Spring Gardening
by Linda Butler
Damp, cold soils can be a problem for gardens, especially if there is poor drainage. Also some gardens are shaded from nearby trees which creates a lack of sunlight.
Early gardening is best achieved used raised beds of eight to ten inches, and there should be good soil preparation with the addition of sand to increase drainage.
Not all vegetables can be started early, and this is a list of some vegetables that can be planted in cooler soil:
Broad Beans – These are the only bean that can be planted early, and they thrive in cooler soil temperatures and will mature before the weather becomes too warm.
Early Cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli - Early varieties will tolerate cool temperatures. Seedlings can be started indoors and transplanted. Brassicas (cabbage family) love lime, so dolomite lime can be added to the rows.
Lettuce - It prefers cool growing temperatures of between 10-15 deg C. Plants can be started from seeds indoors, or when the soil warms, planted directly into the ground. Leaf lettuce matures faster than head varieties. There is a good variety of leaf lettuces available, such as Buttercrunch and the red-leaf varieties. Lettuce plants prefer a high nitrogen soil, with plenty of compost.
Multiplier Onions - These give a quick green onion crop and can be planted at intervals throughout the spring for a continual crop. Bunching onions grown from seed, yeild a later crop.
Peas – They can be planted when the weather is cool and sown every couple weeks for a continual harvest and prefer a light loamy soil. Soil inoculants can be used. Sprinkle the dry granules of these live nitrogen-fixing bacteria over the seeds before you cover them up for both improved growth and increased yields. Sugar Snap peas, eaten for their pods, are sweet and tender.
Radishes - Another early crop that can be planted in well mulched soil with good drainage. Radishes split if the soil stays too wet, and they become pithy or woody if they do not receive enough moisture. To avoid maggot problems, rake wood ashes over the seed rows and never plant where brassicas (cabbage family) were grown the previous year.
