In The Garden with Judy- Week 3
Spring is a fickle friend here in Colorado. We woke up to ½” of snow on the ground this morning. Since everything currently sowed outside is a cool season crop, nothing was affected much by the late chilly weather. The arugula, lettuce, mustard, snap peas, and spinach seedlings simply shrugged the snow off as the morning sun melted it, and the violas and pansies looked downright perky after their shivery night. Pansies seem to be a little more durable and even longer lasting than the violas. People often don’t realize just how tough they are through cold weather!
The extra moisture from the snow can help kick-start the growth of tender spring crops almost as well as rain. The only downside to this late light snow shower was that it was another sign that it’s still too early to plant some of the warm season crops outside. Our pepper and tomato plants are still huddled under grow lights in the office, even though we’re just days away from the average last frost date. Until the weather forecast shows some consistent warmer weather, they’ll just have to hunker down indoors.
Once the snow melted this morning, I was able to do a little thinning. On our arugula packets, we recommend sowing seeds 1″ apart, then thinning to 6″ apart after they are ½” tall. This is ideal spacing to get mature plants that don’t compete with each other for water and nutrients. But, sometimes, I sow seed more thickly, so I can get a fast crop of tender young leaves. Of course, this requires me to be more ‘cruel’ when thinning. A row of tightly packed arugula seedlings will produce a lot of foliage, but it will be a lot more productive if I gently pull out or snip out enough seedlings to make sure they are no closer than 1″ apart. This means I am sacrificing a lot of seedlings. They’re pretty small right now—only about ½” to 1″ tall. But, even this young, the thinnings will make a tasty addition to salads. It’s easy to put them in a strawberry basket and rinse the soil off. Then, you can top a salad with them that day or save them in the fridge to eat in a day or two. In another week or two, I’ll go back and thin this crop again, and have even more salad fare after a little ruthless plucking.
In the flower borders, I thought I’d share some photos of some of my favorite spring blooming plants. The white Candytuft and gold Alyssum are in full bloom right now. They make a smashing combination and really brighten up the spring garden. The blue Forget Me Nots are also making a lovely show with their intense blue color. I have huge mound of perennial Oriental Poppies that are just now getting pods. Next week, I may have some show-stopping blooms to show you.