Rodd's Seeds of Wisdom Horticultural tips and tricks from Rodd Moesel

We have been blessed to get a little moisture the last couple of weeks including 3 quick, wet, but light snows for most of the state.  Every bit of this moisture will increase the energy of our seeds, bulbs, plants and trees as they launch into spring in the next few weeks.

If you are an experienced food gardener or a first timer, this is the prime planting season for cool season vegetables.  Some folks have been planting for a couple of weeks and you can procrastinate to mid March on your cool season veggies and still be successful.  We are in the “sweet spot” or middle of that planting season right now.  Some crops are photoperiodic like onion sets or onion plants and if you desire large hamburger slicing onions you will do best to plant them sooner rather than later while we have shorter day lengths.  There are many nice varieties depending on whether you prefer white, yellow or red onions, the size of onion and the taste.  The most popular variety is Super Sweet 1015 Yellow onion plants.  Taste on the same variety of onion can vary a lot depending on your soil type and PH. 

Seed potatoes look just like the baked potatoes you can buy at the store except they have not been treated to prevent the “eyes” from sprouting.  The most popular seed potatoes are white flesh varieties like Irish Cobbler or Kennebec, red flesh varieties like Pontiac and Lasoda or yellow flesh varieties like Yukon Gold.  Just cut the potatoes in chunks or slices with at least 2 eyes per piece to sprout your new potato plants.  Plant the potatoes now and in 90 to 120 days you can be digging your own fresh potatoes.  Many folks are now growing some personal potatoes in fabric potato bags or decorative containers on their patio, deck or even apartment balconies.

Plant seeds of root crops like turnips, radish, carrots and beets to raise your own fresh food.  Plant seeds of leafy cool crops like spinach, swiss chard, leaf and head lettuce to liven up your salads and other food dishes.  Plant small transplants of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower or lettuce over the next few weeks so they can mature before it gets too hot.  This is also the season to plant crowns of perennial food crops like asparagus, rhubarb and horseradish as well as strawberry plants to provide home grown food for years to come.

 There are many small fruit and berry plants that are not only very healthy but do well in Oklahoma.  Plant bareroot or container grown grapes, blackberries, raspberries, boysenberries, youngberries, gooseberries and blueberries now.

As you enjoy the early flowers of crocus and daffodils don’t forget that this is the time to use pre-emergent weed killers or herbicides to kill the crabgrass and summer weed seeds in your lawn before the weeds even sprout and come up.  This is the easiest chance to control these weeds of the whole season.  Visit with your local nurseryman to select the best product for your yard and get this “birth control” for weeds applied before the Redbud trees are done flowering.  Enjoy the pretty days out in your yard and have fun raising your own garden and fresh, healthy food.

This is the season of the year when the weather teases us with glimpses of spring weather but still holds the hook of winter ready to punch us at anytime.  Many gardeners are getting very anxious to start planting their hardy or cool season vegetable and food crops.  The old timers used to say the prime season for planting potatoes, onions, cabbage and other cool crops was from Valentine’s Day in mid-February to St. Patrick’s Day in mid-March across central Oklahoma.  Our state warms from south to north each spring so gardeners in southern Oklahoma can start their season about one week earlier and gardeners in northern Oklahoma should probably target about a week later than those dates. Some gardeners get so anxious to produce their own fresh produce or to grow the first crops in the neighborhood that they start planting earlier, even now. 

This is a great time to prepare your soil for planting.  You can remove winter weeds, rototill or spade the soil to prepare for planting in the next few weeks.  This is a great time to add more organic matter to your garden area as you work the soil.  Add your own compost or purchase sphagnum peat moss, fine processed bark, cotton burr or alfalfa compost or well aged manure products.  It is a great time to take a soil sample to your OSU County Extension Office for testing at $10.00 for each sample so you can plan your fertilizer program for 2013.  The best way to be sustainable and environmentally sensitive is to have a soil test and feed your lawn, vegetable garden and flowerbeds what they need but not to over feed the nutrients already present in sufficient amounts.  Dig down about 6” deep in several spots in the area to be tested and collect a total sample of about a pint for testing.  The results will help direct you to responsibly feed what your plants need this season and your fertilizer savings will usually pay for several tests.  If you know your soil looks or behaves differently in different areas of your yard – consider investing in separate soil samples for each of those areas.

The hardy or cool veggie crops that we plant earliest are plants of cabbage, cauliflower, head lettuce and onions.  We can also plant onion sets, seeds for root crops like carrots, radish, or turnip and leafy veggies like swiss chard, mustard, spinach or leaf lettuce.  Peas and kohlrabi also grow well from early seed sowings.  Irish potatoes are started from 2 or 3 oz pieces cut from full size seed potatoes with at least a couple of “eyes” on each piece to produce sprouts.  The seed potatoes at garden centers have not been waxed or treated with anti-sprout inhibitors like most of those sold in the produce section of the grocery store so make sure to buy real seed potatoes. 

During this early planting season we can also plant crowns of asparagus which is a perennial crop that will start producing harvestable spears in year two.  For rhubarb pie, plant crowns of rhubarb, another perennial that will produce for years into the future.  Spring bearing or everbearing strawberries are another nutritious and fun crop to add to your personal garden.  Take your soil tests, get your planting beds ready and let’s get ready to garden!

House plants are the star of January gardening in our part of the world. We have all been cooped up, spending more of our winter days inside with colder weather and shorter days.  Most of our trees are deciduous or bared to the elements, without leaves, and our world is less green and more shades of brown and gray.  We humans long for more of the nourishing and renewing green colors of life so we  add some foliage plants or houseplants to our lives and look for new plants to add to our interior gardens.  Foliage plants not only add color and life to our environment but they add fresh oxygen to our homes and offices. NASA has done a lot of research proving that foliage plants are great natural filters to absorb and process many pollutants that might be in our “inside” air.  Plants are not only pretty and calming but actually clean our air and act as little oxygen machines to give us healthy air.  We used to be limited to mainly green foliage plants in the low light of our homes and offices but now there are a few plants that even bloom in this low light and many that offer different tones of variegation from white to cream or yellow to add contrast and excitement. House plants work good in small apartments or big mansions or offices of any size.

The 2 main secrets of growing house plants are light and watering.  As a rule the plants with more “green” or chlorophyll in their leaves like spathiphyllum or Peace Lily plants, ficus robusta or rubber plants, aspidistra or cast iron plants can tolerate lower light.  Variegated plants or plants with less “green” and more of the white, cream, yellows or even oranges and reds in their foliage need more light in a spot near windows or in patio rooms.  Old time house plant growers often say the rule for light is that the less green there is in the leaf the more light the plant will need. 

Watering is the trickiest part of house plant success.  In low light our plants work at low speed or have a low metabolism so they need less water.  As the light increases the plants metabolism increases and it needs more water.  A plant in a darker living room might go a couple or more weeks between watering while plants in a patio room with lots of windows may need watering several times a week.  Plants in small pots retain less water and will need to be watered more often.  Plants in large pots have more soil that holds more moisture and can go longer between waterings.  The most common problem with house plants is over watering as folks forget how the low light slows down the metabolism and the drinking and feeding of our house plants.  The best watering meter is your finger. Feel the soil surface and wait to water until the soil is dry to the touch – not dusty but dry.  Water thoroughly until water starts to drain out the bottom of the pot then wait to water again until the soil feels dry again.  If in doubt whether to water or not, err to the dry side and wait.  Most house plants survive dry better than wet.  Be particularly careful not to overwater if your houseplants are in a pot or decorative container without drainage where the water is not able to drain from the pot.  January is a good time to pick out some house plants and green up your life.

We have apparently passed the end date of the ancient Mayan calendar and tonight we pass the end date on our modern 2012 calendar and start the New Year 2013.  This end of one year, start of a new year time period is one where we usually pause to reflect on the year that is winding down and ponder dreams and goals for the year ahead.  We are even tempted to ponder our life’s accomplishments, disappointments, challenges and to plan for any mid course corrections to get where we want to go.  We can benefit from the same year end review and planning when it comes to our gardening and landscape activities.

Regardless of the calendar change to a new year this is the perfect season to do our gardening or farming reviews and planning.             It is the coldest season of the year with short days when we are between crop seasons.  Most of the plant world is dormant or in hibernation, curled up for the winter and waiting for the invitation of spring.  Farmers have their winter wheat and gardeners have their evergreen trees and shrubs, pansies and a few other hardy crops but most of the plant world is hiding for the winter, trying to avoid the ice, snow and cold like those experienced this last week.  Since we are in a drought these winter crops do need periodic watering to survive the Oklahoma winter.  You could still make late plantings of spring flowering bulbs or dig some new flowerbeds but for the most part this is the season to stay inside and enjoy pictures and memories of gardens past and to dream and plan for gardens future. 

The last several years have seen an explosion of new gardeners, particularly vegetable, fruit and berry gardeners as more people have tackled growing some of their own food crops.  This has been one part of the whole “grow local” movement that has led to many new local farmers markets and new growers to serve those markets.  Many others have discovered gardening as a way to get outside to get fresh air, exercise,  sunshine and to relate to nature.  Many folks are assessing what is important in life and are deciding to spend more time at home, with family and communing with nature instead of full blast on the treadmill of daily events or inside glued to TV, games or movies.  Gardening and landscaping take some time and effort but are the perfect counter balance to the electronic and gadget lifestyle that can consume us.  Take a look at what you enjoyed doing in your garden this last year and do more of it in 2013.  What crops did good, which did poorly, what could do better if not for the drought of last year?  Are you happy with your landscape?  Do you need to plant more trees, prune and shape the trees you have?  Do you want to add flowerbeds or start a vegetable garden?  Do you want to add a kitchen herb garden, a butterfly garden, a new patio or gazebo, a fountain, pond or a hobby greenhouse?  Things don’t happen unless you make plans and dream a little.  Use this winter time to review seed catalogs, attend an Oklahoma  Horticulture Society lecture, read some gardening books, take a soil test to the county extension office or visit with you local nursery or garden center to get new ideas.

 We wish you a happy New Year and hope 2013 exceeds all your dreams in your garden and in your life.