Planting Time Is Now

By 250 News

February is a good month to begin thinking, planning and in some cases starting about gardening. The garden centers are already stocked with full racks of seeds and all the necessary items to start the seeds.

There are the plastic inserts that fit into the trays and the clear plastic dome which fits on top of the tray to create a mini greenhouse. Heating mats are available which are placed under the trays to generate bottom heat which aids in getting seeds to germinate quickly.

Sterile starter mix is important to start seeds in, as it is better than potting soil because the starter mix is light and airy and it contains no soil, and soil contains fungus and bacteria which can affect young seedlings causing them to die. There are also peat pellets to start seeds in. These are compressed and need to be soaked in water first for 30 minutes so that they expand before placing a seed in each pellet. You can place two seeds per pellet and if both seeds germinate snip out one of the young seedlings so that there is only one plant remaining per pellet.                         

An item that we use at home a lot is peat pots. These come in different sizes ranging from 1.5 inch to 4 inch. The nice thing about peat pots is that the entire pot is planted into the ground which means that there is no root disturbance for the plant resulting in less stress. We use the 4 inch pots for transplants mainly.

After starting cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and the ornamental cabbage and kale in the plastic inserts we transplant them into the 4 inch pots and let them continue to grow in the greenhouse and later transplant these into the garden by the end of May. By the time they are transplanted into the garden the plant is 6-8 inches tall and well on its way. It gives the plant a nice head start so that we are able to harvest fresh produce early into the season as well as choosing varieties that may require a little more time to mature.

Seeding corn seeds directly into a 4 inch peat pot have been very successful and we have been doing this for many years. This is done by first filling the pot with soil to within ½ an inch from the top and spacing 3-4 seeds an inch apart in the pot. Cover the seeds with soil and keep the soil slightly moist so that they germinate. It usually takes 5-7 days for germination and we keep them in the greenhouse for 3-4 weeks before hardening them off and planting them outside in the beginning of June after all risk of frost has passed.

February is not too early to start some seeds such as tomatoes, peppers, geraniums, impatiens, petunias, pansies, lobelia, snapdragons, salvia and many of the perennials as these all require a longer growing period before they will produce either flowers or vegetables.

So even though it is only February you can already begin to garden!

-Jos

Jos  Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Home and Garden Centres in Prince George

-Highway 97 North at Northwood Pulpmill Road

-Highway 16 west  at Kimball Road

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