Jeremy's Garden Tips - February 2016

As quickly as the January rains came, so they went, leaving us with a warm and sunny February here at Slide Ranch. The sun has started the cacophony of spring blooms, both in the cultivated as well as the wild garden. The blossoming plum trees literally buzz with foraging honeybees and the first Footsteps-of-Spring are blooming on the shoulders of the Owl Trail. In our garden winter plantings of lettuce, arugula, and spinach are now being harvested along with the seemingly ever present kale and collards. New sowings of crisp radishes and flavorful mustard greens are not far away, and the rhubarb patches are explosions of tangy stalks ready to be properly pied and crisped.

If you haven’t already started, now is a great time to get the home garden going for the year. Reenergize beds with a dose of compost and get to seeding. Lettuce mixes, radishes, and many Asian greens are perfect for direct seeding into garden beds.

You can also begin sowing seeds in greenhouses, sun rooms, or even windowsills for planting later. Onions should be started now for later spring plantings, along with all of the brassicas and head lettuces. You can even start the hot crops like tomatoes and peppers this month!

Good luck in the garden and we hope to see you at the ranch soon!

Jeremy

Garden Manager