When do I plant?

They have a saying around here that you dont plant your plants until after easter to avoid the freeze. I say, I will trust the trees. Any old timer reading this will know exactly what i am talking about. When i say that i will trust the trees, i am referring to the blooming of trees. When my pear trees start to bloom, I plant my seeds. This is also about the time that you will notice bulb flowers blooming out as well. Then when my pecan trees bloom I know that it is officially spring and it is time to plant in the ground. You see no matter the date, the tree cannot be fooled. It can tell when to lose its leaves and for sap to draw toward the roots so that we can remove limbs for the health of the tree (although pecans are self pruning sometimes removing damaged limbs is necessary). It is merely a tree, but with its roots entertwined with the earth it has a better perception of time that we could ever imagine.

If you had no other way of telling what time of the year it is, the trees will tell you.Forget the calendar. With the weather as unpredictibable as ever we could all use a little help at deciphering when is the right time. And with the help of modern technology and
constant sharing on social networks it is easy to get confused when you see someone planting their tomatoes when you still have inches or feet of snow in your part of the country. This is especially confusing to the novice gardener. Big box stores are not making it easier for newbies either. It is not yet time to plant yet i see many stores already selling seedlings even though it hit 30 degrees here last night. When you are new to planting, trusting in the stores to tell you when it is time to
plant can hurt if you do not have a back up plan in place to keep your seedlings from freezing. On our homestead we save milk cartons and a relative saves soda bottles so that if we do need to cover our seedlings when we plant early they do not die.

If you can plant early and have the materials to protect your plants I would highly recomend planting early. You will be seeing the fruits of your labor sooner rather than later. Another mistake that you see a lot of new garders make is buying the single tomato plants in a pot because it already has fruit on it. These plants may already be producing but they are also stunted and more expensive. If you buy a six pack of tomatos it can cost you a few dollars where as if you purchase the single
tomato that is already producing it will cost you a whopping ten dollars. When i say that the plant is stunted i mean that if you purchase the six pack of plants, the plants could potentially grow taller than most people given the right conditions.Our tomato plants generally grow to about five to six feet tall. So i say save the money you would spend toward the single plant and use it to buy compost, manure, kelp meal, azomite. Whatever catches your gardening fancy. Gardening doesnt need to be some long thought out process where you pour your life savings into it. Dandelions in sidewaks are proof of that.


 In the mean time while you are waiting to grow you can have your soil tested by your local extension agent. Here we use LSU-ag for our soil testing needs. The charge can range from 10-45$ for soil testing but it help you to know what is in your soil so that you have ultimate growing conditions. For example if your nitrogen levels are too high it can inhibit flower bloom in your plants and therfore decrease your bounty. Dont confuse getting a soil sample testing with testing your ph. Although  they will tell you your ph, it is a much more extensive test and most offices are willing to work with you and help you get your optimal soil. Whether you want to go organic or not there are lots of options. I recently visited a place that sold many of the options here locally. The great thing too is that not only is this place local they also ship world wide.


I found this place through the azomite website. The name of this place is called Pure earth botanicals.
Really it is an old church turned business so it fits nicely in the neigbohood and doesnt bombard your eyesite with gravel parking lots like a big box nursery would. Not that i am against big nurseries but it would be nice to see them growing some of the things that they sell and teaching sustainable methods of doing so. Which is exactly what this business is doing.
From the road you can see the garden bed with edibles and a giant compost mixer. They have a facebook page you can follow at
www.facebook.com/pureearthbotanicals

They are located at 300 W. Lincoln Street Sulphur, Louisiana 70663
They also ship world wide and are the cheapest i have found
in the state for azomite (and if you do not know what azomite is, it is an omri certified addition for soil to help rebuild
trace minerals. check them out on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/AZOMITE) 
If you are not local you can find them at www.soilminerals.com where they sell everything from ammendments to an organic, mineral
balanced miracle grow. Check them out and get your soil ready. So when the time is right you can grow some of your own yummy
produce in your very own garden.