Ready, set, grow!

Here's the good news: If you are chomping at the bit and want to get started in the vegetable garden, you can. You can't plant everything yet, but there is plenty you can do. Seeds that you can plant directly in the soil now include, but are not limited to, carrots, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and some greens. Onions, either as sets (little onions), or as plants, can also go in the garden now. .

Of course each garden is different: Sandy soils dry out and warm up more quickly than gardens with heavy clay, for example. Cold, wet soil is the enemy of seeds – they can rot in poorly drained soil. To germinate, most seeds want soil that is lightly moist and that is warm enough to tell them that summer is on the way.

I have a soil thermometer to guide me: Little is going to grow if the soil is cooler than 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Sixty is even better. Right now, on a gray spring day, my soil thermometer says my garden soil is just 50 degrees.

I've already planted my snap peas (Sugar Ann) in a bed I prepared last fall. In my cold frame I've transplanted some lettuce and will put chard, spinach and greens into it before this goes to press.

I like to prepare my vegetable garden beds in the fall, because that way I don't have to disturb the soil much in the spring. I don't rototill and don't recommend it unless starting a new garden and working in lots of organic matter. Why not? Because rototilling can ruin soil structure, compact wet soil into clods and bring weed seeds to the surface. And I don't want to stir up cold soil, cooling the zone where I plant my seeds.

Each fall I try to get out all the weeds, form my mounded raised beds, add compost and cover the beds with chopped leaves. In the spring I rake off the leaves to allow the sun's rays to directly warm the soil. Soil that is 50 degrees an inch down may well be just 40 degrees 4 inches down.

If you wish to warm up your soil and prepare it for planting, you can loosen it with a garden fork (or a CobraHead weeder) and rake the soil into mounded beds. Raising it up allows soil to drain better and lets air circulate a little through the fluffy soil. Adding compost to the soil and stirring it into the top 3 inches or so also improves drainage and the structure of the soil.

Clear plastic sheeting can also be used to warm the soil. Spread it out over the soil, then seal the edges with loose soil to prevent breezes from lifting the soil and blowing it away. Doing so also helps to contain the heat. On a sunny 60-degree day the space between the soil and the plastic may reach 100 degrees, which warms the top layer of soil nicely.

Leave it in place for a week or so, and you will warm the seed-planting zone nicely. You can even kill weeds by overheating them when young.

I have tried a number of commercial warming products, too. There is one called a "Wall-o-Water" or "Tomato Teepee" that is available to warm individual plants like tomatoes or peppers. It is a baffled cylinder that holds water in individual tubes that can be used to surround a young plant. During the day the sun warms the water. At night the warm water radiates heat to the plant. Each teepee can be closed at the top or left open as the plant grows up and out of it. They are available at garden centers or from Gardener's Supply Co.