Ready to plant?

Pam's Planting Plan
Now you have your seeds and are getting ready to plant. So how do you plant seeds anyway?

When you plan to plant your plants, planting can take some planning. Got that?

For example, how many seeds do I plant? How close to each other? How deep and how soon.
Always read the seed packets, there is lots of information there.

Let's start with how many seeds to plant. Radishes, lettuce, carrots, spinach and cress should be as thick as you would use salt or pepper. They shouldn't be overlapping but should be about 1/4 inch apart. I like to plant all of these plants in a 18" wide row. That will make the most of your space. Leave room to walk around the 'rows' or try two 10" rows with 24" or 36" between the rows.

Beets, beans and peas can be planted in a wide row too, or you can trellis the peas and beans. Plant beets and beans about 1/2 inch apart. I plant my peas much thicker, actually don't tell anyone, but I plant my peas so thick you can't see the ground. This year I am going to try to trellis my beans and peas. I will use a net wire fence and plant on both sides of the fence.

Planting peppers, tomatoes, califlower and cabbage are a little different. I plant peppers about 1 foot apart, tomatoes, califlower and cabbage about 2 feet apart.

A rule of thumb is plant the seed at a depth of three times the size of the seed. So if you are planting carrots or lettuce that is 1/8 of an inch thick, only cover it with 3/8 of an inch of soil. Peas are 1/4 of an inch, so plant them 3/4 of an inch deep. A note about peas, plant them thicker than it recommends on the packet. Peas are self fertilizing so they can be planted much thicker.

Cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and watermelon can be planted in rows about 36" apart. They should be planted in groups called hills. I plant 3 to 4 seeds per hill and then when the plants are about 3 inches tall, thin to the best 2 plants. A note about thinning, don't pull the plants up, pinch them off or trim with sissors. Then the roots of the remaining plants won't be disturbed.

Now the million dollar question, when to plant. You can plant by the moon, middle of May, after Memorial Day, or the first of June. Your guess is as good as mine. I usually plant all of my garden around the 20 of May, this year I will plant around the 29th of May.

This Spring has been a cool wet one and if a garden is planted too early it won't grow too quickly. The ground needs to be warm before the seeds and plants can grow with vigor. Plant early if you want, but notice the same plants planted later usually mature just as fast. I can remember planting potatoes in March and they did just fine, but with a wet Spring you take the chance of seeds rotting in the cold wet ground.