Winter vegetable garden Winter arrives on December 21. The shortest day of the year. There is never a shortage of things to do in the garden, even in winter. Update your garden records from last season and review your garden design. What worked and what can be improved this coming growing season? Now is the
January is the coldest month of the year in the northern hemisphere. This is the month to get seed catalogs and begin planning the spring garden. Beware of false spring days. Check with the weather service or local cooperative extension for your area’s average last frost date–the last expected frost and the start of outdoor
Lettuce is easily started in seed-starting trays or small pots. Lettuce started indoors can be set into the garden when plants have about four leaves, usually in three to four weeks from sowing. Lettuce Planting Distance Set lettuce in the garden 12 inches (30cm) apart if you are planting for full heads and closer if
Gardener planting an apple tree in to a prepared hole – variety is Bramley Bare root trees and vines are field grown, then dug during the winter when they are dormant. They are stored and shipped with all the soil removed from the roots–bare root. Bare root trees and vines are usually less expensive than
Young fruit trees require early training. It is best to begin training a fruit tree as soon as it is planted. Young tree training is best continued for the first three or four years of the tree’s life. Training a fruit tree includes staking, pruning, and branch spreading. All of these will help create a
Pear trees are best pruned in winter when they are dormant. There are several varieties of pear trees and habits of growth differ widely. All pear trees produce fruit from spurs on wood two- and three-years-old. Fruiting spurs should be preserved when pear trees are pruned. For a backyard pear tree, you can choose to
March is the month to start growing vegetables in earnest. Seed starting can begin outdoors in mild regions and indoors in cold regions. There are still six to eight weeks, maybe even ten weeks before warm-season plants can go into the garden in most cool- and cold-winter regions, but now, or soon, is the time
Tomato seedlings Start tomato seeds indoors about 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost in spring. Transplant tomato seedlings to the garden just after the last frost in spring. Here are important tips to keep in mind when you start tomatoes from seed. See also: Tomato Seed Starting Tips How to Grow Tomatoes Tomato
Crops Tips for seed starting Onions, leeks: bulb-forming leeks and sweet Spanish and Bermuda onions require a long growing season to reach maturity, so give them a good head start. Bunching onions are ready in 55 days, dry onions in 100 days; leeks in 130 days. Start indoors 10 to 12 weeks before the last
Tomato seed What is the surest way to get a good harvest to tomatoes? Here’s a simple checklist to keep handy when growing tomatoes. Good Seed Use seeds of a good variety. Use fresh seed. Good Soil Plant tomatoes in loose, well-drained soil. But almost any garden soil will grow tomatoes. Sandy loam is best
