What you need to have time to sow before the end of March.
New Year for all summer residents and gardeners comes in March. As you work this month, you will eat in summer and autumn. And do not look at what has melted outside the window of your home or the snow is just about to melt, it’s time to plant seeds for seedlings if you want to do this.
First, you need to learn a few important rules:
1. It is advisable to process all seeds (with the exception of pelleted ones) before planting in order to strengthen the immunity of plants and increase resistance to adverse conditions.
2. There are different methods of seed treatment. Grandmothers: using a solution of salt, potassium permanganate. Modern: treatment with biofungicides and growth stimulants.
3. If you want to speed up germination by a week, germinate the seeds. To do this, place them in a light-colored cloth, put them in a shallow dish with water at room temperature and a solution of micronutrient fertilizers. Tomatoes, beets are germinated for 4 days, cucumbers – 3 days, carrots – 5-6 days, eggplants – up to 8.
4. Prepare special containers with soil before planting. 1-2 days before the sowing start, pour water over the soil so that it subsides, and then add soil again.
5. Remember that after seed germination you will need time to pick the seedlings.
6. Select special auspicious planting days. You can use the lunar calendar of the summer resident and carry out work with plants, taking into account the phases of the moon.
There are also folk signs, relying on which our great-grandmothers worked with the land. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday were considered women’s days, and it is on such days that seeds should be sown: the land is more favorable to sowing, growth will be intense, like flowering, fruiting.
7. Try to work with soil and plants in a good mood: your emotional state also strongly affects germination and future harvest.
For the cause!
Flowers
If you want to have the earliest flower garden, then in March it is not too late to sow petunias, verbena, marigolds, night violets, sweet peas and tobacco, allisum, marigolds, Chinese carnations, verbena in containers for seedlings.
After March 15, put dahlia tubers and gladiolus bulbs in a box with wet sawdust so that they can be planted in the ground in a permanent place with the onset of heat.
Tomatoes
In the first half of March, be sure to sow undersized and medium-sized varieties of tomatoes on seedlings (you will find this information on a bag with seeds). Note that undersized varieties usually have a thick stem and the earliest ripening. They should be transplanted into the ground no later than 40-45 days after germination. And medium-sized tomatoes with high growth – up to a meter in height – require transplanting into an open-air garden in 50-55 days. These numbers must be taken into account when planting seedlings, so that you can then have time to transfer your plants to a permanent place in time: it is dangerous for seedlings to outgrow on a windowsill or indoors.
Bell pepper
Ideally, it is better to sow this vegetable at the end of February, but if you didn’t have time, then March is also suitable. Alas, peppers, unlike tomatoes, have a more capricious character – slow germination (after 10-15 days), worse seed germination. Considering this, sow with a margin and be sure to treat the seeds with a growth stimulant. By the way, you can not dive peppers, but immediately sow seeds in separate cups, later transplant directly into them in open ground. Your competent care, the creation of ideal conditions will allow the representatives of the nightshade to form a strong stem, grow the leaves and, 60-80 days after the emergence of shoots, move to a permanent place in the garden. Please note that it is necessary to plant peppers in open ground only after the last frost is stable. Do not hurry!
Eggplant
This plant is very demanding for heat and light and has one of the longest germination periods. To speed up the process, soak the seeds for 2-3 days in a damp cloth and keep in a warm place. If for some plants this is an optional condition, then for eggplants it is a must. Otherwise, you will see a timid sprout 5-6 days later. This vegetable can be transplanted to a permanent place after 70-80 days.
Cabbage
After March 15, you can sow cabbage seeds, you will see the first shoots in 10 days, and you will transfer it to open ground no earlier than 2 months later.
Carrots
This root crop is very injured during transplantation, consider this fact when sowing in containers for seedlings. Ideally, it is better to sow in self-dissolving paper boxes: you can purchase them in specialized departments, or sow carrots in a shoe or egg box. 35 days after emergence, carrots can be planted in the ground.
Celery, onion, spinach, Chinese cabbage
You can sow these plants for seedlings until mid-March.
Important!
If you live in a warm region, then, as soon as the snow melts, cover the beds with plastic wrap: this will warm the ground and be able to sow some plants directly into the ground.
Greens
The greens themselves are considered frost-resistant. So you can, if you have a bed with pre-warmed soil, feel free to sow it in a permanent place. Do not forget to cover the garden bed in cold weather with plastic wrap, and later, when the weather is stable, with lutrasil covering material. You, of course, can also sow greens in containers, and then transplant, but, alas, she does not like transplanting – it grows poorly after it.
Radish
In the last days of March, everyone’s favorite radishes can be sown directly into the ground. Just do not forget to prepare the garden in advance in the sunniest place, and a week before the date of disembarkation, treat with an EM solution and cover with foil. With the emergence of seedlings, moisten the soil well 1-2 times a day and change the film to lutrasil. You can eat this most early ripening root vegetable in 20-30 days.