The Ides of March

This is when things finally start happening outdoors in the garden.  

There are always things that are ongoing – there’s still some of last year’s great carrots, parsnips, beets, and rutabagas in the garden stored under that foot of leaves and harvested as needed.  

In the greenhouse the spinach that was started last August and the greenhouse was later rolled onto is really starting to grow again and the kale plant is greening out nicely.  My young onion plants are doing well in their pots in the greenhouse.  

Indoors the Tomatoes and Peppers are starting under the grow lights.  Spinach and Lettuce have been seeded inside as well.  Soon I’ll seed the Brassicas indoors.  The grow lights are firing up right now.

But outdoors, the Ides of March is when things start to happen. 

 

Fall Rye.  All the beds with Fall Rye growing in them are now cut with shears (or lawn mower) and covered with black plastic.  I have many 5 foot by 12.5 foot pieces of black plastic that cover one 50 square foot bed nicely and are held in place with rocks around the perimeter.  This will mostly deaden (almost kill) the rye and in one or two months, depending for which crops, the rye will be stunted enough to either pull and toss in the compost box or till into the beds.  It had managed to get back up to 7 inches tall after being cut once in late fall.  Even taller, more advanced, inside the greenhouse. 

 

I won’t cover the two fall rye beds where the chickens’ run will stay for the summer.  I’ll let that rye keep growing and mowing it until the two hens are moved there, then they’ll tear it up.

Garlic.  The Red Russians are up and 7 inches tall.  March 15^th is when they need to be top dressed for their strong growth ahead.  Steve Solomon mentions the need for any root crops that are to be fertilized with fresher manure must be fertilized at least 120 days before harvest.  It’s a health-safety thing.  Harvest is about July 15^th so mid-March is when the fertilizing is done.  

Last year I used Alfalfa and Soya meals with fair results but this year I’ll go back to my old standby: Chicken.  I have some nicely composted, year old, organically fed, free run layers’ bedding from my brother-in-law’s farm and it should do quite nicely.  It was really stinky when I got it a yard of it a year ago.  I turned it 8 times over 3 weeks and then let it settle down and kept the rain off it the rest of the year.  It smells much nicer now but still has some zing.  I top dressed my 17 garlic plants occupying 12 square feet with 3 gallons of that composted chicken manure and scuffled it in.  That might be a bit much but it should be fun to see how tall and big they get.

Strawberries.  Mid-March is when I top dress my strawberries as well.  I’ve been using Alfalfa Meal here. (from Otter Co-op at $17 for 20 kg or 44 lbs.) It seems to be faster acting than Soya Meal and I don’t need long lasting, just a good boost to get lots of early leaf growth before blooming.  The bigger the plants the more berries we’ll get.  I have a one third cup measurement which works for two plants and the total Alfalfa weight comes to 2 pounds per 50 square feet.

My strawberry bed is always a new bed since I’m dodging the strawberry root weevil, and my method is 4 plants to each 4 foot row across the bed with 12 inch wide landscape fabric strips between each row.  The strips are held down with 6 staples made from coat hanger wire and I remove the two end staples and pull up the fabric from half the row.  I sprinkle the Alfalfa, gently scuffle it in with my hand cultivator and replace the fabric neatly tucked under the existing leaves for a nearly weed free experience the rest of the season.  

The extra work now with the fabric is slower going but worth it.  I’ve nothing more to do with that crop, other than watering, since my Lovely Wife does the fruit picking and I just sit back and enjoy eating the fine crop in early July.

Happy Gardening.