It’s March in Colorado when snow and cold weather can blow in anytime. Rather than be tempted to plant outdoors, focus on indoor seed starting, and cool-season vegetable planting if conditions are right.
Seed Starting
Timing is everything when starting seeds indoor for later outdoor transplanting. This includes vegetable, herb, fruit and flower seeds.
Starting indoors too early can lead to leggy, buggy or unhealthy plants. If planted too late, they won’t benefit from the head start to develop and mature.
The best way to know when to sow indoors is by reading the seed packet information. This tells how many weeks the seeds need to grow indoors before the last average spring frost (mid- to late-May along the Front Range; add at least two weeks for higher elevations).
Some annual and perennial seeds need eight or more weeks to grow to transplant size, including delphinium, dianthus, foxglove, echinacea, lisianthus, rudbeckia, butterfly weed, drumstick flower, snapdragon, stock, perennial sunflowers, verbena and yarrow. Start these seeds indoors now for May planting or purchase plants from garden centers later.
Start these warm-season seeds indoors for planting outside later in May: peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, okra and tomatillos. Keep in mind that these plants can also be purchased later in May at garden centers.
Indoor seed-starting equipment is trending away from the traditional shop lights that use T12 florescent tubes (T stands for tube, 12 is the bulb’s diameter). T8 tubes are more energy efficient than T12s, but T5 full spectrum tubes have the highest light output, are more efficient and longer-lasting then T12 and T8 tubes. T5s are skinny and will require their own fixture. T5 tubes can be placed farther above the plant canopy – by a few inches.
Outdoor Vegetables
Enrich your vegetable garden by hand digging or tilling one or two inches of compost into the soil if it isn’t frozen or too wet. Remove weed and old vegetable roots as you work. Vegetable gardens may need yearly applications of fertilizer, but find out what nutrients your soil needs by doing a soil test. Many area garden centers and extension offices have with instructions on how to take soil samples and mail them to Fort Collins.
If your soil is workable and has warmed to 45- 50 degrees, plant shell, snap and podded peas, onions and certified seed potatoes (not from the grocery aisle). Once plants have emerged, be prepared to on continuous frosty nights.
Help peas germinate better by soaking them overnight in water prior to planting outdoors. Peas add nitrogen to the soil where they are growing, aid them in this process by rolling the water soaked seeds in a pea inoculant powder prior to planting the seeds in the ground. Inoculants are sold in garden centers
Using certified potato seeds for planting will reduce disease problems. Space 12 to 18 inches apart and cover with 3 inches of soil, adding more soil as they grow.
In many areas, fall-planted garlic has emerged and growing. It can handle cold and wet weather. But don’t let the area dry out and renew mulch often.
In the Landscape
A healthy lawn comes from early season care, especially for weeds.
Apply a pre-emergent product for grassy weeds like crab grass before early April.
Hand-dig perennial broadleaf weeds including dandelion, plantain and spurge in the lawn or landscape. Get them when they’re small and easier to pull.
. Often called meadow mice, voles create tunnels and runway systems through lawns and fields. Most damage occurs during winter under the protection of snow. They gnaw on tree bark or plant roots. Best controls are trapping, repellents, baits, fencing out and eliminating their habitat by mowing and tilling tall grass and weeds. Voles are non-game wildlife in Colorado.
Read more from Betty Cahill at gardenpunchlist .blogspot.com
Online:See local gardening technique and advice videos denverpost.com/dptv
