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Getting ready for spring [1]

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Date: 2023-03-04

I live in the Kansas City, MO area and I started my garden (indoors) about 2 weeks ago. What I have found that works best for me are peat pellets. You can buy a 10 X 20 tray with 72 peat pellets already in slotted holes. I use some of the old trays and buy new peat pellets and insert them into the old tray- saves some money.

On the right side you will see 4 peat

pellets as they come. In the tray are the pellets that have had water

added. They increase in size and have a hole to drop the seed into. I keep a small amount of water in the bottom of the tray which keeps the pellets moist for germinating seed. I have found that most of my seeds will germinate in 3 or 4 days if kept at room temperature. The tray will get sufficient sunlight if kept in a south window. I have a rack which has two shop lights, I have one with a warm tube and the other with a cool light. The two of them gives light equivalent to sunlight. I have had these for several years now and will replace with LED shop lights systems now available.

The picture at the heading of this article are some of my plants that are about two weeks old. I have them on a chrome rack with wheels attached. I have them outdoors and when the temperature is supposed to drop below freezing, I will wheel the entire rack into my garage. Here in KC, the first of March usually will give us most days above freezing. If you are only doing a tray or two, you will find that a south window will provide sufficient light for the starter plants.

On the first day of March, I started a garden spot for a friend of mine. I began by putting down a single layer of corrugated

cardboard. On top of the cardboard, I put compost. I allowed about 3- 50 lb sacks for each 32 square feet (size of a 4X8 sheet of plywood). I used my rake to spread the compost evely over the surface. The only tools I use are the rake and a trowel. I then broadcast a mix of oats, turnips, daikon radishes and dunlop peas. I expect to have turnips and peas in about 60 days when it will be time to plant tomato plants. The reason for the mix is it is a cover crop mix. The turnips and radishes will break through the cardboard and the peas will add nitrogen to the soil. The oats will provide mulch as well as scavenger nitrogen in the soil to keep it from being washed away. The radishes are also editable and can be cooked like turnips. When I have harvested what I want, I will then lay a sheet of plywood (cut to a size I can handle 3X4?) and lay it on the existing crop. This will break off the stems and terminate the crop making mulch to feed the worms in the soil, to prevent weeds from sprouting and conserve moisture.

Then using my trowel, I will be able to plant my tomatoes. Except I won’t.

The cardboard placed on the grass lawn will smother out the grass. The crops broadcast will root down into the soil providing food for the living organisms. I do everything I can to prevent disturbing the soil. When I plant my tomatoes, I will lay a foot square of cardboard on the mulch. On that square, I will lay the leaf part of the tomato. this will keep that part of the tomato off the ground. Over the roots and stem, I will lay another square of cardboard, paper or even a layer of mulch. Something will be needed to keep it from blowing away. The tomato will root under this covering. You will want to keep this part moist.

The best tomatoes I ever had were planted this was on bare grass.

We are not through!

In a couple of weeks, I will plant some of my lettuce plants already started in the trays above. Where the cover plants have sprouted, I will space out spots probably about a foot apart and there put in the plants. I will barely move the dirt and what plants that have started and put in the lettuce plants. I will mound a small amount of compost so that their roots are covered.

One more thing!

Before I terminate the cover crop, I will spread green bean seed in a wide row around the edges of the plot. When I terminate the cover crop, the mulch formed will be sufficient to cover the beans and a crop will develop while the tomatoes are growing. The beans provide nitrogen for the tomatoes. They will mature soon enough for you to plant your cover crop this fall. But that is another article.

This is a quick way to start a garden. The more compost you can spread at the beginning will help. I will have another article on fertilizing.

Spread the word about what Daly kos has to offer. Copy the address and post on your social media account. Follow me on my Regenerative Agriculture column here on Daily Kos

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