The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: pgkevet on April 01, 2017, 02:58:02 pm
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I was walking my dally today and it occurred to me that most planting dates are simple calender dates oe has to make allowances for depending where you live. Wouldn't it be better to go by what else is around- as in ' sow your leek seeds indoors when the snowdrops flower' or 'sow your peas when the bluebells come out'....? It should relate to combos of time of year and soil temps better that way?
What struck me most is that I've got the bluebells fully greened with earliest spikes on the south facing hill woodland but only just breaking through the soil on the north facing.
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I've thought that for a while, but someone pointed out that the native plants are getting a bit confused now as well :-\
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Depends what you mean by confused.. if it's coming up at different seasons but doing oK then that#s exactly what we need to follow. If coming to harm then obviously not the way to go.
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I suppose I do something like that with certain plants, such as brassicas, which I sow when the flowers on last year's plants are opening.
Mainly though I keep a note of planting dates each year, plus extremes of weather and results, so I have established a pattern for here, over the years.
I agree that in some instances wild plants do know what they're doing, but not always. Some plants do seem to get caught out by late frosts, damaging winds etc. In the end, I think you just have to trust your judgement, and maybe try several sowings to be sure of good results.
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Different wild plants will respond to didderent environmental cues and have different requirements for the length of cold period they require for stimulation or the specific temperature. Where we are, autumn and early winter were cold so the snowdrops were a month later this year compared to last but over the last month it has been warm and the trees are coming into leaf much earlier than last year. I tend to start sowings early and resow a few weeks later if required. I also have fleece handy for late frosts and watch the weather forecasts carefully.