Hi, this is Dan Drost, retired vegetable specialist.
I hope you took some time to get your vegetable garden started in March. The weather was really good, and lots of things are really growing nicely.
I planted lots of greens in my cold frame, and these are all up and growing nicely. My transplanted lettuce, kale, spinach, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts are growing like crazy as well.
It's amazing what some sunshine and warm weather will do even in March. April, however, is the traditional time to start the vegetable garden.
April is a good time to seed those cool season vegetable crops like radishes, spinach, lettuce, and chard.
Transplant onions and shallots, cabbage, broccoli, and other brassica crops. Peas should be in the ground as well.
Many of you will probably be out buying plants rather than growing them, like I did this year.
So when you're out looking for plants, look for ones that have healthy leaves. Generally, four to five true leaves are best.
Then, pull them up and look at what the root system looks like. If it seems to be matted and root-bound, those are older plants and probably don't grow nearly as well.
Watch out for these. If you buy the better plants, you'll be very productive.
Add some compost and manure to the garden site or a complete garden fertilizer. Follow the labeled recommendations on the bags of these to make sure that you provide sufficient nutrients for good plant growth.
Water those transplants after you put them in the ground, and then keep an eye on them and water them as necessary.
If the weather is warmer — like it's been in late March, I watered a little bit more regularly than I normally would have —watch the weather and just wait for things to grow.
If you need more information on vegetable gardening, go to the USU Extension website and look at all the gardening information that's available.
So with that information, I'll talk to you again in May.