Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Good Friday is the Friday before Easter. Traditionally we plant potatoes on Good Friday. It all has to do with the waning moon, the almanac says to plant root crops in the waning moon. So this week I planted potatoes and I encourage you to do the same.
  With warm weather in the near term forecast, tomorrow I'll plant beets and carrots. Some of our gardeners soak beet seeds for a day prior to planting, it seems to aid germination. Carrot seeds look a lot like grass seed and would be difficult to presoak. If you want to help carrot seeds get started, plant the seed as directed, then cover the soil with several layers of newsprint. Keep the newspaper moist and that keeps the soil and seeds moist. After a few days, remove the newspaper and the carrot seedlings will emerge. Otherwise, keep the soil moist to help the carrot seeds sprout.
   I'm also planting peas now. Peas also respond nicely to soaking for a day or two prior to planting. Peas like to climb so provide a trellis for them to grow upon.
   Like a lot of you, I'm impatient to plant some of the warm season crops. The garden centers are flush with peppers and tomatoes. We are still a few weeks from last normal frost so wait for the warm season crops. Waiting will prevent worry about late frosts but more importantly, the soils will continue to warm. If you watch, tomatoes planted in two weeks will easily catch up with tomatoes planted this weekend.
  I'll be at the garden tomorrow, the 31st at 1 pm to talk gardening. Stop in and say hello.
 

  A few words of explanation are certainly in order concerning our website. Two years ago we started using a new website host not realizing this particular hosted site was still active. Consequently, some of you were still on this hosted website and some of our gardeners migrated to the new hosted website. The sites are nearly identical. We are in the process of closing the other webhosted site and everyone should be back on these pages soon.
  To which I say to those of you that stayed here, good to be back with you. And for those of you migrating from the other hose, welcome home. I particularly like this hose, the blog that you are reading is more interactive, if you have questions you can post them here and I can respond.
  So I'll keep the gardening blog posts coming and you can write back as you like.

  Like most of you I'm impatient to get started planting the garden. After the warm temperatures we had in February I was thinking (wrongly) that maybe, just maybe, we would enjoy an early spring. My broccoli and cabbage seedlings were outgrowing the basement light racks so I staged them in the hoop house to harden off. When I saw a warm 10 day stretch of weather in late February I rolled the dice and put the transplants into the garden. My records show that was the earliest I had ever put those crops in the ground.
   The calendar changed and so did the weather. The warmth of February regressed into January temps with 2 mornings this month dawning at 25 degrees. The transplants have survived but put on little to no new growth. And I can see the cold weather indications in the leaves of the broccoli. A definite purple tint indicates a lack of phosphorous, the plants just can't take up phosphorous when the soil is cold. Not to worry, with warm weather the soil will warm and the phosphorous will flow.
  I'd be thinking about planting potatoes next week, my seed potatoes arrive next week. Patience is a virtue, I'll wait awhile for the soil to warm before planting potatoes.

We're back and attempting to get this website up and interactive. Bear with us as we make this happen and I'll get busy with the interactive blog. Yes, you'll be able to ask  questions and I'll respond for everyone to see so we can all be successful gardeners.
In the meantime, check out the archived blog posts for what you can be doing in your garden now and in the coming weeks.
ld