I don't know for sure, but I would guess that you're going to end up needing to replant. I always wait until Mothers day to plant most of my garden, because it's too likely to freeze out if I plant before then.

Leave them covered! They have the best chance of surviving if they stay warm. Spinach and lettuce are somewhat cold hardy, but don't uncover them until after it warms up tomorrow or even Saturday if this sticks around. You probably will have most of them survive if you covered them last night.
Good Luck

B

I'll be planting most of my garden around Mother's Day, as you suggest bpgreen. But I have read that spinach, lettuce and peas like to be planted in the spring and can handle frosty temperatures, as long as they are covered. Billie Ladybug, thanks for your response. I'll keep them covered until it warms up and hope for the best!

That's good to know. Maybe I can start planting some cold hardy plants earlier. My first year of gardening in Utah I planted three times because I kept getting frozen out, and I guess it's been once bitten twice shy since then.

I would leave 'em covered until it warms. Last Oct when we had that wet snowstorm, I covered mine with a row cover and a tarp. Worked fine and we had spinach up to Thanksgiving dinner.

I usually get my spring spinach planted around the first or second week of April and use row covers or sheets on really cold nights with little problem.

Good luck!

Hi didi,

Its time to curl up in front of the fireplace and stay warm inside while your spinach and lettuce are happily living out in the snow. TheyÂll be fineÂeven if you hadnÂt covered them last night! Since you did, I agree with Billie, and IÂd just leave them covered till tomorrow or Saturday morning. Lack of sun for a couple days isnÂt going to hurt them at allÂthey wonÂt really be growing when itÂs this cold anyway. YouÂre right! Spinach/swisschard, lettuce, and peas are cool season crops and are best planted early. TheyÂll do much better than planting them later (like I usually wind up doing!), and then having it get too hot out too early and they just kind of peter out. This year I got mine in earlyÂfinally! Just got them in a week ago, and theyÂre not up yet, but if they had been, I wouldnÂt have done anything to themÂeven if the temps were getting down into the teens. I canÂt explain how, but spinach and lettuce can take it! And, if they have snow on them, snow is the perfect protection for hardy plants. But even if the snow they got has melted off already, theyÂll still be fineÂwith or without a cover. Relax and watch the pretty snowÂwhich hopefully wonÂt turn into 3' tonightÂand wouldnÂt be so pretty if it did! Now, if you had started them in pots indoors, and just planted them out, then you might have a problem, but having started outside, theyÂre already hardened offÂeven though our temps havenÂt been getting quite this cold.

The sweetpeas (flowers) I plantedÂtoo lateÂlast year, just kind of struggled along and bloomed kind of feebly during the summer. It was just too warm by the time I got them in. In fall when I was pulling the whole batch out, I found a couple that had never even gotten big enough to bloom, so, since they hadnÂt produced seed, they didnÂt die when they "were supposed to." I decided to leave those couple in to see what theyÂd do over winter. They were buried under the snowÂlike everything elseÂmost of the winter, but then the snow melted off and they were subjected to the VERY cold temps we got a few times. TheyÂre fine! Now that itÂs warming up enough for them to get going again, theyÂre looking GREAT! I just got my row of sweetpeas in for this yearÂearly enough this time that I hope I actually get some flowers to bring in the house, but if anything happens to the seeds, at least I know IÂll have a couple that look good this yearÂthe ones that have been out there all winter.

And I have some other perennials out there that are blooming already, because of the warm tempsÂsweet violets, rock cress, a creeping veronica, and a couple others, and IÂm not doing anything to "help" them. Some are covered with snow and some arenÂt, but theyÂll all be fineÂflowers and all.

So relax and have a cup of hot chocolate. The time to worry is when the hail starts in a month or so! ;-)

Happy spring snow,
Skybird

P.S. Now that theyÂve germinated, donÂt be watering them too much. Start leaving the soil dry out about halfway before watering again. TheyÂll develop a much better root system if they have to "go looking" for the water. And donÂt judge from the surface when they need to be watered. Dig down in a couple inches near them to decide if they need waterÂand several inches down in when they get bigger. With the moisture weÂre getting now, and the cold temps, they may not need to be watered for several days or a week. And it saves you water too! :-)

Hi all,

I should have just posted this in my reply up abovebut I didnt! ;-)

Very recently, on another thread, Steve/digit posted a link to this germination temperature information site, and its a really great reference for when to plant what! You dont need to measure the temp of your soil, but just by looking at what germinates at what temp, you can figure out what order to plant things in. Notice the things that will germinate even if the soil is 32 degrees! And, plants take care of themselves very well, so if theyll germinate that cold, theyll grow that cold. I never knew beets, carrots, and parsnips could go in quite that early, so I need to get mine in as soon as I can. That probably explains why I never get a very good crop of parsnipswhich I LOVE! Ive been blaming it on my soil, but I guess its because Im putting them in too late. After seeing this chart, I had been planning to take my instant read meat thermometer out to the garden and checking to see what the temp actually isjust out of curiositybut didnt get around to it, so now I guess Ill have to wait a week till it warms back up again. Oh, and I dont grow them, but for anybody who wants radishes, its time to get them in tooand onions (not sure if that includes sets, or just seed!)

The Middle of May/Mothers Day planting date is for things with tender foliage that would freeze at 32 degreesthe most common things being tomatoes, eggplants, and peppersand for seeding things like cukes, melons, squash, beans and other warm season type crops. And, Im not sure exactly when since I dont have room to grow them, but the cabbage-type things need to go in pretty soon toocabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, etc. I need to get my kohlrabi's in! I always put them in too late too!

So put on your woollies and get out there and plant,
Skybird

Skybird, thanks for your great info. So, did you plant snap peas already then? If so, did you cover them last night? Or did you just let them enjoy the snow? I planted mine this past Sunday and covered those as well.

Seems like lettuce/spinach/peas will succeed better some springs than others. If high temps come early, then our produce won't do so great, right?

And thanks for your watering advice. I was watering everyday, but thought that might be overkill. Just didn't know how much to water. But once I take my tarp off, I'll check a few inches deep and see how the soil feels.

Well, here's hoping to a nice spring. And in the meantime, I'm enjoying a cozy night at home!

Hi didi,

Im not sure youll see this yet today if youre all snuggled in for a long winters night, but if I dont reply now, Ill probably forget it!

Yep! All the peas are in! Eatin type and bloomin type! And, nope! Didnt cover anything! Theyre out playing in the snowwhich Im getting more of right now! I dont recall ever covering anything in springas long as its been hardened off already. Or unless it gets too cold after tomatoes or eggplants are out. But at the speed I usually get things done, its usually reliably warm by the time I get that stuff put in. (I am glad my hosta and deciduous ferns arent showing above the mulch yet!)

And, yep, hot temps definitely affect the cool season crops. If you havent grown lettuce/spinach/peas before, expect them to peter out when the heat comes. I was surprised last year that my peas actually kept producing a little bit even during the summer heatthough they sure didnt look very good, and eventually wound up covered with mildew. My veggie garden is on the east side of my house (only place I have), so I plant the cool season crops closest to the house, so they get the shade earliest in the afternoon as the sun is moving over. I think that may be what helped keep them going. And, are you familiar with swisschard? Chard is the "spinach" that will keep going when it gets too hot for spinach. Bigger leaves, but same flavor either raw or cooked. Its kind of like yams and sweet potatoes! Two completely different things, but you cant really tell which is which when youre eating them. So if you want to be sure you still have "spinach" when it gets hot out, get a packet of swisschard seed and stick some in too. Lettuce will go to seed (so will spinach) and get bitter when it gets hot, but theres no substitute for lettucebut if you have chard, you just switch to "spinach" salad!

One other thing I forgot to mention earlier, when it warms up again after a hard freeze, spinach/chard can look pretty bad for the first day, so if yours doesnt look too good when you uncover it, dont freak out and pull it out! Give it 24 hours to perk up again, and it should be just fine. Last fall when it started getting well below freezing, a couple times I thought my chard had bought it, and after a day it was all back lookin good again. I was sure it had frozen the one timebut it hadntand I was still eating it weeks later.

Its supposed to be back up to 60 by Saturday,
Stay warm tonight,
Skybird

Hmmmm...might have to give swiss chard a try. I've never eaten it (that I know of) and it sounds like it's alot less tempermental than spinach and lettuce.

I uncovered my plots today and discovered more little buds on my lettuce and spinach! They look none worse for the wear. Maybe I am a little too overprotective of my little garden, huh? :)

Thanks everyone for your help!

Have you ever had beet greens? Beets and chard are the same species and so beet greens taste pretty much the same.

I've started planting spinach in August, and then getting a first crop in Sept and Oct. It will send down a taproot for moisture. It over winters easily and will show signs of green all winter long. If the deer hadn't found it, I would have picked a crop already this spring. It does very well in March and April.

We had 18º temps this past week, and it didn't phase it, or the garlic, or the daffodils, or all the weeds that are already flowering.

David, is this in a coldframe or something? I thought spinach was an annual. I wintersowed some a couple of weeks ago, and they are already growing like crazy. The only problem is I don't have a bed made for yet. Still researching lasagna beds vs. raised beds, sq.ft. gardening etc. Can't wait to taste that first spinach salad ... yum, yum!

Hi highalt,

Im sure David means they were out in the groundcompletely unprotected, and Im also sure hell be along the tell you that too!

Spinach and chard ARE annuals, but that means they go through a growing and blooming cycle, and then die after they produce seed. When you plant them in fall, they dont bloom till the following summer, and, since they can take the cold, they just keep going until it gets hot again and they bolt/bloom, set seed. I was planning to put some in last fall, but never got around to it. :-( I even bought a special one, Samish, which is supposed to be "winter hardier" than the others, to try. Oh, well! I just planted some for spring, and I still have plenty of seed for THIS fall.

But I did have a couple chard plants that got going late in the summer last year that kept going right up until the snow. Then, after being buried under snow for almost 2 months, they still looked fine when it melted off. BUT, then, as the soil was staying saturated with the snow melting off around them, they rotted and gave up the ghost! But it wasnt the cold that got them!

And, if you just sowed some spinach seed a couple weeks ago, it wasnt wintersowed, it was springsowed! LOL They should be really taking off soon. If you cant put them in the ground yet, just be sure theyre in big enough pots to grow well. Butresearching time is about over, girl! Its time to plant! Why dont you just turn over a veggie area and get started! If its really bad clay, mix in a few bags of WalMart compost. You can do more planning next winter! Otherwise youll wind up doing what I always do and get stuff in too late.

Cnetter, do you use beet greens just when the leaves are small, or can you still use them when they get big? Ive never done it because I only have room for a few beets and I dont want to be pulling the leaves off of them, but maybe Ill need to try beet greens this yearat least once.

And, didi, if youre checking out the swiss chard, look for either Northern Lights or Bright Lights. Theyre WAY cool! The stems are all different BRIGHT colorsyellow, gold, red, pink, maroon. When I use itraw or cookedI always chop up part of the stems too because its so pretty! And if youre overprotective, you have a lot of company! There are lots of people who worry about the cold temps more than they need to. Its like any other part of gardening, it just takes a while to figure it all out and get comfortable with it. If my deciduous ferns or hosta start coming up and THEN we get another cold snap, I WILL be covering them up. The warm temps ARE throwing some things off this year, so if youre wondering about/worrying about something else, just ask! :-)

It was in the upper 50's here today. Suns gone now, so its cooling, butspring is back!

Skybird

Point taken, Skybird! Actually I just got back from our local garden center, and they were helping me calculate how much compost I would need for that area. The problem with just going out there and digging it up is that the sprinkler system runs underneath that area. So my thought was to go up instead of down. I am just not crazy about the wooden box look that most raised beds have, but if I just make a raised bed without the timbers, than all of the soil will wash, or blow away. This herb/veggie bed is going in front of the fence in the front yard (see picture), otherwise I would be so concerned about the appearance.

... and Skybird thanks for explaining the spinach lifecycle in laymens terms for me. I only sowed 1/2 the seeds, so I have some left to start a fall crop. Yippee!

In front of the fence to the right of the gate, hialt, rather than to the right of the fence in what looks like a vacant lot? In other words, are you digging up the sod? As long as youre careful, theres no reason why you cant turn the soil over around the sprinkler system lines and plant over them. When I started taking out sod along my fence so I could put perennials in, the line runs right along the fence and I had to be careful and work around it, but this is the third year Ive had perennials growing there. The problem I had was that my yard is one big mass of cottonwood roots, and I was used to just (violently) ripping them out when I was digging in other areas of the yard, and when I got to the fence area, I suddenly had to be very careful until I figured out if what I was running into was more roots or the sprinkler line. (And they were running on top of each other sometimes!) If it was roots I RIPPED into them, and if it was the line I just carefully dug around it. It would be more inconvenient in a veggie area because youd be turning it over a couple times a year, but you could do it. Theres a cable line or something that runs thru my tomato garden, and when I found it I stuck a flag in so I know where to watch for it whenever Im turning it over. ButLOLI almost DID rip it out before I figured out what it was! I was busily (unhappily) tearing thru all the roots when I ran into one I couldnt get the shovel to go thruso I dug down in to see what I had run into, and it was a wire! I dont think I damaged it, but I dont care if I did! I dont have cable! And it could be a phone line, but it didnt mess with my phone service! So when you find exactly where the line is, get some heavy duty coated wire in red or something that will be visible, and stick pieces in every here and there so you dont need to be so careful next time.

Are there any sprinkler heads in that area? If you were to put in a raised bed, wouldnt you be burying them? I dont see any good way to do a raised bed without just putting in railroad ties or something similar. And from what I can see, I agree with you, I dont think a "box" right there would look too good. And a berm wouldnt work very well for growing veggies. Isnt there space in the backyard for veggies?

If you want a little more info about the life cycles of plants, perennials are very similar to annuals in a very basic way. Annuals grow, bloom, produce seed, and die. Their "purpose in life" is to produce seed! And perennials have the same "purpose," but they do it year after year. They grow, bloom, produce seed, and then the roots (and sometimes the foliage) live over to the next year to do it all over again. But the purpose is still to produce seed. Thats why you can often keep a perennial blooming longer by deadheading it! What youre really doing is keeping it from producing seed (if you deadhead promptly)so it keeps trying to produce seed by blooming some more. Some perennials keep blooming even after theyve produced seed (to keep producing more), and some only bloom all at once and then stop whether theyve produced seed or not. So deadheading doesnt always keep them blooming longer, but it often does, and it always makes the plants look nicer for the rest of the seasonexcept for a few things that get pretty seedheads, or things you want to leave the flowers dry on for winter interest, like the upright sedums. And if you want the rest of the story-----biennials grow the first year, bloom and produce seed the second year, and then die. Except half the time they dontdie! Most of the biennials we grow in our yards produce new plantlets off of the roots each year and keep going that way. And most biennials reseed very easily too, so once you get them started, you almost always have them around. LOTS of people think annuals are just the ones that freeze every yearand thats what makes them "annuals," but its not. And, for the most part, annuals keep blooming all summer because they need to produce as many seeds as possible since theyre going to die. In warm climates a lot of annuals will go on much longer than in cold zones, but they will still just come to a natural end at some pointthey dont keep going and going and going like perennials.

So theres a primer in plant lifecycles for you! Whether you want it or not! Understanding that stuff will help make sense of other stuff too, and it helps with understanding about deadheading.

Happy spring,
Skybird

"Cnetter, do you use beet greens just when the leaves are small, or can you still use them when they get big?"

I eat beet greens when I have to thin the beets, and I've pulled up the extras. So they're pretty young. My mom was big on beet greens, and she called the fleshy part of beets "beet root".

I've planted chard "bright lights" in some of my flower beds because it's pretty. Some of it looks kind of pretty right now, because some always makes it through the winter. Not worth eating the second year though - it tastes too strong and goes to seed - like carrots do if they get left in the ground for a second year.

p.s. knowing the difference between a tender perennial (like pelargoniums/geraniums and even tomatoes) and an annual is very usefull if you like to take cuttings to overwinter. It won't work on true annuals.

I'm a little late coming to this thread because I thought it was just about your remarkably erratic Colorado weather right now . . . But, I see that you've covered a lot of ground even at Hialt's lovely new home (what a stunning view you must have out your kitchen window, Hialt! :o)

The point I thought I'd make is on the spinach/chard/beets issue. I like spinach and beet greens are just about the greatest thing in the world. But, chard . . . something happened in my childhood that put me off chard. Others may think it is so much like beet greens that I should like it but they just don't understand.

Well, here's another something a little quirky - Perpetual Spinach. I realize that it is closely related to chard (certainly more closely related to chard than spinach) but I find it different, so, please, show some tolerance.

Well, I like the stuff and have grown it off-and-on for decades. More off than on because I need to take special efforts to find the seed. It is available each year in the Thompson and Morgan catalog but I dont always order from T & M.

The best thing about Perpetual Spinach is what Skybird has praised chard for - Summer use. The Asian greens, spinach, and lettuce are shot, baby beets are all grown up, the Perpetual Spinach isn't necessarily at its best but it's still available.

Steve

"Well, here's another something a little quirky - Perpetual Spinach. I realize that it is closely related to chard (certainly more closely related to chard than spinach) but I find it different, so, please, show some tolerance."

Well, I like granny smith apples, but don't like delicious apples, so your tastes makes sense to me. Same species - different taste.

I'd never heard of Perpetual Spinach before, so I looked it up and apparently it's the same as Spinach Beet and is the same species as chard and beets.
So, since this species is a perennial, and flowers and sets seed its second year, you could let some set seed and collect the seeds or maybe even self sew.
My chard does this if I'm too lazy to pull it up. I've chard self sewed in some strange places.

I had never heard of it either, so I googled it and it looks like most of the links go to the UK. Maybe its a "perfectly British" thing! Everybody was trying to sell seed in pounds!

We had mostly chard when I was a kidcause thats the one that keeps going, so I like thatand spinacha lot. Actually, I can't tell the difference in taste.

But I WILL have to try beet greens this year! But, cnetter, I HATE to thin things! I just never have the heart to pull out all those poor little babies! I try to get the spacing pretty good when Im seeding, but since beets are compound seeds, I really SHOULD be thinning anyway. Ill just put on my mean face and go out and do it. First I need to get the seeds in pretty soonor there wont be anything to thin!

Happy (healthy) greens,
Skybird

"chard . . . and spinach . . . Actually, I can't tell the difference in taste."

Thufferin' Thuccotash, Thkybird er, Skybird!! (I spoke with a lithp . . . lizp . . . lisp; until I was seven ;o)

Cnetter, Spinach Beet would be a better name. You'd think the British would know beta . . . (oh, gosh, what day is it?)

Skybird, we've already talked about your and my appreciation for pelleted carrot seed and the advantage at spacing. One day, we will begin purchasing pelleted lettuce seed and then all will be right with the world.

The secret with the beets is to plant at just the right moment in a really, rich soil with ample watering. Crowded together, if they can grow to edible size, and that doesn't need to be much, you can thin them and rush the thinnings right to the kitchen sink for dinner. I like stir frying them with a sliced up chicken or turkey hot dog - rustic simplicity.

You know those johnny jump-up flowers you are enjoying in your yard, Skybird? They'd go very well in an ice cube with a Summer-time glass of catnip iced tea. It's all a matter of perspective!

Thteve

ROFL! Well, my veggies get a lot of waterbutrich soil? This is ROCKY MOUNTAIN gardening, Steve, NOT midwest gardening! For rich soil Id need to be planting them in store-bought soil in pots! Beets? Hmm! I dont think so!

Andall IS right with the world! Harris has pelleted lettuce seed! I think I tried to tell you that on the ABC thread a year ago! You werent listening to me! Heads up, Steve! Listen! Harris has several varieties of pelleted lettuce seed! Got it this time? I only got Buttercrunch since I have so little space, but they have two or three other varieties tooalong with their pelleted carrot seedand some other stuff. I think maybe they had a couple pelleted petunias, but Im not sure about that one. So all IS rightin MY world at least! Come join me! (I REALLY hate pulling out baby plants!)

Andviolas in ice cubes! Hmmmm! But who has time for mint juleps? (Just adding a bit of "spirit" to your idea!) Im too busy gardening in summer! When I need a break, I just move over to the shady side of the yard! to garden! ;-)

And, Thteve, I couldnt pronounce Rs until I was in HIGH SCHOOL! Id probably STILL talk funny if a teacher hadnt sent me to the speech therapist. I couldnt hear it, and I dont think my parents could either! But high school was a LOOOONG time ago!

Happy mint julipsI mean, happy shade,
Skybird

Hmmm! Have we gotten off the topic of spinach here?

Yeah, I know, I'm veering off course again, but thought I would answer some of Skybird's questions.

The veggie patch would be to the right of the gate in front of the fence. Yes that's a vacant lot next door ... for now. Yes, we will be digging up the sod, but I'm not sure we can go much deeper than that without hitting the sprinkle pipe or cutting into the electrical wires my DH ran for future landscape lighting. There is a sprinkler head at the corner of the fence and also next to the gate. DH says we can change out the type of sprinkler head from a lawn type to a mister type and extend it up at that time. Not sure about that, but he's pretty handy (engineering type) so I'll let him figure out a way to make that work. I'm just the gardener!

Thought about the backyard, but it is the only place the children can play without me worrying about what they are getting into. I don't want to take away their play area. Although I told DH that when the kids were too old for the sandbox, I'm taking it over as a raised bed, LOL! Of course, that may be a while since my youngest is only 9 months old.

Anyone else make a raised bed without the wooden box? Would love to make this look like a garden, but still be a productive veggie/herb patch.

And Digit, you are correct about that view. It makes washing dishes not such a chore. The subdivision is not built out yet though, so we may eventually lose our view when houses go in across the street : (

Hi highalt,

Your backyard looks like its pretty big! Is that an illusion? It looks like the veggie area isnt going to be too big anyway, so Id find a sunny corner in the backyard to put it, and "incorporate" your kids into the garden from day one! I bet youd love it, and I bet the kids would love it! Thats how I "grew into" gardening. I was only a couple years old when I was "helping" plant things. Corn, and beans, and peas are just the right size for kids to plant. My father would go down a row and make holes for the corn with a hoe, and Id follow him and put 3 kernels into each hole and push dirt over them. I was just the right height! ;-) Peas were always the first row next to the grass, and when I was only 3 years old I sat down on the grass next to the peas to eat someand sat on a bee! It was my introduction to beesand my earliest memory! Oh, and I DO remember it! We knew from very early on that the garden was NOT the place to play, and thats just the way it was. And give them a corner where they can plant some of their own sunflowers. A different variety for each kid. Consider it! Another possibility would be to put it in the back yard and put a short, white picket fence around it with a gate---maybe thru an arbor.

Another thing to think about is, while an herb garden can be kept nice looking, its pretty hard to keep a veggie garden looking good all summer. Stuff just gets ratty looking. And, while it will ALWAYS be beautiful to you, the neighbors might not be as wild about it. And your veggies would be open to "public pilferage" in the front yardespecially if they start building on the lot next door and there are construction workers around.

If you still want to have it in the front yard, I still think digging carefully around the lines would workthe roots arent going to hurt anything. Or, since the lines are usually very close to the edges of the sod, you could just bring the edge of the garden in that far and work inside the sprinkler lines. If you plan to still use those sprinkler heads, remember that you can only plant short things around the individual heads. If the spray is blocked by plants, youll just be wasting the water, and wont be watering parts of the area.

You might want to make this a separate thread, cause I bet a lot of people arent seeing it here under "spinach!" I think you'll get more different ideas.

Well be waiting for another picture when you decide what to do,
Skybird

"Anyone else make a raised bed without the wooden box? "

We've got a raised bed flower garden that we made with concrete blocks. These are sort of decorative blocks from the gardening section at Home Depot.

"Anyone else make a raised bed without the wooden box? "

20 pallets of Windsor Stone has gone into our raised beds, water gardens and terraces. This is probably the same stuff bpgreen is talking about.

Hialt, I have built some very simple and low retaining walls along one side of a sidewalk. The ground slopes and I put steps in the walk every 8 feet. The low walls match the steps in the flower beds. In other words, the steps are only about 8" high, so the walls are only about 8" high (but extend into the ground for another 4 - 6 inches.

I dug a trench about 6 inches down and 18 inches wide I think my walls are about 5 feet long. Laid stones the size of cantaloupes in the bottom of the trench in 3 rows. On these 3 rows of melon-sized stones, I laid 2 rows of stones, on those 2 rows, I laid 1 row. Between each layer, I shoveled in some pre-mix concrete. The concrete works better for me with these rough stones than mortar.

Thats all there was to it. The stones are basalt which is very easy to find around here. Youll hear how you need to pour a footing of concrete before you build your stone wall - - but, my "stone wall" is only 12 or 14 inches tall. They've been there about 10 years and frost has never moved them.

Rows of 3 stones, 2 stones, 1 stone - bags of premix concrete, a little water and then stir with a hoe, shovel between layers of stone - - easy, peasy.

Skybird, here's my problem with pelleted lettuce seed (which tends to be limited in selection) - we have too much fun ordering the beautiful varieties:

Nevada
Slobolt
Red Ruffled Oaks
Green Ice
Salad Bowl
Buttercrunch
Nancy
Territorial Salad Blend
Johnny's Mix
theres more, but Ive forgotten

And, I'm much more of a stir fry guy than a salad lad. So, then there are the Asian greens . . .

Thteve
(Actually, I spoke with a lisp until I was eleven and had to work really, really hard to leave it behind. The little girl who took therapy with me, never did accomplish it even tho she was twice as smart as I was and a lot cuter . . . :o)

Well, honestly, Steve! If you didnt have such a LARGE garden (she said enviously), you wouldnt have such awful problems!!!

Since your life is SO complicated, heres the varieties Harris has pelleted. (Its more than it was last year. I didnt order this year, so I hadnt looked.)

New Red Fire MTO
Slobolt MTO
Green Towers MTO
Ithaca MTO
Harmony MTO
Buttercrunch
Green Salad Bowl

What does HMO-----I mean, MTO mean? Never heard of that one before! Hmmmm! Metro Transit Organization? No! I think thats MTA, not MTO!!! He may ride forever neath the streets of Boston................ Whoops! Back on topic here!

The New Red Fire is real pretty in the picture. And you probably know more about the other varieties than I do! Ive got all my little 18" half-rows filled up with my 2 kinds of lettuce (Buttercrunch & Tom Thumb), 4 kinds of spinach, and 2 chards. Actually, for one person, thats more than enough anyway.

If youre a stir-fry guy, how come all the lettuce? Are you feeding the whole panhandle up there?

Happysoon to germinatelettuce,
Skybird

Yeah, it was HARD to changeespecially since I couldnt even hear I was saying it wrong. When the therapist taped me and played it back, I didnt even believe it was me in the beginning. lol

Smarter AND cuter? Since she was a she, maybe cuter, but certainly not smarter!!!

I totally forgot how much I love Chard and also forgot to buy seeds. Is it too late to plant? Have a week to go before the veg area is complete for planting...am a bit slow.

You guys sure have great info.

"Is it too late to plant?"

No.

Hmmm. that was brief.

"Is it too late to plant?"
No.

I've gotten a good crop of chard even when I planted June 1. Since chard doesn't bolt in the heat, it's not a problem.

I haven't planted mine yet. I'm trying to get up the energy.

Okay, brain is moving slow this a.m. I had to get another cup of coffee and reread your post, Steve, before I could get a visual of what you were describing. So if I was looking at the retaining wall from the side, would it be somewhat triangular in shape?

Skybird, it's an illusion. The backyard is actually quite small. The garage extends off the back of the house and we have an alley behind us, so the driveway is at the back. The other thing that makes using the back less appealing, is that it is sloped, which would be a lot more work, than the spot in the front, which is already level.

Okay, back to the topic of spinach, I planted 'Bloomsdale Long Standing' and the lettuce I planted is 'Merveille de Quatre Saisons'. When will they usually bolt? Since my area is so small, I'd like to plant something else in that spot for the hotter months, and then plant those again in late summer.

In case I haven't said it before, I appreciate how patient all of you more experienced gardeners are with all of my questions. I have learned so much from all of you!

Cnetter, just keep thinking how good it will beover and overand that will be motivation to get it planted! And how, when the spinach is gone, the chard will still be there.

And, emagin, you can pick up chard seeds just about anywhere, so grab a pack somewhere and get them in. Yum!

I just got the "other half" of my garden raked after the last snow. It was wonderful how the couple freezing nites had softened up the clods of soil (clay!) that were all over since turning it over (when it was still a little bit too wet), and it raked out very nicely. Now I MUST get out there to get the parsnips, carrots, kohlrabis, and beets in before it gets too warm.

Heres to a good veggie year,
Skybird

You are talking about being in a hurry to plant seed in the garden . . . it is 33°F here and the Weather Service says that the windchill is 24!!

Hialt, the little walls (more like curbs) do look triangular from the side. I just walked around and looked at them but right now, they look like 1 row of stones on the ground. The soil has built up around them so much over the years. One advantage they have over a row of stone is that the weeds don't grow between them because it's concrete in there - but that's almost a moot point now that the little walls have almost disappeared into the ground.

My "O's" won't line up directly on top of each other but something like this:
O
O-O
O-O-O

Quite a lisp, er, list of Harris pelleted lettuce seed, Skybird. Usually we aren't ordering large packets just lots of small packets. Yeah, we are spending quite a bit of folding lettuce on that lettuce . . .

Steve