Tips from the Potting Bench

Happy Imbolc!  Are you feeling it, this weather sure does bring it on? It’s that mid-winter feeling of spring, that’s Imbolc. We are halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, the days are getting longer and the first stirrings of new life are quickening. In fact, once the daylight reaches 10 hours all the plants begin to awaken from their winter’s slumber. So it’s time to get out and garden. On February 2 we will experience 10 hours, 19 minutes and 21 seconds of official daylight. This is the time from sunrise to sunset; this information is available at timeanddate.com.

In the garden it is time to direct seed carrots and beets, garlic and shallots, and peas, peas, peas! We will be planting our second round this coming week! Just be sure to water the seeds in well since we aren’t getting much rain. I may even take a gamble and plant some really early potatoes. It’s best to wait until the end of the month and into March for potatoes, but I’m willing to bet this gorgeous weather will dominate late winter and spring.

It is also time to prune your fruit trees and berries and get an application of dormant oil sprayed on them. We are also weeding and preparing our garden beds for planting later on. If you have cover cropped it’s time to make a first cutting, remember if you let it get too tall it is really hard to cut and incorporate into the soil. If you have no cover crop it would be beneficial to add an inch or two or three of good compost to the garden. If we do in fact have an early spring all the prep work you do now is going to save you time later.

It is also time to start your seeds inside. As with all things timing really is everything. Too early and the plants get root bound and leggy, too late and you may not get as big a yield as you would like. Each variety of veggie has an optimum planting out date, each variety grows at its own pace, some are quick to grow and others need more time. There are some really great planting charts available on-line. Johnny’s Select Seeds has a good one and many other seed companies have this information available on their web sites. The Farmer’s Almanac site is fun and full of information, they are at almanac.com/gardening/planting-dates. There is a really great one at, yougrowgirl.com/2006/03/31/the-lazy-gardeners-seed-starting-chart/. Each of the charts ask you to enter your average last spring frost date and gives you the number of weeks before it to start each variety of seed. The chart at yougrowgirl.com is automated so that when you enter your last frost date it automatically calculates the dates you should start each variety inside. These charts are generic for the entire country and specific to our climate, so use them as a guideline and I’ll try to keep you updated with what to do in our area. Oh, and our last frost date down in the valley is April 15th, if you are over on the coast it’s March 15^th and for those of you up in the hills it varies by elevation. Your best bet is to ask an old timer!

The last frost date is not an exact date.  The average last frost date is not the last frost date; it is an average of all the dates from previous years. So there is possibility of frost after that date. These dates are guidelines to help you not laws you must follow in making decisions about when do to what. Also remember that in our geographic area there are many micro-climates caused by elevation, large bodies of water, location on a north or south facing slope, wind patterns and more. It isn’t a bad idea to get to know some of the old timers in your area and ask them when they plant. Just use common sense and intuition and know that nothing is ever certain.

Now is the time to start tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, artichoke, broccoli, celery, chicory, kale, kohlrabi, chard, lettuce, onions, Brussels sprouts, spinach, leeks, cauliflower, cabbage and cilantro. These should all be started indoors with heat mats and lights, more on that next week.

As always, if you have any questions we are happy to help out contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or come join us on Facebook, just search for Flying Blue Dog Farm and Nursery.