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| Photo: Nancy Shepard |
With such nice weather last week, I cleared a space in my garden for planting some cool-season veggies:
· Arugula (Eruca vesicaria ‘Rocket’)
· Spinach (Sinacia oleracea ‘Lavewa’)
· Snap Peas (Pisum sativum ‘Sugar Snap’)
· Snow Peas (Pisum sativum ‘Oregon Sugar Pod II’)
I like to use Botanical Interests seeds because they are a local company (Broomfield, CO) and because all the seed packets are hand-drawn by botanical artists. Many of their seeds are organic.
The packages said soil temperature needed to be at least 40 degrees. Not until I enrolled in the Colorado Master Gardener program did I ever think about the temperature of the soil. I had only paid attention to the air temperature. With no soil thermometer, I used a meat thermometer which read 60. I really doubt it was actually that warm, but nothing was going to stop me.
I pre-soaked the peas as the packet suggested to aid in germination. I carefully followed the directions for spacing and soil depth and sprinkled a little water to hopefully get some early sprouts. The next day the temperature dropped from 70 degrees to barely 27 as the high on the next day. My newly planted veggies were covered in 2 inches of snow. Three days later the Arugula was up and growing! Cool season veggies are truly “miracles in the snow.”
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