This post has been generously shared, in its entirety, by Love Apple Farms, a wonderful organic and biodynamic farm in Santa Cruz. Check them out and attend one of their classes or enjoy the fruits of their labor at Manresa Restaurant.
Originally published January 24, 2012
There are lots of things to do in your garden in late January and early February. Here are a few ideas:
1. This is a great time to lay out some new beds or regenerate old beds. Double digging ensures plant roots have the best possible environment. Planting beds should be light and fluffy so that young roots can easily push through the soil. We've got a tutorial on double digging, if you're interested in learning.
2. Start seeds of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants now. These heat-seaking summer plants need a long lead time to get going, so now is the time to start them. Sow seeds in a drainable tray in great potting soil, such as Gardner & Bloom's Blue Ribbon Premium Potting Soil. Lightly cover with 1/4" of soil and keep moist on top of a heat mat until they sprout. The heat mat should be set to warm the soil between 70 and 80 degrees and you should get good germination of both tomatoes and peppers within a week, 10 days tops. Heat mats are available at most good nurseries. Be careful when using a human-type home heating pad, as they are not water proof and tend to super heat the soil.
If you'd like more tips and tricks on how to start seeds properly (because it IS a bit more involved than that!), consider taking our Growing Tomato Transplants from Seed class, or Growing Peppers and Eggplants from Seed class this Saturday. We let students bust into our extensive seed banks and sow a tray of their own to take home to tend.
3. Start a late winter/early spring vegetable garden. You can get lots of interesting things growing RIGHT NOW. Root veggies can be sown directly in a well-prepared bed (double dug, fertilizer and compost added and raked smooth), lightly covered with soil and kept moist until they sprout. Thin them down so that each root receives a couple inches of space all around it. You can do the same with greens: mustards, lettuces, spinaches, kales, mizunas are all capable of being sown now outside or in a tray and then transferred outside. These fast growing, cool weather plants can be feeding you and your family before summer kicks in. Learn how to do this successfully (and sow a tray of seeds to take home) in our Early Spring Vegetable Gardening class on February 5th or the 25th.
4. Keep on top of winter weeds. Don't let them take over your garden. They steal nutrients, light and air away from your other plants. And particularly don't let them go to seed and become an even bigger problem. We've got a blog post about winter weed control, so check it out if you need some help in that department.
5. Don't let your garden dry out too much in this weird winter we're having. The California Bay Area had no precipitation in the month of December, and watering their garden or landscape plantings wasn't on many people's radar. But a dehydrated plant is more more frost sensitive than their well-watered brethren. It sounds counter-intuitive, but a plant that has water in it is more insulated from the cold, and can ward off frost damage more efficiently. So if we go too long without another episode of rain, check your plants for watering.
6. Start a compost pile. If this is your garden down-time of year, and you don't have a compost pile yet, consider putting something up that is quick, easy, and inexpensive. We use free wooden pallets to make our piles. We just twine four pallets together, place some twigs and branches in the bottom for additional airflow, and start adding layers of green (nitrogen based) plant trimmings and kitchen waste with brown layers (dried leaves, straw, newspaper, torn cardboard). You'll have some good looking compost come summer time. If you'd like to sharpen your compost-making skills (and learn about keeping worms as well), our first Compost & Vermiculture class is on April 7. Come play in the dirt with us out at the farm and see how we build a compost pile from scratch.
7. Plant a bare root fruit tree or two. This is the time of year to get a fruit tree in the ground. Although they look spindly at the nursery, trees such as cherry, apple, apricot, peach, pear and plum love to be planted now. Just be mindful of how big they will get and where they will cast their shade, as you don't want to end up with a too-shady garden spot for your vegetable plantings. We can teach you all about fruit trees in our February 19 class.
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