It’s time for March madness. And no, we’re not talking basketball. • For gardeners, even if Colorado is still coated in icicles and magnesium chloride, March means spring is inbound. It’s time to hustle. • For basketball fans, it’s about the love of the game, the three-point shot, the impossible rebound, the underdog team. For gardeners, spring’s whistle means doing the work that gets them fresh tomatoes, fragrant flowers and deep shade made for hammocks when summer comes. • In both worlds, it’s tipoff time.
SEED-STARTING BASICS
If your old seeds are stored properly (cool, dark and dry), they may still be viable. The year they were packaged will be stamped on the packet. (If you save seeds, here’s your reason to put not just the plant and variety, but the year). can be found at www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/Garden/07221.html
In addition to using seeds on hand or buying new ones at garden centers or online, keep an eye out for seed libraries. Just like a library where you check out books, seed libraries “lend” seeds to gardeners. You borrow seeds, grow the plants, and let some of them produce seeds of their own, which you then harvest and return to the library in fall.
The Golden Public Library and the Colorado State University Extension Master Gardeners in Jefferson County are To find out more, keep an eye on jeffcogardener.blogspot.com
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Timing is everything when starting seeds indoor for later outdoor transplanting. This includes vegetable, herb, fruit and flower seeds.
If you start them indoors too early, plants can get spindly, buggy or grow unhealthy — not to mention that they’ll take up a lot of space as you transplant them into larger pots.
If planted indoors too late, they won’t benefit from the head start needed to develop and mature. That early start is what allows Coloradans to grow vegetables that ideally prefer a longer warm season than we tend to have — those Brandywine tomatoes and winter squashes, for example.
The best way to know when to sow indoors is by reading the propagation information on the packet. It’ll tell you how many weeks the seeds need to grow indoors before the last average spring frost (mid-May along the Front Range; add at least two weeks or more for higher elevations or valleys where cold rolls downhill).
CHOOSE YOUR WINDOW
There are two spring “windows” for growing seeds indoors that’ll be transplanted outdoors. You’ll see these baby plants also referred to as “starts.”
Cool-season crops, just like the name implies, prefer growing in cool soils, and include cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. These four crops grow much better in the spring when set out as transplants versus direct seeding in the ground. Why?
When you seed such crops directly, warm weather often arrives in Colorado before they are fully mature and ready to harvest. (You know this, first-timers, because you remember all the years you’ve worn a parka one day and shorts the next.)
Cool-season crops can be sown indoors 4 to 6 weeks before being transplanted in the garden a week or two before the average last frost date.
Warm-season crops — tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squashes, cucumbers and pumpkins — prefer warm soils and temperatures. You’ll transplant them well after the average last frost date in mid- to late May.
This doesn’t mean you can plant them all indoors at the same time, however. What’s that mantra? Read the seed packet, because vegetable seeds don’t all germinate or grow at the same speed. Peppers need up to 8 weeks or more indoors, whereas pumpkins only need a couple of weeks (you can even wait and direct-seed them outside in late May).
Most tomato packets say to sow 6-8 weeks before the last spring frost, so start the seeds indoors in mid-March for 8 weeks of growth.
A handy cool- and warm-season vegetable guide is at www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/Gardennotes/720.html
Don’t forget that you can save a lot of money by growing annual and perennial flowers and some herbs from seed. Most need eight or more weeks to germinate — butterfly weed, drumstick flower, delphinium, dianthus, foxglove, echinacea, lisianthus, rudbeckia, snapdragon, stock, perennial sunflowers, verbena and yarrow. Start these plants along with your tomatoes and peppers, and they’ll bring you bouquets to boast about this summer.
Betty Cahill, gardenpunchlist.blogspot.com/
Can’t i plant outside now?
You can. If you’re willing to gamble. Hey, it’s only seeds — and some people have been known to claim bragging rights by hustling out when it’s still hat-and-glove weather to plant spinach and arugula. But it really is a gamble, and you could just sink back into the couch with your seed catalogs for another week or three. Just in case, here’s what to do if you’re tempted.
Pick a spot where the snow melts soonest.
Pick a crop that germinates and grows fast and likes it cool — 30-day lettuces, mustard greens, dandelion greens, chard — and if you can, a location that reflects or absorbs the sun’s warmth. South-facing brick or stone is great. Get a soil thermometer and check your packet for a germination temperature.
Stay off the soil. Wet soil compacts easily when you tromp on it. If you want to take this gamble, sow your greens into pots, in very fine, fluffy soil or container mix, or into a raised bed. Be prepared to drag those pots indoors or cover the bed; remember the May blizzards.
Cut yourself a break. If that co-worker is bringing in bunches of greens this time of year, chances are they have a cold frame or other season-extending set-up where that spinach or arugula overwintered. If you’re really, inconsolably jealous, get such a setup yourself. —Susan Clotfelter, The Denver Post
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