By Rosalyn Queen
Spring Has Sprung! This week marks the beginning of Spring. There are so many things to look forward to and especially the wonderful weather that comes forward in West Virginia. There is one thing that I keep remembering my mother saying and that is “there will be one more snow before Easter.” This usually holds true, but it usually is not a deep lasting snow. Once we get this over with we can settle on to doing all those things that we do to lead us into summer.
I just cannot tell you where I got it but somehow I have a garden calendar from the WVU Extension in my possession and it has a wealth of information for gardeners. There is still the rule to not plant outdoors until after May 10. Several times I thought I did not have to observe this rule, but learned to observe it so as not to lose my plants.
Browsing through my calendar, I have learned that there are several things that I can do to keep me busy and get ready for the actual planting season. The calendar tells me that spring flowering bulbs should be fertilized this month. My favorite greens, Swiss chard should be planted indoors and will be ready to transplant in the garden after May 10. If you are going to plant your own tomato and pepper plants, start them indoors now. One of my favorite plants is basil and now is the time to plant seeds indoors and when the weather warms they will be ready to plant outdoors. I always keep my basil in a container and not on the ground. Either way it is a necessity in my household.
Around the first of April you can plant cabbage, kale and beets outdoors. I remember a custom that we always observed at our home and that was planting potatoes on Good Friday. With Easter on April 20, now is the time to make plans for potato planting. Also a reminder that April is also the time for planting summer flowering bulbs.
With all this we have a lot to look forward to and hopefully a great garden.
Take care, stay healthy and until next week “Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
