Q: I can’t wait to get planting vegetable seeds in my garden. I think there are some that I can put in first and some I can’t. Or can I put in seeds now and just wait for it the soil to warm up enough?
A: Seeds need to be put into your garden when the soil has warmed enough that the seeds can sprout soon. If the soil is too cold, the seeds don’t grow.
Every week that they stay in the ground doing nothing, evil can befall them. Seeds can be eaten by critters with feathers or fur. Or the seeds just rot in the cool, damp soil.
So, what’s too cold? You can check the soil temperature with a soil thermometer or a probe-type kitchen thermometer. Check the temperature of the garden soil at 1 inch below the surface first thing in the morning, before the sun has warmed it.
Seeds can go into the soil when the temperature at 1 inch deep is 60 degrees. Or wait until the end of April or the beginning of May.
Seeds that can be put in first are leafy greens such as bib and leaf lettuce, collards, kale, spinach, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and Swiss chard, root vegetables such as carrots, radishes, beets, turnips and parsnips. Peas, both regular and sugar peas, are also good to go.
As you can see, this is probably half of your garden. Since most of these vegetables will be ready to harvest in July, you can put in more seeds of the same kinds in late July or early August for a late fall harvest. All of these guys handle light frosts and cold weather well.
Q: I just read about a fantastic vegetable garden project called a “pizza garden.” You make a round garden area and divide it into wedge-shaped pieces and plant things that go onto a pizza. Then you harvest all the good vegetables and make pizzas from your crops. This looks like something I want to do with my kids. Is this a good way to get my kids and me interested in gardening? So what plants do I buy and how many of each?
A: This is more fantasy than reality.
First, figure out what you want on your pizza. You need tomatoes to make sauce, peppers and maybe onions as toppings. You may want basil and oregano for flavor. Some things you need to buy, like a crust, cheese, pepperoni and maybe some of those insanely fishy anchovies. But how many of anything is going to be a total guess.
It’ll take many sauce-type tomatoes, like Roma, to cook down for hours into a sauce. But sauce is more than cooked tomatoes. You’ll need more tomatoes than anything else, but also several pepper plants, and onions. You probably don’t need many onions, but you can’t just buy one to grow. Onions come in groups called sets and there are several dozen small onions to be planted.
You must water and pull weeds most of the summer.
Now, for the reality smack. These vegetables will not be ripe at the same time. It can be a great deal of fun and learning for everyone just watching the vegetables grow. It’s wonderful to eat what you grow. But you may have to supplement with a few purchased vegetables to make pizza night happen. If you are not a gardener or a cook, this will be an intense learning experience.
Questions? The MSU Extension Master Gardener Hotline at 888-678-3464. Gretchen Voyle is an MSU Extension Horticulture Educator, retired.