Planting March 2021 Planting and Chat Thread

packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Wow, can't believe we survived February!

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Planting Calendar - Gardening by the moon

This planting calendar helps you pick the best days for gardening tasks based a 200-year-old formula. Our readers swear by it! Learn more.
www.farmersalmanac.com www.farmersalmanac.com

  • 1st – 1st
    Fine for sowing grains, hay, and forage crops. Plant flowers. Favorable day for planting root crops.
  • 2nd – 3rd
    Start seedbeds. Good days for transplanting. Excellent time for planting root crops that can be planted now. Also good for leafy vegetables.
  • 4th – 5th
    Barren days, do no planting.
  • 6th – 8th
    Any root crops that can be planted now will do well.
  • 9th – 10th
    A barren period, best suited for killing plant pests. Do plowing and cultivating.
  • 11th – 12th
    Good for planting cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and other vine crops. Set strawberry plants. Good days for transplanting. Favorable days for planting beets, carrots, radishes, salsify, turnips, peanuts, and other root crops.
  • 13th – 15th
    Cultivate and spray, do general farm work, but no planting.
  • 16th – 17th
    Favorable for planting crops bearing yield above the ground.
  • 18th – 20th
    Seeds planted now tend to rot in ground.
  • 21st – 22nd
    Excellent for sowing seedbeds and flower gardens. Best planting days for aboveground crops, especially peas, beans, cucumbers, and squash where climate permits.
  • 23rd – 27th
    A most barren period, best for killing plant pests or doing chores around the farm
  • 28th – 29th
    Fine for sowing grains, hay, and forage crops. Plant flowers. Favorable days for planting root crops.
  • 30th – 31st
    Start seedbeds. Good days for transplanting. Excellent time for planting root crops that can be planted now. Also good for leafy vegetables.
 
Grouchy Granny

Grouchy Granny

Deceased
Sigh - I won't start any seedlings until the end of this month, only wish I could. Fortunately I have what is now known as a Garden window aka greenhouse window, so that's where they will go.

Need to get out on Saturday (supposed to be 63 or so) and get the asparagus stalks cut down that I didn't get to last fall.
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Grouchy Granny said:
Sigh - I won't start any seedlings until the end of this month, only wish I could. Fortunately I have what is now known as a Garden window aka greenhouse window, so that's where they will go.
Click to expand...

I'll start in a week or so, need to bring the seedling soil in and put it into buckets and get it wet so it'll be hydrated when it's time to start seeds. this year I have heating mats for my tray along with a thermostat. Somewhere around here I have a grow light.
 
Bps1691

Bps1691

Veteran Member
I've started some green onion and some storage onion in grow cups to be used as sets.

First thing that I will plant outside is seed potatoes, sweet peas, lettuce and spinach from seed. That won't be until Good Friday April 2nd. if the weather is decent. It's an old family tradition to do it and most years works out fine.

The week of March 8th I'll start my early Tomatoes, Cabbage and broccoli inside.

I've been hard pressed to keeping myself from starting my early tomatoes but it is just to soon based on our normal safe planting day for them in my AO.

Our average last frost date is May11-20. It usually takes until June to get good soil temperatures for most super sweet corn.
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Bps1691 said:
Our average last frost date is May11-20. It usually takes until June to get good soil temperatures for most super sweet corn.
Click to expand...

Our average late frost is the same time frame, but we tend to plan for Memorial Day weekend cause we've gotten hard frosts around that time frame.

I don't remember if we're zone 5a or 5b, however, a good dear friend told me when I first moved here to plan like I was growing in zone 3 and I'd never go wrong. She was correct on that one. We've gotten some real doozy of a snow storms in late April here, doesn't happen often but when it does good grief look out.
 
Bps1691

Bps1691

Veteran Member
packyderms_wife said:
Our average late frost is the same time frame, but we tend to plan for Memorial Day weekend cause we've gotten hard frosts around that time frame.

I don't remember if we're zone 5a or 5b, however, a good dear friend told me when I first moved here to plan like I was growing in zone 3 and I'd never go wrong. She was correct on that one. We've gotten some real doozy of a snow storms in late April here, doesn't happen often but when it does good grief look out.
Click to expand...

We're living in zone 5b. I grew up in zone 6a. There are at least a three weeks difference between the two zones.

Yep, I've gotten bit a couple of times by the cold weather here and a couple of times because even through I knew better, I got into a hurry and planted things to soon. Also in fall, I often try to get just one more crop of green beans and plant to late in August and end up losing the entire planting to frost about two weeks before I could have started picking them.

One year I got so ahead of myself that I had some of the leggiest tomato plants to set out you ever saw because I got in a hurry starting them inside. I've also had to replant sweet corn because I pushed it two weeks to early.

We've lived in this area for soon to be 47 years and you'd think I'd know better, but the urge to get the garden growing or to get just one more crop in the fall is hard for me to control.
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
when I put planting zones into google search and clicked on images to see the maps the charts are all over the place, the previous post seems to be an average. Wonder what it is for 2020, that one was from 16 years ago.
 
S

summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
Bps1691 said:
We're living in zone 5b. I grew up in zone 6a. There are at least a three weeks difference between the two zones.

Yep, I've gotten bit a couple of times by the cold weather here and a couple of times because even through I knew better, I got into a hurry and planted things to soon. Also in fall, I often try to get just one more crop of green beans and plant to late in August and end up losing the entire planting to frost about two weeks before I could have started picking them.

One year I got so ahead of myself that I had some of the leggiest tomato plants to set out you ever saw because I got in a hurry starting them inside. I've also had to replant sweet corn because I pushed it two weeks to early.

We've lived in this area for soon to be 47 years and you'd think I'd know better, but the urge to get the garden growing or to get just one more crop in the fall is hard for me to control.
Click to expand...
Dick Raymond's Joy of Gardening book was one of my main resources when I was first starting. He started out as a market gardener, with about 2 acres under cultivation. His advice, which I've pretty well followed over the years was, "if you aren't losing a part of your earliest or latest crops to frost, you are wasting some of your growing season". Now, granted: he was growing for profit, where the earliest sweetcorn or tomatoes bring premium prices, and he was addressing a time when seeds were cheap and plentiful.

For home use, we've found that planting the big main garden for maximum in-season production by playing it safe, and planting a few smaller raised beds in veggies for fresh eating on the "edges " of the season worked best.

We start tomatoes, peppers and celery March 10th. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts are started around the 20th. I presprout seeds for the vine crops about 5 days before planting (this lets me plant a single started plant in each "hill", rather than planting 4-5 seeds and then cutting the extras)

If my tomatoes get too leggy, I just dig a shallow trench, instead of a hole for the root ball. I nip off all branches on the plant except for the top cluster, and plant the entire stem. You have what looks like just a tiny plant... but it will put roots out all along the stem, and they do very well. If your area is very hot, or drought prone,dig a deep hole and bury the entire stem upright,... I use the trench method because it keeps the roots in the warmest zone, as we rarely have enough heat, much less too much!

Also... if you have late tomatoes which may not ripen before frost... when the plant is loaded with full sized green fruit, grab a pointed shovel. Use it to cut a SEMIcircle about 12" out from the stem of the plant. You are severing the roots. What this does is "scares" the plants...they worry they may die before they can produce viable seed, so the fruit ripens very quickly. It takes about a week to 10 days, so watch your weather as the growing season wanes...

Summerthyme
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
summerthyme said:
Dick Raymond's Joy of Gardening book was one of my main resources when I was first starting.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reminder, I bought a used copy of his book last year when it was mentioned here, I'm gonna pull it out of my to read pile and put it in the must read now pile!~
 
Bps1691

Bps1691

Veteran Member
summerthyme said:
Dick Raymond's Joy of Gardening book was one of my main resources when I was first starting. He started out as a market gardener, with about 2 acres under cultivation. His advice, which I've pretty well followed over the years was, "if you aren't losing a part of your earliest or latest crops to frost, you are wasting some of your growing season". Now, granted: he was growing for profit, where the earliest sweetcorn or tomatoes bring premium prices, and he was addressing a time when seeds were cheap and plentiful.

For home use, we've found that planting the big main garden for maximum in-season production by playing it safe, and planting a few smaller raised beds in veggies for fresh eating on the "edges " of the season worked best.

We start tomatoes, peppers and celery March 10th. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts are started around the 20th. I presprout seeds for the vine crops about 5 days before planting (this lets me plant a single started plant in each "hill", rather than planting 4-5 seeds and then cutting the extras)

If my tomatoes get too leggy, I just dig a shallow trench, instead of a hole for the root ball. I nip off all branches on the plant except for the top cluster, and plant the entire stem. You have what looks like just a tiny plant... but it will put roots out all along the stem, and they do very well. If your area is very hot, or drought prone,dig a deep hole and bury the entire stem upright,... I use the trench method because it keeps the roots in the warmest zone, as we rarely have enough heat, much less too much!

Also... if you have late tomatoes which may not ripen before frost... when the plant is loaded with full sized green fruit, grab a pointed shovel. Use it to cut a SEMIcircle about 12" out from the stem of the plant. You are severing the roots. What this does is "scares" the plants...they worry they may die before they can produce viable seed, so the fruit ripens very quickly. It takes about a week to 10 days, so watch your weather as the growing season wanes...

Summerthyme
Click to expand...
Yep, that sounds about like us.

Our main garden has been at my daughters place about 15 minutes from us. They have about 5 acres and we moved it there when it became to much for me to do by myself. It's our main source for the entire tribe and for canning.

In my old space I keep a much smaller garden than ever did before and also have several raised beds I still use. My areas are where I plant early and late. I also do a lot of the experiments here.

I always put my tomato plants in deep. I take off several of the bottom branches while leaving enough on the plant to survive.

Later on in the year I also trim the sappers off and make the plants focus on growing the branches that actually produce. If I have them when they are staying green and don't seem to want to ripen, I use my spade and cut some of the roots on one side to force them to start setting.

We split the starts between my daughter and me although I still do the majority of them. I work backwards off the date in our garden plan for the date we plan on planting that crop. We have a sun room and I also have glass covered beds outside in a protected area on the south side of a shed that we use in the spring to start some things, to harden others and again in the fall to keep things into the winter.
 
P

philkar

Veteran Member
summerthyme said:
Dick Raymond's Joy of Gardening book was one of my main resources when I was first starting. He started out as a market gardener, with about 2 acres under cultivation. His advice, which I've pretty well followed over the years was, "if you aren't losing a part of your earliest or latest crops to frost, you are wasting some of your growing season". Now, granted: he was growing for profit, where the earliest sweetcorn or tomatoes bring premium prices, and he was addressing a time when seeds were cheap and plentiful.

For home use, we've found that planting the big main garden for maximum in-season production by playing it safe, and planting a few smaller raised beds in veggies for fresh eating on the "edges " of the season worked best.

We start tomatoes, peppers and celery March 10th. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts are started around the 20th. I presprout seeds for the vine crops about 5 days before planting (this lets me plant a single started plant in each "hill", rather than planting 4-5 seeds and then cutting the extras)

If my tomatoes get too leggy, I just dig a shallow trench, instead of a hole for the root ball. I nip off all branches on the plant except for the top cluster, and plant the entire stem. You have what looks like just a tiny plant... but it will put roots out all along the stem, and they do very well. If your area is very hot, or drought prone,dig a deep hole and bury the entire stem upright,... I use the trench method because it keeps the roots in the warmest zone, as we rarely have enough heat, much less too much!

Also... if you have late tomatoes which may not ripen before frost... when the plant is loaded with full sized green fruit, grab a pointed shovel. Use it to cut a SEMIcircle about 12" out from the stem of the plant. You are severing the roots. What this does is "scares" the plants...they worry they may die before they can produce viable seed, so the fruit ripens very quickly. It takes about a week to 10 days, so watch your weather as the growing season wanes...

Summerthyme
Click to expand...
My mother prided herself on having fresh tomatoes for Thanksgiving dinner...that is a push even for the South. She would pick all of the large green tomatoes, place them in a brown paper bag, fold the top down, and place a paper clip on the top of the bag. The tomatoes form some sort of gas that helps ripen them. They were always delicious.
 
R

Rabbit

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I have a calendar hanging on the wall by my computer and a green Sharpie nearby. I put a green dot on every good planting day with an arrow pointing up, down or both, for above ground or root crops. I can see it at a glance.
 
M

Murt

Veteran Member
I would like to plant by the signs
however I seem to be planting when the ground gets dry enough to plant
I just planted a row of potatoes (about 80' long) last Sunday--it was barely dry enough and we got about 2" of rain Monday and Tuesday
I will try to get another row or two of potatoes in when it dries out enough--probably 4 or 5 more days
My onions (3 rows about 80' long) that I planted in November are looking very good
I have peppers started in pots that are a couple of inches tall and the tomatoes are just starting to sprout in the trays
 
TerriHaute

TerriHaute

Hoosier Gardener
Started onions, lettuce, celery, and peppers in the greenhouse about ten days ago, all are sprouted except the peppers. I cleaned up the raised beds and planted onion sets, various kinds of lettuce, and sugar snap peas today. Also moved aside the straw mulch on the strawberry bed, leaving it close enough to put back on if there is a very cold spell. I like to wait until the end of March to start tomatoes and flowers in the greenhouse.
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
TerriHaute said:
Started onions, lettuce, celery, and peppers in the greenhouse about ten days ago, all are sprouted except the peppers. I cleaned up the raised beds and planted onion sets, various kinds of lettuce, and sugar snap peas today. Also moved aside the straw mulch on the strawberry bed, leaving it close enough to put back on if there is a very cold spell. I like to wait until the end of March to start tomatoes and flowers in the greenhouse.
Click to expand...

Still have melted ice/snow pack on my raised beds and in most of my back yard.
 
Sherrynboo

Sherrynboo

Veteran Member
I got 12 tomato plants set out today, planted green beans, started some dwarf sunflower seeds in pots and planted two apple and two peach trees! Next planting day will get the cucumbers, peppers, corn and whatever else that needs to go in. I am loving this early spring!
 
M

Murt

Veteran Member
well I got another 75' row of potatoes planted today and I set out 6 tomato plants
I have some scion wood on the way so next week I will be grafting some of my fruit trees
 
dioptase

dioptase

Veteran Member
A few weeks ago I direct sowed radish, golden beet, and snow peas outside. Something ate half the radish greens and the beets are slow to emerge (those are under a critter tent), but the snow peas are doing fine.

Today, VERY belatedly (it should have been done a month ago), I finally got around to starting some seeds. I got my tomato and pepper seeds planted, but I was dismayed to discover that I either never received, or else misplaced, 1 pepper variety that I wanted to try ('Gypsy Queens', which is a dehybridized 'Gypsy'), and I also didn't have seeds for another pepper, 'Corno di Toro', which I always grow a couple plants of each year. (Usually I get those 2 plants from a nursery.) So, I just ordered the 'Gypsy Queens' (and a couple other seeds) for next year, and instead sowed 'Gypsy' and (new to me) 'Roumanian' pepper seeds. (I still have to go find a source for 'Corno di Toro', but as it stands I should have at least 11 pepper plants, which is a bit more than I have room for.)

I had previously ordered 4 tomato seedlings from Laurel's Heirloom Tomato Plants Heirloom Tomato Plants Organic Heirloom Tomato Plants,Tomato Seeds, Heirloom Tomato Seeds. , so one way or another (her seedlings fail or mine do), I will have enough tomato plants for our needs. (The next concern there is critter control; DH and I are battling over the best way to redesign and build more critter cages.)

I also started two 6-packs of lettuce (I don't have room for a large garden): 'Flashy Trout's Back' and 'Nancy'. I want to get a least one more 6-pack of lettuce started ('Butter Cos'), and if I am lucky (lots of things to do here) maybe also get the basil and some parsley started. That will about fill up my indoor plant stand.
 
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