Hi! This is Dan Drost, retired USU Vegetable specialist.
Spring is finally here and the days are getting longer. I planted my early garden during that warm spell that we had in mid-March. I got lettuce and spinach and greens, peas and radishes in the ground before we had those storms. I'm just waiting to see signs of growth. Should happen any day now. I was sure happy about that warm weather.
I'm now getting ready to transplant broccoli and cabbage around mid-April. If you didn't seed your onions wait until around April 15 to transplant onions. These plants don't like the cold and will often bolt if set out too early. I'm also going to plant some Early Girl tomatoes around May 1.
I built myself a low tunnel. I'll put black plastic mulch down underneath the plants, cut a hole in that and then put a clear plastic over the top. I recycle my trash bags to act as that black mulch and just use some cheap plastic over the top. That works really well.
You've got to kind of watch the temperatures inside those things, though. It might get too warm on certain days so venting is important. You can wrap that plastic also around a tomato cage or hot wire hoops to make the same type of structure.
I'm looking forward to getting some fresh tomatoes by early July. The Early Girls will help with that.
So until next month this is Dan Drost, wishing you happy gardening.
