The spring is a great time to start your strawberries, raspberries and other small fruits. We love strawberries and raspberries. Both are pretty easy to grow, but you want to start out right. I could write much on the subject, and many have, but here are few tips to consider.

Buy bare root from the store and not your neighbor. There are many good meaning people that are willing to split their berries, but you just dont know what you are going to get. If you do, then get the free stuff. Buying bare root from a reputable supplier gives you a good chance for success especially since you are going to rely on these plants for numerous years, not just one.

Next, for raspberries, start with a 3-6 inch raised bed. Just 18-24 inches wide is all you need. By raising the bed, you are allowing for good drainage. Berries have roots that can easily rot, so raise the bed and don’t overwater. Strawberries love water so make sure to water deeply but not everyday. Start with every 3 days and see if that works.This will also help your yields. As for raspberries, at least once a week or more, depending on your mounding and drainage.

Last, make sure there is room to rototill on either side of your raspberries. By doing this each year you make sure your raspberries don’t creep where they are not supposed to go. As for strawberries, cut the runners off if they are going where they shouldn’t. If you have particular questions about either of these, just ask and I will write more on the subject.

Planting peas marks the beginning of the garden in most cases. Peas are normally the first out due to the fact that they are so hardy. They like cooler soil temps and can withstand mild frost. That being said, there is not much gain by starting too early since they will just lay dormant or grow very slowly if the temperatures are too low. Soil temps must be over 45 degrees which normally mean that your average night time temperature should not be below 40 degrees. In most places this can mean sometime in March. I wait until about April 1st. For your earliest date use the planting date finder.

Pea seeds benefit from “chitting” or pre-sprouting. This means that you will begin the germination process before you put them in the ground. The purpose of this is so that they germinate faster despite the cool soil temperatures. To pre-sprout your pea seeds, soak a paper towel and place your seeds on the towel. Fold over the paper towel to encase the seeds. Put in a ziplock bag and keep in a warm area. After a few days you should see roots coming out of the seeds. Now put them in the ground.

Do not plant too deeply. Planting depth should be two times the diameter of the seed. Peas need plenty of water. I usually water every three days with a drip hose for at least an hour or two. If you get bush peas you will not need a trellis, if you get climbing peas then you should get a trellis about 4 feet tall. I usually get the wire 4ft fencing at a home improvement store.

Keep the plant well picked and harvest when plump but not old. Young peas taste better.

Normally there is no fertilization required except for your beginning of the year complete fertilizer till in.

In a few weeks I will be starting to plant my garden. For others, this may have already happened. If you are one of those with some time left, here are some things to think about before you plant.

Turning your garden over- If you are like me, you may have some of what grew in the last part of the fall and during the winter that needs to be tilled in. This is actually good because it adds organic material to your soil and will improve it. However, you need to do it now. You should let 4 weeks go by, after tilling under lots of organic material, before you plant. This allows time for the freshly turned soil to decompose a bit before you plant. If you just have a few weeds then you dont have to worry about this.

For a new garden plot, this is essential. I have a space that had grass on it that I want to till under, so I must give myself 4 weeks before planting.

Watering system- You will want to establish your watering system well before you plant. I use a drip system and if I dont set that up before I plant, I always seem to run out of time and then I dont have a water source to get my seeds germinated. Set it up first and well before and then you wont scramble after you have planted.

Complete fertilizer- At the beginning of the year it is important that you add a complete fertilizer like 16-16-8 or some variation to get a nice source of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. If you are an organic grower consider greensand, rock powders and put in lots of compost.

Speaking of compost you want to get that incorporated into the garden soon, especially if it not completely broken down. Remember to not put too much compost or else you will make the soil too hot. Just spread out a thin layer over the whole garden and till in.

Here is my garden ready for planting a couple of years ago as an example. Ideally it will look like this before it is planting day. If you have square foot gardens then the same principles apply.

Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable for home gardeners and many ask “When to plant tomatoes?”. If you are planting your own seeds then you need to start them 4 weeks before they are ready to transplant outdoors. If you are buying transplants from the store then you need to wait until after your last frost, unless you protect them via some mini-greenhouse method like hot-kaps. If you protect them then you go plant them about 3 weeks earlier. So does this answer your question? Of course it doesn’t which is why people continually ask “When to plant tomatoes?”

This is one of the reasons why I started VegeNag.com. VegeNag will actually give a you solid date. For example, for my area 99338, if I go to the BEST plant date finder it tells me that May 19th is the BEST date to plant tomatoes outdoors. Now that I have a date, I can easily make my calculations if I want to start under hot-kaps or start seeds indoors. I hope you will find VegeNag useful for calculating and nagging you on all your planting dates and other important dates like seeds starting, fertilization, maturity and others.

Remember this last tip, don’t use the big box stores for determining your dates. Last year I saw full grown tomato starts on Mar 1st, ready to buy, more than 2 months before my ideally planting date. No Wall-O-Water would have kept that tomato from either dying in a frost or severely stunting its growth. While many stores will sell you Christmas stuff in September to try to get you to buy early, don’t fall into this trap with gardening. Be patient and start the process at the right time.

Big Box tomatoes 2 months early

Germinating seeds indoors can be tricky, especially for some vegetables. Germination requires a combination of humidity, soil temperature, moisture, seed depth and sometimes light. Providing the ideal conditions will allow quick germination which is essential to minimize fungus growth and other potential problems. The instructions laid out here are general instructions that apply to most all vegetable seeds, there are some minor exceptions to these rules, but lets start with the general principles.

Humidity should be high so that the air does not dry out the soil or seed too fast. You can manufacture this humidity simply by putting a dome on your seed tray while heating your soil. This in combination with moist soil will keep humidity high while germinating. Note the condensation on the top of the dome, you want this condensation.

So how to keep soil temperature high? Well you want at least room temperature soil, but ideally you should have 80-85 degree soil. This is achieved with a germination mat. I have also had success with putting my seed tray over a heat vent or on top of the dryer. Find your warmest room in the house and do your germinating there.

Moisture is vital. Completely soak your soil medium before planting your seeds. Drain off any excess water and then put your dome on the seeds until they germinate. For longer germination schedules you will need to add luke warm water to keep the soil moist. Do not over water because this will encourage disease and/or fungus. After watering, make sure to drain any water that was not soaked up by the soil. Also make sure to water from the bottom so that you don’t disrupt your seedling. You can spray water via a mister on top if you like.

If you plant your seeds too deep you are just shooting yourself in the foot. Plant seeds very shallow, like 1/4 inch max. I usually put the seed in the dimple I created in the soil and then just dust on some peat moss on top so that with an easy blow from my mouth I could expose the seed. This will ensure quick emergence.

Most vegetable seeds need light to germinate but this can just be the ambient light. I do not put grow lights until I see green emergence.

When you see green, prop the dome up for a day before you take it all the way off. Once the domes are off, turn on the lights and keep air moving. More on that later.

It is time to start thinking about seeds starts. In fact, for some locations it may too late for an early start on celery, leeks, and onions among others. These crops have uncharacteristically long seedling phases. Celery, for example, needs at least 10 weeks from starting the seed indoors to transplanting outside. Leeks and onions need 8 weeks. The other issue is that these crops are hardy which mean you can plant them out earlier in the season.

I just started these seeds yesterday for my garden, but I am behind my desired plant date of April 1st. I should have started the celery about a month ago and I am a couple weeks behind on the onions and leeks. Of course, I will be fine since it is not like I have to get them in exactly on April 1st, but it is my hope that this post will get you at least planning your garden so you don’t find out that you have missed your optimal planting period for those crops you want to plant. I have created VegeNag.com for this very purpose. I did get my nag for the celery back in January and it was great to remind me to get my rear in gear and get things started. Unfortunately, life happens and you do what you can, but I am on track now and excited for the new season.

My celery, onions and leeks during their germination period.

This year VegeNag is launching its new online store VegeNagStore.com. Products are geared toward beginner gardeners and those starting seeds indoors. Our main product is our seed collection. Each seed collection is easy to grow and contains the right amount of seed for a backyard garden or square foot garden. This way we are able to keep the price low instead of sending you a bunch of seed that you don’t have the room to grow anyway.  We also have the Ultimate Seed Collection which features 27 different varieties for a full family garden at one low price. We take the guess work out of the seed selection. It also comes with a 17 page planting guide and factsheets on each vegetable crop. It all comes packed in one binder to keep everything together and includes a section for your garden journal for the year. Check out the Store and hopefully it will be something that you like.

It has been over 3 years of testing now and we are ready to come out of beta and to begin selling the service. I know this maybe a disappointment for those that like free things, but for all those that have supported VegeNag thus far, the service will always be free. In fact, you may want to tell your friends to sign up now since after Feb 1st you will only have limited access to “nags” with the free basic subscription.

In order to get “nagged” about more than one vegetable, users will need to sign up for a paid subscription. This subscription will only be $19.95 for an annual subscription. Hopefully, with the paid subscriptions, we will be able to continue the service and improve it for our customers.

Thank you to all those that have tested for us and have supported us over the years, we hope that this helps all gardeners become successful in their vegetable gardens.

The VegeNag Team

I recently ordered my seeds for this year and I would encourage you home gardeners out there to consider doing the same. I am sure some of you will pick up your seeds from the Home Depot rack or your local garden supply store. There is obviously nothing wrong with this but you limit yourself in many ways.

First, there are more than 6000 varieties of vegetables out there that I know of. Many are not commercially for sale but the point is that it is fun to grow different kinds each year instead of always getting “Snow Crown” cauliflower or “Celebrity” tomato. These stores stock the seeds you know, not the ones that are best. That brings me to my next point.

Success in growing starts with a good seed. Ordering from seed companies allow you to choose seeds that have higher yields, more disease resistance and almost always have higher germination rates because that is what they do and they stake their reputations on getting you good seeds.

Last, it so much more fun to peruse through seeds catalog or online sites deciding which ones sound or look best and then assembling your garden with lots to compare with. It is like buying a house or hiring an employee, you want to compare and contrast before you decide on your final pick. In the same manner, I think it is better to look around before you buy when it comes to seeds.

I will point out that you probably can get your seeds cheaper off the rack at Walmart, but the extra .79 cents won’t matter when you could have had 10 lbs more of tomatoes by getting the right variety.

I have a list of retail garden seed companies below. It is not all inclusive, but it a pretty good list. You will see some of my recommendations in other posts. It is listed alphabetically. Some are better than others, but I will let you decide. Let me know who I am missing in your comments.

Hope this helps.

I am always anxious to get my plants out as soon as possible and sometimes it is imperative given the contraints of the seasons. It is important to not get complacent after you have planted, particularly in the Spring. Most of us are aware of frost free dates and how they affect when you should plant. But as all of us should be well aware of, mother nature can be fickle.

The national weather service for my area publishes April 30th as the frost free date (10%). Note the 10%, that means that 10% of the time it will frost after April 30th. This is important because while 9 years out of 10 it will not frost after April 30th, sometimes it will. Technically, no one can officially publish a sure fire, never will happen frost free date because, lets face it, anything can happen. 10% is usually close enough. Therefore, I have a few suggestions during this critical period.

Keep an eye on the weather min and max predictions each day. By keeping an eye on the weather each day you may be able to save your plants from an early death. If the temperature is predicted to go below 40 degrees (F) then consider protecting your tender starts during the night.

Tender plants include tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, corn, potatoes and others. If these plants are just a seed and have yet to germinate then I would not worry about a chilly night since the ground temp probably won’t freeze after your frost free date. But if the plant has green out then you can protect the plant with a hotcap (click to see picture). If the plant is a bit more sturdy then you can throw some thin plastic over the top, making sure to drape over the plant and secure so that the wind/air won’t blow right through or blow it away. Make sure to take it off in the morning before the sun gets too hot or you will burn your plants.

There are several other measure you can take, you just need to keep the temperature above freezing around the plant so that it won’t die. You do not need to do this for your hardy plants such as lettuce, broccoli, carrots etc.

I would keep a keen eye on your plants until about two weeks after your frost free date (10%), after that you should be good. For more information about frost free dates, check out this video on the subject.