Planting season is germinating in the minds of many as the recent warmer weather encourages blossoming and growth.
Now is the time to begin starting seeds indoors for spring and summer gardens, Christina Meriwether, Leflore County Extension agent and coordinator, said.
“Anything you’ll be able to grow in the early spring or summer months, you need to go ahead and start seeding indoors. That would include tomatoes, bush snaps, leafy greens, lettuce and sweet peppers,” she said, naming a few.
To start a garden crop indoors, Meriwether said, paper egg cartons will work, and plants can either be seeded in the leftover egg shells or directly in the carton.
But, she said the type of container in which a plant is seeded does not necessarily affect the health or outcome of the seed. “I’ve used all different kinds of containers. You can use Jiffy containers, egg cartons, but the paper ones are better than the styrofoam. I recycle my produce containers from the store,” Meriwether said.
She added that as long as the seeds have enough drainage, are kept warm in a “nice sunny spot” and watered adequately, they should do well in an indoor environment.
Meriwether did not recommend transplanting seedlings into the ground until April. “We usually get our last freeze in April, so if you get the seeds started now, you can get them planted (in the ground) in late April,” she explained.
Meriwether did, however, recommend gardeners begin perusing seed catalogs and ordering seeds ahead of time, “especially if they want to get any kind of heritage or a certain kind of seed.”
The outcomes of seeds will depend on the soil conditions in which seeds are planted, water and light content, and how pests are controlled. Meriwether suggested gardeners invest in a soil testing kit before they plant to ensure seeds have everything they need to grow into a harvestable crop.
Composting, while helpful and better for the environment as opposed to traditional fertilizers, Meriwether said, needs to occur only in conjunction with soil testing.
“If you compost, you need to do a soil test first and see what you need to add to your soil,” she said. Importing earthworms to your soil can also aid the health of your garden.
For flowers and shrubs, ideal conditions have more to do with the weather than the soil, though soil conditions are still important.
Karien “Little Bit” Greene, who works at the Old Time Farmers Market, said owner Martin Tribble told her that the hard freeze this past December might not have killed bushes and shrubs that appear to be dead.
“We put up and covered as much as we could, but some of our evergreens were left out. They turned brown, but we kept them and warmed them, and now we’re using them again,” she said.
Tribble told Greene that the plants, like the people who live in the Delta, are accustomed to warmer temperatures.
“He said it really depends on the environment ... so if the plants turn, just let them keep doing what they’re doing. If they don’t turn (back healthy), it’s time to uproot them,” Greene explained.
Since the freeze Greene referenced, Jackson-based horticulturist Felder Rushing has suggested that gardeners worried about the health of their bushes and trees wait until this time of year to gauge the damage brought by the freeze.
Rushing also suggested that when appraising the health of damaged shrubbery, gardeners should check for splits in the limbs and, if pruning, do so below the splits. This allows the plant to have its best chance at continuing to live.
Greene said that she kept her plants watered and in their regular environment, and they are again healthy.
New flowers and shrubs need to be planted and cared for in consideration of the weather that may come. Greene said right now, flowers that are ready to go in the ground include zinnias, petunias, lantanas and marigolds.
In addition to regular garden flowers, native plants can help round out a home garden.
Dr. Philip Barbour, a retired central region botanist and biologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, suggested planting perennials.
“Annuals make their seeds one year, and they’ll be really pretty and showy, but then they’ll die and you’ll just have to replant them the next year,” Barbour said.
He suggested perennials in the genus salvia, which includes mint plants like rosemary, for example. Native plants also help improve air quality, which in turn helps improve the quality of what is grown in a home garden. Rudbeckias, or black-eyed Susans, are one example of pretty native plants.
Barbour said these can be found in the wild and transplanted to a garden, or purchased as seeds and planted.
For row crops, an additional element to preparation for planting season may include early seed treatment or in-furrow insecticides to protect crops from insects in the soil. This can prevent problems later on a crop’s return.
An article published by the Mississippi State Extension Service suggests that seed treatments may be especially helpful in the case of early planting or when soil is cool and wet.
Don Cook, an entomologist with MSU, told Bonnie Coblentz, senior extension advisor, that “These conditions slow the seed germination and plant development, keeping it susceptible to damage from soil and aboveground insect pests longer.”
Chad Hankins, another extension agent with MSU, said the cold snaps the Delta has experienced in the last several months won’t affect crop conditions or harm planting at all.
He said this time of year, the biggest worry is excessive rain, because it would put farmers behind in their planting cycles. “Fields need to be dry enough to drive in, but damp enough to allow seeds to germinate,” Hankins said.
Farmers begin planting corn in mid-March as long as the soil is dry and around 50 degrees.
Soybeans will follow in late March and early April, then into June if conditions hold up. Cotton planting will begin in April and continue into May if weather permits.
Hankins said most soil would have been prepared for planting after the harvest last fall, but any additional preparations will be made soon, before planting begins.
Contact Katherine Parker at 662-581-7239 or kparker@gwcommonwealth.com.
