I Got the Raised Bed Blues!

Man oh man, will it ever get warm outside? First, Al Gore comes out with a warning everyone about global warming and then wham, much of the northern hemisphere gets the coldest winter on record. Go figure.

Every winter about this time (late February), I get a bit antsy to plant something in the raised bed area out back. This year, the urge is even more intense due to the cold weather and possibly to the economic times. This year, it’s even more important for many of us to plant vegetables for the dinner table. I got a feeling that, baring a miracle, prices will continue to rise at the grocery store. There was an article on the internet that told about how some grocery chains were hurting due to customers swarming in for the discounted deals while leaving everything else alone. I can’t say I blame them either. I’ve been doing the same thing lately myself.

So, while I’m waiting for Mother Nature to warm herself up, I’m going to have to be content myself with planting starter plants indoors. My first effort about three weeks ago went for naught as it was still too cold, even in the cold frames. However, now that the temperatures are routinely getting up to fifty, I think I’ll give it another go.

First on my list of early starts will be as much lettuce in the form of romaine as I can handle. This year I will be using seed that was purchased in 2009 and which has spent the winter in the fridge. Most seeds will store just fine if you can remember to keep them away from moisture and in a cool spot. I’m still getting ninety percent germination rates from this last batch. So far so good.

Next, once the seeds have germinated I will get them into the cold frames just as soon as possible. By doing this, I will prevent one of the major causes of disappointment for gardeners…loss of production due to environmental checks. Romaine plants are very cold hardy and will easily survive below freezing temps as long as they have had a chance to harden off and get established in the earth.

Other good candidates for early starts are radish seed (plant these directly into the cold frame for an early harvest), spinach and any other cole crop you might want to try. Just make sure to coddle the young plants for the first couple to three weeks before hardening them off. I’ll post an update as soon as I have some plants ready to go.