Community Garden: Stay awake; winter is not over

For those of you that thought winter was over, SURPRISE!

If you have put seeds in the ground you need to pay attention to their germination time. As cold as it got during this last cold snap it could very well have damaged the seed and it may not produce. Potatoes should be in the ground as well as onions. Not too late but then you can still put them in the ground for the next month or two.

I had someone tell me about his wood mulch pile this past week. They got too much dumped on their property so they decided to take advantage of all that good mulch. They spread it out and then planted their potatoes in the mulch. As the potatoes grow they continually rake the mulch over and around the plants. The potatoes have no measurable pressure against them so they can grow faster and bigger. This kind of potato field will produce a lot of potatoes so don’t waste that mulch if you have some and don’t think that there is a possibility of ever getting too much mulch.If you place other materials in the mulch pile to compost and break down you will be surprised how many volunteer plants show up and start producing over the years. They will do extremely well in a compost or mulch pile.

Time for a little confession! I fell asleep while I was typing this and when I woke up I had 3 pages of one letter over and over. Now I know if I fall asleep writing it that it must be really hard for you to stay awake reading it. But just suffer through.

If I have to you do too. I will try to make it more exciting, if I can. The last few days of real cold temperatures will get a whole lot of critters in the soil and if you were able to turn your garden beds before the cold then you got rid of a whole bunch of them. Plus all the snow added a little bit of moisture to go with the rain. Not much but enough to help the garden prepare for the seeds and plants you are going to put in them.

Have you decided what you are going to plant? Always save a little space for something you have never planted before and do a little experimentation. Think about it! There are more squashes out there than just yellow crooked neck and zucchini. They all taste different and they all taste good. Try something new and see how you like it. Now don’t be real stubborn and think that because you have never had it that you prepare it the same way in the kitchen. Read up on what you have. Some of those heirloom squashes are really ugly but I promise they have more flavor than all the others. Heirloom vegetables taste so much different than some of the hybrids that you won’t recognize them.