Sunshine, increasing temperatures, warm rain showers, and the return of migratory birds are all signs that Spring is getting closer. They are all reasons to be excited about Spring and all the possibilities that the new gardening season will hold.
It’s always tempting to go out and start sowing seeds at the first glimpse of sunshine, but most seasoned gardeners know that patience is the best policy. It takes several weeks of warm air temperatures and sunshine for the soil temperature to get warm enough to signal the seeds to germinate. Mother nature provides mechanisms to protect seeds from germinating too early (called “seed dormancy”) and there are certain requirements that must be met before sprouting occurs.
Did you know that every seed has an optimum range of soil temperatures for germination? This factor helps determine which seeds are cool-season versus warm-season. Penn State Extension has a great article regarding Soil Temperature and Seed Germination that you should spend a few minutes reading.
Every time we plant a seed or baby plant in our vegetable garden we are hoping for the best outcome- a healthy crop and big harvest. Gardening success comes from learning about the needs of our crops and doing all we can to meet those needs. Climate change is causing us to think a little more deeply and holistically about those plant needs and our gardening practices.
In addition to making sure that plants have enough space, water, and healthy soil, we can alter how and where we plant our crops (“comfy places”) to help them adapt to increasing summer temperatures. We can also consider ways to expand or shift our food garden spots (“new spaces”) to better manage growing conditions and produce more food.
Here’s an oldie but goodie video introducing the simple steps for no-till gardening. Early spring is a good time to begin preparing your no-till gardening beds.
View this page on the HGIC website for more information.
Casting around for a topic to write on this month, I thought to look through my box of seeds (it’s a file box with hanging folders) to pick out a couple of plants that gardeners might not be considering as vegetable garden additions. I landed on two: cress and tomatillo. In most ways, they are opposites: cresses like cool weather while tomatillos thrive in the heat. Tomatillos are native to the Americas (Mexico, in particular) while the various cresses migrated over here with the help of European settlers, then went wild. The plants are very different in size and shape. And they taste different and are used differently in the kitchen, but I’d say they both add zest to your meals in a similar way.
Let’s start with cress. Or rather, with the cresses, since they belong to different species, though they’re similar in flavor. Most people have heard of watercress (Nasturtium officinale) and probably have eaten it, but it wouldn’t be my first choice for growing in your garden. It doesn’t actually require a flowing stream, but it does need a constant supply of water. I’ve been too daunted to try it myself.
However, there are several other types of cress that feature that same peppery crunch and are great additions to sandwiches, salads, or many other dishes. And they are easy to cultivate, as long as you remember to plant them in cool weather. They grow quickly, so there’s time to harvest a crop in spring or fall.
Look for seeds of plants in the species Barbarea verna or Lepidium sativum. They may be called garden cress, upland cress, peppergrass, or wrinkled crinkled cress. The leaves may be smaller or larger or differently shaped; they’re all good, so pick the one that’s available or most appealing to you. Plant in March (or September) either in good garden soil or in soilless mix in a container; they may take a while to germinate, so keep watering. Harvest at a few inches tall. If you like growing indoors, they make great microgreens. You could also try turning them into a ground cover around other plants. Discerning rabbits may enjoy them, but they are kind of spicy (the cresses, not the rabbits) so they might be left alone.
Garden cress (Lepidium sativum) as microgreens (Wikimedia Commons)
Moving on to tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica), which goes into your garden in mid-to-late May at the same time as peppers. They are cousins, as it happens, along with other members of the nightshade family like tomatoes and eggplant. Tomatillos are even more closely related to ground cherries, a.k.a. Cape gooseberries (they are neither a cherry nor a gooseberry), with which they share a genus and a cute little husk covering their fruit. Like other nightshades, they aren’t seeded directly in the garden, but started indoors or bought as transplants.
You may be familiar with tomatillos for making salsa verde, but not know how easy they are to grow. If you can grow tomatoes and peppers, you can grow tomatillos. A lot of people have tried and given up, though, including me once upon a time, because they don’t know that unlike other nightshades, tomatillos require (or at least strongly prefer) cross-pollination. You can’t grow just one plant; you have to grow at least two. That does take some space, since they are large plants, but if you can spare it, you’ll be rewarded with a massive harvest.
Any variety is fine, including your basic small green types. We grew a large-fruited green variety called Gulliver in the Derwood Demo Garden for several years, but I don’t see it listed for sale now; it appears to have been replaced by some other large types, which are worth trying. I’ve also enjoyed growing the purple ones, and a delicious yellow variety called Amarylla. Harvest when the fruit is filling up the husk. You can make various salsas with raw or cooked tomatillos, add them to salads or cooked dishes for a bit of zing, or (my favorite) roast them.
Roasted ‘Amarylla’ tomatillos
Tomatillos may be subject to some of the same pests as tomatoes, including flea beetles, stinkbugs and hornworms, and a few fungal diseases. They usually grow vigorously enough, given healthy soil and a bit of fertilizer, that you’ll still get a crop even with challenges. They are basically weeds.
If you have space, try tomatillos! If you don’t, you can fit in some cress anywhere.
By Erica Smith, Montgomery County Master Gardener. Read more posts by Erica.
Sphagnum peat moss is valuable in horticulture because its fibrous structure helps it retain a lot of water and air while draining excess water. This has made peat a primary ingredient of soilless growing media (potting mix) around the world. These stable, light-weight, and porous products have been filling the benches, flats, and containers of greenhouse and nursery operators and flower and vegetable growers for decades. You’d be hard-pressed to find a gardener who has not benefited from soilless potting mixes for starting and growing plants, inside and outside.
Peat-based growing mixes allow rapid germination and root growth, and healthy transplants.
What’s the problem with peat?
Peat is an organic substance formed from mosses, reeds, and sedges that accumulates and decomposes very slowly in waterlogged soils (bogs). Peatlands hold 30% of the earth’s soil carbon and occur mostly in cold, temperate regions. “Peat moss” used in horticulture typically refers to mosses in the Sphagnum genus.
The problem with peat is three-fold: stripping off peat from peatlands disturbs complex ecosystems; excavation releases enormous amounts of CO2, a major greenhouse gas driving climate change; and demand for peat-based soilless media is growing.
For decades, there have been calls to conserve the U.K.’s dwindling peatlands. Timelines are in place for soon phasing out peat as a growing media for gardeners and commercial growers. Most sphagnum peat is from Canada and there are no indications that Canada, with its vast peat reserves, will follow suit. But public demand for peat-free alternatives will drive the industry to develop new products.
Reducing the use of peat in horticulture will mitigate climate change and increase reliance on local materials as peat substitutes.
Backyard composting isn’t an option for everyone. If you live in an apartment or condominium, worm composting or vermicomposting is a simple and inexpensive method you can use indoors to turn food scraps into compost for your houseplants or garden. Composting food scraps keeps organic waste out of landfills and reduces climate-warming gas emissions too.
In this video, Master Gardener Susan Levi-Goerlich demonstrates how to set up a basic vermicomposting system at home.
Visit the Home & Garden Information Center website for additional information on indoor worm composting.
I have ordered (and received) my seeds! I may end up with more, at seed swaps and from friends, but I’ve made the basic purchases to fill in needs. For the first time in ages, I didn’t order any tomato seeds–I know, shock, horror–but I still have plenty and I’m going to cut back on the number of tomato plants this year in favor of peppers and other summer crops. Will everything I’m thinking of planting actually fit, either in my community garden plot or in containers at home? Only time will tell.
Anyway, I thought I’d give you all a glimpse into the reasons I chose a few of the plants I plan to grow. Below I will profile Amara Ethiopian Kale, Yellow Cabbage Collards, Dario Cocozelle Zucchini, Zipper Cream Cowpeas, and Nadapeño Peppers. I’ll link to the companies I ordered them from so you can read more, but doing so is not an endorsement by University of Maryland Extension.
