Sprout Farm Newsletter    April 20, 2024  sproutfarm.net    open 9-5 daily

Hello Everyone, 

The sale items this week:

Espoma 4lb bags of Holly-tone, Plant-tone, Garden-tone and more, just $6.25. Excludes Bio-tone 4lb. 

Jay says if you plan to plant onions, this is the last week that they will be available.  Seed potatoes will be available beginning Monday afternoon.  We're planting any onions that are leftover next week.  Onions just love that cool soil and who knows what will happen in May.

Another crop that loves to germinate in cool soil is peas.  Our favorite is the wonderful sugar snap pea.  MI Gardner has some good tips on growing peas and yes, we have made most of the mistakes he talks about.  We will continue to make more mistakes as we resist the wise voice of experience.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxL69Bh4_8o&list=LL&index=9  Hint:  It took us years to figure out how to trellis fast growing peas.  The plastic pea fence we put up works great and when the fence is covered I supplement the support by adding tomato twine and attaching it to the fence with vine clips, surrounding the vines and hugging them close to the fence.   At the end of the season I remove the clips and save them for the next job.  We've never tried pre-soaking the seeds but I'm willing to try.  Every year we have problems with a 10' section or two where the peas just don't germinate.  It may take a few more trial and error crops before we solve that problem.

Why do you need nail clippers to plant carrots?  To clip the nose off the seed. We do this with our nasturtium and morning glory seeds. Now it is time to try it with carrot seeds.  I'm going to need stronger glasses. The moisture will enter the seed more quickly and speed up germination.  It works with the other seeds but I will have to purchase a package of regular carrot seeds for this.  Jay always plants pelleted carrot seeds.

     Jay has given in to age a little bit and bought a heavy duty cart with four wheels, the better for hauling around those bags of soil and mulch.  Those bags add up over time to some pretty sore muscles.  I consider the recliner a medical necessity at times like these.

   Remember the seed racks at the stores are chock full of seed packets that will disappear before summer, just in time to start perennials from seed.  So make your seeed selection now, determine which ones need to be stratified.  You almost need to put this down on a calendar.  Purchase seeds in early spring, schedule stratification when necessary and plant seedlings in the garden to winter them over. https://www.bloomingbackyard.com/cold-stratification-seeds/  Buy the seeds now while the selection is good.  The rest can wait.  Now you can understand why people just buy the plants ready to bloom.

The kitten report isn't interesting.  We're still waiting to see some movement under the fur.  I still say Mother's Day is the due date but Wheezie is getting awful rounded.  She's grooming us to feed her every time we look at her.  It's working.

Stop by when you get a chance and see what we have growing.

Jay and Phyllis Sprout