When to Start Your Spring Garden

by Linda Shepherd
February 20, 2017 Gardening, Pea Patch0

All digging should be done when the soil is moist but not dripping wet. Pick up a handful of soil in one hand and squeeze it into a ball. It should feel damp, but no water should drip as you squeeze. Ideally, you should be able to form a ball of soil that stays together when you open your hand, but crumbles easily when you tap it with a finger. Planting dates vary according to microclimate. Those gardening very near Puget Sound or one of the area’s large lakes will probably be able to start quite early. Inland gardens, particularly those in the Cascade foothills, will need to wait a little longer.

Gardening Calendars

Gardening Information

The best way to decide when to start planting is measuring the soil temperature. Probe thermometers are inexpensive, costing about $10 at The Issaquah Grange. For early season veggies, insert the thermometer 2 inches into the soil, measure several days in a row at mid-day, and take an average. Begin to plant cool season crops (arugula, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, kale, leeks, lettuce, onions, peas, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard, turnips) when soil temperature averages at least 40 degrees. See http://www.weekendgardener.net/vegetable-gardening-tips/soil-temperature-030803.htm

 

As soon as soil is ready in March, can plant

  • asparagus
  • chard
  • kale
  • kohlrabi
  • lettuce
  • onions
  • peas
  • turnips
  • radishes
  • rhubarb
  • spinach
  • mustard greens

After April 1, plant

  • beets
  • collards
  • broccoli
  • leeks
  • cabbage
  • parsnips
  • carrots
  • potatoes
  • cauliflower
  • celery

Wait until after mid-May to plant

  • beans
  • Brussels sprouts

Wait until June 1 to plant

  • tomatoes
  • squash
  • cucumbers
  • melons
  • pumpkins
  • peppers
  • eggplant

Companion Planting: see http://www.gardensablaze.com/Companions/CompanionYield.htm

Linda Shepherd

I’ve loved living in Mirrormont since 1988, and I care a great deal about our unique community, and am honored to have served as MCA President since 2014. I first became actively involved with the MCA when I volunteered to deliver a few Welcome Bags to new homeowners in 2008. Suddenly I found myself leading the Welcome Committee. In 2009, I submitted a proposal to the Board to build Mirrormont Pea Patch, wrote a grant to fund it, and have been actively involved on the Board since then. I became a Master Gardener in 2013 so I could better coordinate our Pea Patch and offer Growing Groceries Clinics to everyone in Mirrormont. For Mirrormont’s 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2012, I took on the role of historian. In 2013, I initiated a project, along with Janet Horton, Meg Wade, and Maryfrances Lignana, to create signage and a guidebook for forty native plants in Mirrormont Park. In 2014, I began our Speaker Program. Wanting to find a way to reach all residents in Mirrormont, I revived Mirrormont News as an annual print newsletter, with Griffin Cole doing layout, and Maryfrances Lignana obtaining advertising to defray the cost of postage. When wildfires became an issue in Western Washington in 2015, I initiated a Firewise program in Mirrormont and we became a Firewise Community/USA, which made us eligible for grant funding for events such as Chipper Days. Professionally, I have a Ph.D. in biochemistry, worked for two biotech companies, and taught for an online doctoral program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in the Department of Transformative Studies. I’m the author of Lifting the Veil: The Feminine Face of Science, which won a Washington State Governor’s Award, and a co-author of Walk on the Wild Side: Native Plants of Mirrormont Park. My passion for plants led me to study herbs and ethnobotany, and I relish eating nettle soup in the spring, and summer vegetables from the Mirrormont Pea Patch.

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