{"id":1930,"date":"2011-03-16T11:27:07","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T17:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=1930"},"modified":"2012-11-23T16:37:45","modified_gmt":"2012-11-23T23:37:45","slug":"the-plants-of-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/the-plants-of-march\/","title":{"rendered":"The Plants of March"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Southwest Idaho climate allows for a variety of plantings IF the gardener times it correctly throughout the seasons.\u00a0<\/strong> For instance, I have already planted peas, lettuce, and spinach in the early weeks of March.\u00a0 The peas and spinach prefer to sprout and grow at lower temperatures than things like squash, tomatoes, and beans.\u00a0 These cool weather vegetables still won’t germinate until the temperatures are consistently\u00a0 enough like spring, however the young plants can handle some light frost.\u00a0 Plus, the peas and spinach will likely not<\/em> produce well in the heat of the summer, which we definitely have here.\u00a0 In the summer, the peas will tend to just turn brown and die; the spinach will bolt practically before it produces edible leaves.\u00a0 Some lettuce varieties hold up to the heat better, like Crispino, available from Johhnys Selected Seeds<\/a>, but for most lettuces it is difficult to keep them watered enough so that their leaves don’t turn bitter.<\/p>\n

A bit of research turned up a couple of good articles that explain the chemistry of all of this.<\/strong>\u00a0 What Determines Cold Hardiness in Plants.Harvard.3.2011<\/a> is a succinct paper on the subject, written by an associate professor at Harvard.\u00a0 Another article deals more with how woody plants survive freezing temps<\/a>, but the information is pertinent to a general understanding of plants dealing with weather. The website howplantswork.wordpress.com<\/a> looks like it has a lot of information I’m interested in.<\/p>\n

I’m going back to planting a familiar old-fashioned shelling pea this year.<\/strong>\u00a0 (I’ve tried snow peas and sugar snap peas, but don’t care for chewing the pods.)<\/em>\u00a0 I soaked the seeds in water for a few hours, then got out my inoculant.\u00a0 I have always used a powdered form<\/a> before, which was mixed with the damp seeds before planting.\u00a0 The inoculant that I purchased at D&B this year was granular, so only needed to be sprinkled over the seeds in their trench prior to covering them.\u00a0 I should have read the directions first…but I figured it out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The seed packet said to plant them in a 3 inch band, seeds about 1 to 2 inches apar<\/strong>t.\u00a0 I probably ended up with a 5 inch band, like usual.\u00a0 Since I like to fill my raised beds with vegetable plants, leaving less room for weeds, my only real concern is that the plants are not too crowded for their own growth or for picking.\u00a0 I use short wire fencing for a sort of trellis for the plants to climb up some and lean against.\u00a0 (The green on the other side of the fencing is leeks that over wintered.\u00a0 Two days ago, I used a few of those in a nice chicken soup.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After tamping down the inch layer of soil, the soaker hose is put back in place and the waiting begins<\/strong>.\u00a0 I don’t generally have to do any watering this time of year, the spring rains being sufficient.<\/p>\n

I’m also looking forward to my first lettuce.<\/em>\u00a0 I started with three kinds in double rows, two green ones with a red one in the middle.\u00a0 It should be pretty to look at.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, besides caring for my adorable pepper seedlings, my mind is churning with plans for what comes next, everything from finishing pruning my fruit trees to getting ready to plant things like broccoli and onions in a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Southwest Idaho climate allows for a variety of plantings IF the gardener times it correctly throughout the seasons.\u00a0 For instance, I have already planted peas, lettuce, and spinach in the early weeks of March.\u00a0 The peas and spinach prefer to sprout and grow at lower temperatures than things like squash, tomatoes, and beans.\u00a0 These […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1930"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}