The Modern Victory Garden

March is a trying month in the gardening year.   The beginnings of the season are underway but the dangers of pushing too close to the “season extending edge” is high.   Even worse, the temptation to do so is fed by the dearth of fresh harvests offered up from a winter weary garden.   After a long dark season of living largely off of preserved and stored items and winter garden harvests composed largely of root crops - the lure of fresh spring greens is strong.                           

I use season extending tricks on both ends of the growing season, early spring and late fall, but I am most aggressive with the spring season.   An old gardening friend of mine (who had tremendous experience to back up his advice) once told me that if I did not lose at least a few plants in the spring and fall that I was not pushing the season extending process nearly hard enough.   This year I feel like I am living close to the season extending edge - but so far have not pushed beyond it.    The question then is…am I really pushing the season extension to the real limits?         

Last weekend, I posted about prepping the garden for a forecasted cold snap (a typical March occurrence).   The forecasts turned out to be quite accurate and the next day we had temperatures drop almost 20 degrees below the highs and lows we had been experiencing for the preceding many weeks.    Much of the garden was already protected but I covered up the freshly planted onions, kale, cabbages, and pac choi.   The Merlot lettuce (seeds from Dan at the Urban Veggie Garden Blog) were also transplanted last weekend, but placed in a container that is currently residing in the unheated greenhouse.   Tonight after work, I did a quick inspection of everything to see how all of the plantings were doing.   I am pleased to report that everything is looking quite sturdy and unaffected by the colder conditions.   The spinach patch has newly emerged seedlings and they are growing and getting substantial enough that they are now clearly visible growing in the garden bed.   The kale, cabbages, and pac choi are clearly recovered from the transplanting and are looking sturdier than the day I set them out and the onion seedlings are similarly looking just fine.   The Merlot lettuces looked a little limp immediately after I transplanted them on Sunday, but they looked quite perky this evening despite the decided chill.           

The super early tomatoes (Siletz) have graduated to the unheated greenhouse during the day and are enjoying a daily trip into the house at night for protection.   The daytime temps the past three days have been quite chill but they seem to be thriving on this regimen despite that.   They continue to put on new growth and are starting to harden up from the constant handling and exposure to colder conditions.   Here’s a picture of them this evening sitting on top of our wood stove (no worries – there is no fire in the stove tonight!).   Sorry the pictures tonight are not as clear as usual but evening indoor shots without a flash tend to be a little more “fuzzy” and lower quality.               

There is always a runt or two in every crop of tomatoes and peppers each year.   I call them my Charlie Brown plants because like the pathetic little Christmas tree in the Peanuts Christmas special – all they really seem to need is just a little extra TLC to live up to their potential.   The littlest super early tomato (on the right in the picture) is one of those little characters.   He is lagging behind his brothers but not failing – just not thriving like they are.   All the plants have been exposed to the same conditions, same care, but you can see that there is quite a difference between them in growth.   It’s really a mystery why this regularly occurs.   I suppose it is just a product of that plant’s genetic inheritance?      

I have yet to lose anything this year as a result of pushing the season extension too far.   I shouldn’t really admit that though, because as soon as I do I know something will go sufficiently wrong to prove me quite premature in my declaration!   Gardens and children have a keen ability for keeping us humble on a regular basis.

How are you doing in managing through the usual March madness?