Published by: almanac.com

During a cold spring, it’s better to delay sowing a little to ensure the soil temperature is warm enough than to jump the gun and get disappointing results. 

Which Seeds to Start Indoors?

Not ALL seeds should be started indoors. Most vegetables grow perfectly well when started outdoors and even prefer not to be transplanted. Ultimately, it’s important to consider how each type of vegetable grows in addition to where you’re growing it.

Remember that there isn’t a hard-and-fast rule about what you can start indoors and outdoors; it varies by your experience, personal preference, location, and the plant itself. In general, we find that:

• Crops that are best started indoors include broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and tomatoes.
• Those with slower root development, like cauliflower, celery, eggplant, and peppers, should also be started indoors.
• Tender vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers are very susceptible to the cold temperatures of spring, so it’s best to start them indoors and keep them safe from unpredictable weather.
• Plants that do not transplant well and are, therefore, best started in the garden (or in outdoor containers) include cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and squash. These are all tender, however, so refrain from sowing them outdoors while frost is still a threat.
• Some plants truly resist transplanting. Root vegetables, like carrots, turnips, and beets, don’t like having their roots disturbed, so it’s usually safer to just start their seeds outdoors in the ground rather than transplant them later on. Plants with long tap roots also dislike being transplanted; examples include dill and parsley.
• Finally, plants like radishes and peas are so fast-growing and cold-tolerant that putting them right in the ground makes sense!

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While melon seedlings can sometimes be found at garden centers in spring, these fruits are so easy to grow, so there really isn’t much reason not to plant them from seed. You’ll save money and have a much more extensive selection of honeydew varieties to choose from. Order your seeds early; the best honeydew melon varieties often sell out quickly.

Honeydews, like many cucurbits, can have issues with wilts and mildews. Fortunately, disease-resistant varieties are available to help mitigate the issue. If your area commonly has problems with powdery mildew or bacterial wilts, choose varieties specifically bred to be resistant. If unsure, ask your local master gardener’s chapter or the County Extension agent near you.

Honeydews love light, slightly sandy, well-drained soil but still need moisture. A neutral pH of about 7.0 is ideal. Add a bit of compost for some fertility–melons are heavy feeders.

Plant them in a sunny spot in the hills, with room to spread. Alternatively, they can be trained to climb a trellis, but you’ll want to support the melons as they form. Vertical melons make a dramatic garden focal piece and save space.

When to Plant Honeydews

Plant honeydew melons about two weeks after your last frost once the soil has warmed. If starting seeds indoors, 2 to 3 weeks before your last frost is sufficient. Trying to transplant melons older than four weeks can stress them, and you don’t want melons crawling all over your seed starting area.

How to Plant Honeydews

Honeydews are typically direct-seeded right into the garden, but you can also start them inside a few weeks before your last frost to give them a head start.

To plant honeydews:

• Prepare the soil by adding some compost and working in, building small hills a bit bigger than a dinner plant and several inches tall.
•  Sow seeds ½-1 inch deep in hills, 3-4 seeds per hill.
•  Space hills about 36 inches apart.
• Thin to 1-2 plants per hill after the first true leaves have shown. Use scissors to snip them off and avoid damaging the remaining plants’ root systems. 

Growing

• Honeydews will spread and sprawl around like other melons. Be sure to give them enough space.
• Mulch under/around your melons to keep the weeds down and the soil moist. A layer of mulch will also reduce soil splash, which can carry wilt diseases, and give your melons a nice dry spot to lay on as they grow. They’ll be clean and attractive.
• Keep the soil moist when the plants are young. Dig your finger under the mulch. If the soil feels dry and warm, turn on the irrigation.
• Don’t provide extra water after softball-sized fruits (unless the vines are wilting or you’re in a drought). Overwatering can lead to bland fruit.
• Honeydews are ready to harvest when they have turned a creamy white–for white versions–or a bright yellow for other varieties.

Harvesting

• They should be firm and heavy for their size, and the stem end should yield slightly when pressed.
• You’ll need a knife to cut the stem. Honeydews don’t pull free or “slip” from their vines until they are overripe.
• Honeydew melons can be stored after cutting for a week or more in the refrigerator or cut up and frozen in freezer bags for mood-lifting winter smoothies and treats.

The post Planting, Growing, and Caring for Honeydew Melons appeared first on C-Medisolutions.

January was named for the Roman god Janus, known as the protector of gates and doorways, who symbolize beginnings and endings. Janus is depicted with two faces, one looking into the past, the other with the ability to see into the future. What a fitting symbol for this first day of the year; this month is our door into the new year.

History of January

The months of January and February were not originally in the ancient Roman calendar as the winter months were considered dormant, both in terms of agriculture and also in terms of making war. This was a time of peace. Until 450 BCE, the Roman calendar was 10 months, beginning in March (Martius), due to the March Equinox. Remember, March was named for “Mars,” the god of War who was also an agricultural guardian.

January Calendar

January 1 is New Year’s Day. While you’re still recuperating from the prior night’s parties, read about some other New Year’s traditions you might not know about and celebrate with some Hoppin’ John for good luck.

January 5 brings Twelfth Night, an English folk custom that marked the end of Christmas merrymaking and, in ancient Celtic tradition, the end of the 12-day winter solstice celebration. On Twelfth Night, it was customary for the assembled company to toast each other from the wassail bowl.

January 6 is Epiphany. According to the New Testament’s Gospels, on this date, the Magi—the three wise men or kings—venerated and brought gifts to the infant Jesus. Bake a beautiful Epiphany Tart or a King Cake with a lucky bean inside!

January 15 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day (observed). This holiday is held on the third Monday in January and honors the principles of this civil rights leader and Nobel Prize Winner dedicated to nonviolence.

January 17 is Benjamin Franklin’s birthday. He was not only a world-renowned statesman, inventor, and scientist but was also fascinated by agriculture. Here at the Old Farmer’s Almanac, we consider him the father of almanacs!

January Weather

In the Northern Hemisphere, January is the coldest month of the year in most regions. We’re expecting a chilly start to the New Year.

Did You Know: According to folklore, the weather of the first 12 days of the year is said to be indicative of the following 12 months.

Gardening: Start Planning!

For much of the country, January is the best time to start planning your garden for the upcoming season.

The post The Month of January appeared first on C-Medisolutions.

If you like to garden, be careful in extreme heat. Here are seven sensible tips to keep in mind during hot and humid weather. Whether you like it hot or not, it is important to take care while working outside.

Do your heaviest work early in the morning, as early in the day as possible, or in the evening. It’s good for both you and the plants. Take a cue from South American and Mediterranean countries where it is siesta time from 11 to 2 in the afternoon. Sit in the shade, relax, and enjoy your garden, listen to the birds, and watch the butterflies. The weeds will still be there waiting for you once the day cools down.

Slow down and pace yourself. Take frequent breaks. It’s okay if you can’t get as much done during a hot, muggy day as you can on a cooler day!

Keep hydrated. Drink plenty of cool water before, during, and after working outside. Don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink. And no alcohol. It just dehydrates you. Get in the habit of bringing a water bottle with you if needed. Drink in small sips to avoid getting waterlogged. If you’re feeling dehydrated, consider a sports beverage that will place the salt you’re sweating out.

Don’t forget the sunscreen! Apply the sunscreen 30 minutes before going outdoors. (I apply when I get up in the morning as part of my routine.) You may have to reapply it after sweating.

Wear a hat—a proper sun hat shades not only your face but your ears and neck as well. Wear light-colored clothes to reflect sunshine, too.

Tie a wet bandanna around your neck or even drape a wet cotton dish towel over the nape of your neck. If you have considered buying one of the fancy cooling towels, save your money. Consumer Reports tested several along with an ordinary kitchen towel (smooth, not terry cloth) and found that they only varied by about 2 degrees. Better yet, pop the wet bandanna or towel into the fridge or freezer for a while.

Go inside if you feel yourself getting overheated or breathing too heavily. Take a cool shower or spray yourself with the garden hose!

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Rosemary is an attractive perennial shrub with fragrant leaves. It’s also a popular culinary herb with a wonderful aroma and piney taste which goes well with meat, soups, and potatoes. Learn how to plant, grow, prune, and harvest rosemary the right way!

About Rosemary

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) is a compact small to medium-sized woody shrub; there’s also a trailing variety. This shrubby herb is a type of sage and grows well with other Mediterranean herbs, such as lavender and thyme. It has lovely blue flowers as well, attracting pollinators!

Drought-tolerant, rosemary grows best in warm areas, similar to its native shores of the Mediterranean Sea. In these conditions, rosemary can grow into a shrub 5 to 10 feet in height. In fact, rosemary grows so vigorously in ideal conditions that it needs yearly pruning to keep it bushy.

This herb can be grown in the ground or in a pot. If you live in Zones 7 and warmer, it grows easily as a perennial evergreen shrub that lives for many years. Rosemary is hardy down to 15 to 23°F (-10 to -5°C) so it may need winter protection. In colder areas, rosemary should be grown in a pot and brought indoors for the winter.

When growing rosemary as a culinary herb, it’s best to harvest in the spring and summer when it’s actively putting on new growth. Rosemary grows as a compact woody shrub. While all the leaves are technically edible, we usually only eat the tender leaves that form at the tips of new branches.

When to Plant Rosemary

• Plant rosemary is in spring well after frosts are gone, once the soil is starting to warm up (around 70º or 21°C). In warmer climates, plant in spring or fall.
• Most gardeners start rosemary from young plants bought at a nursery. This plant does not germinate easily from seed and seedlings are slow to grow.
• However, if you have access to an established rosemary plant, rosemary is very easily started from cuttings.
• If you wish to grow from seed indoors, just be aware it will take several years to grow the plant large enough to start harvesting.
• Start seeds or cuttings indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last spring frost.

The post Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Rosemary Plants appeared first on C-Medisolutions.

There’s nothing quite like the taste of homegrown tomatoes.  But they aren’t a plant that you can just leave to grow. Some knowledge and care is required in order to avoid common pitfalls. We’ll run through 10 tips and tricks for trouble-free tomatoes.

1. Choose the Right Variety

It may seem obvious, but the varieties you grow need to be suited to your climate. Choose cool-climate varieties for regions with shorter growing seasons and hot-climate varieties for very warm regions in order to ensure they can still produce fruit in summer.

2. Provide Heat and Full Sun!

Tomatoes are heat lovers. Be careful not to plant tomatoes in the ground too soon. Your soil temperature must be consistently over 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit (15 to 18°C). Warm the soil with black plastic a couple of weeks prior and protect seedlings from the cold with sheets or row covers.

3. Provide The Right Growing Conditions

Add plenty of organic matter in advance of planting. Quality garden compost or well-rotted manure applied lavishly, can supply enough nutrients to last the entire season, and will help with retaining moisture—a lifesaver during the heat of summer! Two weeks before planting your tomato plants outdoors, beef up that soil! Dig into the soil about 1 foot deep and mix in aged manure or compost.

4. Plant Deeply and Provide Support

Most plants need to be planted at the same depth they were growing at as a seedling or young plant. But not tomatoes! When you plant tomatoes, plant a little deeper than they come in the pot, all the way up to the bottom few leaves! Tomatoes root along their stems, so this trick helps them develop stronger roots.

5. Mulch Your Tomatoes

Don’t forget to add a blanket of mulch! It helps to conserve moisture (tomatoes love their water!) and keeps soil-borne disease spores from being splashed up onto the plants. There are many good mulches to choose from—shredded pine bark, straw, shredded leaves, grass clippings, composted leaves, or even a thick layer of newspaper. Oddly enough, red plastic has been found to increase the fruiting of tomatoes by 12 to 20%.

6. Remove Leaves and Suckers

“To pinch or not to pinch?” is a debated question. All tomatoes have suckers or side shoots that form between the main stalk and the side branches during the early growth of their plants (the crotch joint).

You definitely do not want to pinch determinate (bush) varieties, or you will have only a few fruit clusters. Since determinates bear fruit only on the ends of their branches, never clip them off, or you won’t get any fruit at all!

However, most gardeners do pinch indeterminate tomatoes (the type that keeps growing). You can pinch out the side shoots or suckers when they are young and tender. The best time is first thing in the morning when the plant is turgid. Just snap them off with your fingers.

7. Water Consistently?

Watering is one area where getting it right counts! Juicy tomato plants need 1 to 2 inches of water per week. But not all at once. Aim for consistent moisture as plants are establishing, and then, once they begin to set fruit, let the soil or potting mix just about dry out between waterings. It’s okay for the foliage to show early signs of wilting before watering, but don’t push it too far.

8. Feed, Feed, Feed

The tastiest tomatoes are gleaned from plants that have access to all the nutrients they need.

Besides prepping the soil with organic matter (compost), most gardeners also apply a slow-release organic fertilizer to the soil at planting time or apply regular liquid feeds using a product specifically formulated for tomatoes (which often has extra calcium).

9. Defend Against Disease?

Blossom-end rot is a common complaint typically caused by a lack of calcium in the fruit. Often, though, the simple cause of blossom-end rot is irregular watering, which makes it harder for the plants to absorb all the nutrients they need. To boost the calcium content of your soil, consider using eggshells, which are full of calcium.

Blight is a far more serious threat. This disease can lay waste on an entire crop within days. Good airflow will help reduce problems, as well as water at the base of plants to avoid wetting the leaves. Many gardeners even remove the lowest leaves specifically to improve airflow and minimize splashback when watering. Laying a mulch of clean, dry organic matter such as straw can also reduce splashback.

10. Harvest for Maximum Flavor

Harvesting tomatoes is an art in itself. You can harvest once the tomato is red and gives slightly to the touch. Don’t wait until it’s soft! Or you can actually harvest earlier when the tomato is half green and half pinkish-red (called the breaker stage) and ripen off the vine with no loss of flavor, quality, or nutrition.

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