October 27, 2016
By trial and error
I have discovered two sowing dates that provide me with great
success.
The first is with
snow peas. Sowing peas in the middle of October provides ample
harvests starting in March and if mother nature behaves herself the
harvest continues into May. Because the soil can be too warm I
germinate the seeds before sowing. A second sowing of germinated
seeds in December (soil is too cool for seeds to germinate) will
extend the harvest even further. Spring harvest duration depends
solely on how hot our spring is. Peas become very unhappy when
temperatures get above 85 degrees.
When the soil is
too warm the seeds rot before they can germinate. I have mentioned
that germinated seeds will grow in warmer or cooler soil than what
they will germinate in. Different seeds have preset temperatures at
which they easily germinate. Once the seeds have germinated these
preset temperatures no longer apply. The genetics of survival kicks
in and the plant grows. Of course this does have it limitations.
This sowing date
came about when I would try to make a late summer sowing.
Observations pointed out that two things happened : terrible
germination and the peas would start to flower just as the winter
freezes hit. Covered pea vines do not mind freezing but the flowers
will drop like flies. Hence the later sow date (October) allows the
peas to over winter as seedlings and explode into growth around the
middle of February, of course if mother nature behaves.
The next sow date is
the first of November, this is when I plant garlic cloves and sow my
bulb onion seeds. The garlic can be planted earlier but I just like
to plant my allium's all at one time. It helps concentrate the
harvest.
This sow date is
critical for the onions. The goal is to have the onion seedlings
remain less than 1/4 inch. A 1/4 inch seedling or larger will bolt
when warm weather returns. The seedling thinks it has gone through 2
years and will try to flower. Harvested early enough these guys can
be eaten as green onions.
I grow the onions in
a dense seed bed until early March when they are transplanted to
their maturing bed and then harvested in June.
One last note on
onions / garlic, during the winter are extremely hardy and can take
the coldest of weather. Once they begin to grow in the spring, one of
our notorious cold snaps can freeze some of the lower leaves. I like
to cover my allium's with a single layer of fabric to protect them
for the duration of the cold snap , then I quickly remove it.
Each leaf that
freezes is either a clove or a onion ring. This can very easily
effect the size of your onions or garlic
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