather. The plastic also kept the danged maple seeds from infiltrating the garden. And you can hose it off and re-use it next year.
I'm in climate zone 6, in central Maryland, but I thought it might be worth trying up North where you live.
A friend of mine gets his lettuce started fairly early by sowing a row of seed and covering it with an old board until the seedlings are well established.
I dunno. franksolich tries solarizing.
franksolich plants something, and then crosses his fingers, hoping the sun cooperates, which the sun sometimes does, sometimes doesn't.
Raven Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-19-08 02:06 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. God, that's a great idea! Thanks. I'll try it next year. Since my garden gets sun all day long, it should work.
sazemisery Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon May-19-08 12:57 PM
Response to Original message
2. If it makes you feel better
I am in NE Oklahoma and the temps have just now begun to be in the 50's at night. I plan to plant my okra and corn this week. My garden is usually growing gangbusters by now but I only have tomatoes and basil planted in the ground. Global warming is a bitch!
Well, again, I dunno; perhaps too much is made of that anything below 32 degrees F is freezing, and hence not a good time to plant things.
One suspects there's other factors involved in whether or not a seed will sprout, or a seedling grow, besides just the ground temperature.
I personally eyewitnessed two growing seasons in the socialist paradises of the workers and peasants, and these people were putting seeds into the ground when the ground was just barely past that winter-solid stage, and temperatures still below 32 degrees F.
Of course, this was seeds, not seedlings that had already sprouted. In the case of seedlings, it's a good idea to wait until all danger of frost has passed. But not seeds; franksolich tossed some marigold seeds on the William Rivers Pitt in early February, when it was slushy with snow, and franksolich already has marigolds.
Lone_Star_Dem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue May-20-08 01:24 PM
Response to Original message
4. Would it help any if I mailed you some grasshoppers?
Really, it's no trouble. I've plenty to go around. You can run about squishing them as if it's the midst of summer.
My mom was in the midst of spring fever and soil too cold to work when all of a sudden they got a heatwave in Northern California. You never know what Mother Nature has planned.
