March is a traitorous month. After over half of the month being April-like, it suddenly turned back into true March with blustery winds and chill temperatures. Luckily, old habits die hard, and I only took advantage of the April-like weather to get a lead on things like garden clean-up, raised bed prep…and, importantly, putting Remay and greenhouse coverings on my raised beds.
Some people plant only based on the weather, forgetting that soil temperature is critical in early spring planting. Want to get those hardy spring crops out and get early and successful yields? Help the soil in your planting beds to in-solate – warm with the trapped warmth of the sun. Remay and other coverings allow the sun to penetrate and heat the soil. The coverings trap the warmth preventing the wind from blowing it away.
I knew an Italian Gardener years ago who felt privileged that every spring, there’d be a high-stakes competition to get his tomatoes, peppers, and garlic to outperform his neighbors. The more challenging the conditions the more he had to up his game. I doubt that many of his tricks ever appeared in print. His tool of choice? Cold and hot frames fabricated from old windows and salvaged construction lumber.
You say you know what a cold frame is, but not a hot frame? It’s a deeper version of a cold frame, heated by the warmth of decomposing fresh manure at the bottom beneath the plants in their containers. As the fresh manure ages the biological process of composting creates heat. and the heat warms the plants as they grow. It’s not a process for a small lot suburban garden. On a warm day, it smells more than a bit.
With my neighbors only a few yards from my garden, I’d love to be able to duplicate his techniques. but I worry that they’d not consider the odor to be neighborly. Sigh!
This time of year, there is so much more that I’d love to do but don’t dare. Gardeners always weigh risk against gain; with an unpredictable climate, the balance is on the side of risk. But I am ahead of the game by weeks. I took the warmth of an unexpected early March to prep the garden. In April, I’ll have a prepared site for doing more things we usually associate with spring.
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(These chill *winds* — ugh!) One year, husband chose awfully natural fertilizer for his window boxes ringing the deck on 3 sides. Two thoughts: “Now I’m deck-deep in it, too” and “I will try harder to behave — there’s no fertilizer in Heaven.” I hope your gardening weather comes back soon! Enjoy.🤗
Yeah, ripe fertilizer smells are rather penetrating.
Where I live, I don’t dare much. My neighbors dare more than I do, but they’re also more committed to their gardens than I am and they like it more. I am about to plant seeds in the house, though, not the house exactly but growpots in the house. You know what I mean.
I understand. To my Italian and Portuguese gardening friends I was not serious enough about it. Everyone has their own level of interest and commitment.