It took a big leap of faith to try this experiment but I did not remove my cold season vegetables from cold frame when we just had this latest winter storm. Using information I have seen on the Eliot Coleman Four Season Garden website I decided to see if my lettuce and other vegetable would make it. I did remove my pumpkins and squash back into the house. The lettuce did get a little damage but I did not see any damage at all to the cabbage and onions so I was very pleased. I was nervous because the lost would had set me back a few weeks. The plants in Coleman's cold frames and greenhouses are planted in the soil which gives the plants a little more protection from the elements. This is one reason I was worried it would fail. He grows them in the greenhouse I just did not want to move them all back inside for a few day.
It was really quite simple to do. I placed some floating row cover over the plants that were in the cold frame. The plants were out of the wind so I did not have to put any thing in the cold frame to keep the cover off of the plants. It I had to keep the cover on for longer periods of time I would had done so to keep the weigh off the plants.
I had a
temporary case of insanity yesterday when I jumped the gun with
planting. Here in the prairie of Kansas the usual crop you plant this
month are the cool weather crops. Last month and this month these are the following crops planting times suggested:
Cabbage : March 15-April 15
Collards : April 10-April 30 Chard : April 10-April 30 Carrots : April 10-April 30 Broccoli : March 15-April 15 cauliflower: March 15-April 22 Melons : April 15 - May 22 Lettuce : March 10- April 10 Potatoes : March 11-April 15 Peas : March 5-April 30 Spinach : April 1- April 30 Beets : March 26-April 30 Corn : April 24-June 30
So you can see from this list that tomatoes and Beans are not his month
and are planted next month. This is because the last frost date is May
9 in this area.
Beans: May 5-June 10 Tomatoes : May 1-May 30
So what does this mean for me. It means that I may have to go out one
night and cover the plants to prevent them from getting killed by a
frost. So I am taking a chance with weather. Well, that's the way it is
with weather and trying to beat the weather to get an early crop. I
just planted bush beans because I will be planting beans later after I
start the corn which I can plant very soon.
This blog is primary about my activities on my farmette. Currently I am the caretaker of 2 goats, 3 dogs, 2 cats, ducks and chickens.I have a varitey of chickens but my two favorite breeds are Welsummers and Lakenvelders. I garden using the Mittleider Method Gardening which I have a lot of success using.
This blog is primary about my activities on my farmette. Currently I am the caretaker of 2 goats, 3 dogs, 2 cats, ducks and chickens.I have a varitey of chickens but my two favorite breeds are Welsummers and Lakenvelders. I garden using the Mittleider Method Gardening which I have a lot of success using.
