March into Spring Gardening
March into Spring Gardening
It’s mid March here in Morris County, New Jersey and warmer temperatures are on the horizon which means it’s time to start thinking about your home garden. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or a newly emerging one, it’s always a good idea to start your Spring planting with a little know-how and we’re here to… Read More »
It’s mid March here in Morris County, New Jersey and warmer temperatures are on the horizon which means it’s time to start thinking about your home garden. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or a newly emerging one, it’s always a good idea to start your Spring planting with a little know-how and we’re here to help!
Now is the time to start planting cold loving plants outdoors. As soon as the soil is tillable you can start planting cold loving or cold tolerant plants in your garden. Tillable soil refers to when the ground has thawed and you can easily move soil with a rake or shovel. These plants are ready to go outdoors a few weeks before the average last spring frost date allowing you to get a jump start on your planting. Cold tolerant plants include Cole crops such as; broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, swiss chard and collards. Also included are other hearty veggie crops such as onions & leeks, sugar snap peas, herbs such as parsley & cilantro, lettuces, arugula, spinach. Flowering plants that are cold tolerant are pansies, violas, tulips, daffodils, and ranunculus. All of these veggie and flowering transplants are now available in our farm store and you can choose from individual cells or purchase them by the flat.
If you started your plants from seeds, a general rule of thumb is that your seedlings are ready to plant outdoors when it contains 3-4 larger leaves and they have been hardened off. Want to learn more about hardening off your seedlings? Read our digging into spring blog here.
Warm season veggies such as tomatoes, peppers and beans are traditionally planted outside when the dangers of frost are gone. In this area of NJ that means typically mid-May. We will begin to have those heat loving plants available for sale in our market as we get closer to planting season for those plants.
If you stop in today, our farm store is stocked with the cool season veggies so you can take advantage of this warmer weather to start your garden to enjoy all the pleasures of growing your own vegetables, herbs while adding beauty to your home with flower landscaping. We are happy to help guide you in your journey, feel free to email us your questions info@alstedefarms.com
Best wishes from our farm to yours! Xo
