Early Season Gardening

 

I finished transplanting the last kale just before the big rain hit <3 perfect timing! 

I water a lot of my garden using "deep pots" - terracotta pots with their drainage holes plugged up, buried right alongside my transplants. The saucer or an old plate keeps the mosquitos out and the water in by preventing evaporation. With these, I just top off the pot once a week during the summer. During early season, it does help to overfill the pot so the soil around it is a little moist -- that makes is easier for the plant roots to seek out the pot. 

As you are getting ready to garden this year, be wary of working in your soil too early -- if you have clay soil like mine, it will be much too wet and cold. I am able to work in this bed because I have had it covered in plastic with quick hoops for a month or so. Even still, the soil was almost too wet and it is only warm enough for hardened off, frost hardy plants like this kale. 

Now that they are transplanted, I have the bed covered up again to protect them from the rough wind and rain. I will take it off on a week or two, depending on the forecasts. 

When you transplant in cold weather, the plants will have a harder time taking in nitrogen, even if the soil has plenty, because of the cold. Using a liquid nitrogen source, like a fish emulsion, will help the transplants get established.