One of the surest signs of the start of a new year at our house is the arrival of the latest edition of the Old Farmer's Almanac. My calendars do not go up on the wall for the new year until all applicable planting and harvesting days have been marked.
I learned to follow the Farmer's Almanac when I was very young. Both of my grandmothers swore by the publication, which had been viewed as the gospel by gardeners and farmers since it was first published in 1792.
According to the 2011 edition, we are supposed to have a cooler than normal winter and spring this year, with snow near the end of January and again sometime in mid-February. For more, you should get your own copy. Several local businesses carry it, including That Bookstore In Blytheville and Lowe's.
By contrast, planting times are much earlier this year than they were last year. Now, I know there are people, including my good friends at the Cooperative Extension Service, who use things like past planting seasons and the last possible frost date to determine when to plant gardens or crops. But then, there are folks like me, who were tutored in gardening by grandparents, who have pretty much always planted by the cycles of the moon, which is the way planting dates are determined in the Almanac.
So, for those of you planting peas this year (not cow peas, real peas), those planting dates are in late January this year rather than mid-February as usual. Planting dates for carrots and radishes begin in early February, and for potatoes, lettuce and spinach go from February through mid-March.
Planting dates for tomato plants this year are late March. I cannot remember ever seeing a planting date that early for a tomato plant in this area.
The weather forecasts go on to say we are in for a very hot and very dry summer. That would, of course, explain at least some of the very early planting dates. Most vegetables will not produce fruit once the temperature goes above 90 degrees or so. That is what happened last year. Early gardens were fairly productive, but the mid summer vegetables burnt up.
One thing that surprised me a little is that the Almanac calls for snow in our area in October of next year. We will have to wait and see about that.
Regardless of what you use to create your garden plan for the year, now is the time to do that planning. If you wait until it is time to plant, it is too late. The first thing you should do as soon as you begin to till and prepare your garden area is take a soil sample to the Cooperative Extension Service. It is a free service, and will give you valuable information about what type of soil preparation you need to do.
Then, you need to draw out your garden plan. Make sure you move all your veggies around the garden. I have a couple of raised beds I use for specific plants, but I mulch heavily and add garden soil to those beds every year to keep from having problems caused by planting the same crop in the same place each year.
For the rest of the garden, I simply shift everything around. All this takes is for you to take a sheet of paper outside and walk around the area you garden, noting what is there and deciding what other crop to plant in that place next season. Then draw it up like a map and keep it where you can find it when you start planting.
There are a number of resources you can use to help decide what to plant in the space you have. The Cooperative Extension Service can be reached at 762-2075. They would be more than glad to help you, as would the Master Gardeners, who can also be reached through that number.
In addition, most gardening companies are offering coupons and free merchandise if you order your garden seed now. They can be located by doing a search for garden and nursery companies, but the ones from which I regularly order are Henry Fields and Farmers Seed.
I am always happy to hear from my readers. Send me your comments to the e-mail address listed below.
plenbooks@live.com