Here’s this week’s Garden Calendar from Lisa Johnson, Dane Co UW Extension horticulture educator:

“Vegetables: It should now be safe to plant certain cool season crops. If you plant too early, in cold, wet soil, seeds are likely to rot instead of germinating. That’s where an inexpensive soil thermometer that you can buy at your local garden center can be really handy. Seed potatoes need a minimum soil temperature of 40 degrees to sprout. Beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce and spinach all need a minimum soil temperature of 45 degrees to germinate. Peas need a minimum temperature of 50 degrees to germinate. You may also now plant out seedlings of spinach, chard, mustards, kale and lettuce that you started inside, but will need to cover them if frost is predicted.

Flowers: Pansies, violas, sweet alyssum, diascia, nemesia, snapdragons and stock plants can be set outside, but may need to be covered if frost is predicted.

Perennial and annual beds: If you haven’t already applied mulch in fall or earlier in the spring, now is the time to get it done before your plants get so large that you are stepping on them while trying to spread mulch. Shredded hardwood mulch and composted leaf mulch are two very good products to use that will enrich the soil, improve its structure and help retain soil moisture. Top dress with one or the other to a depth of about 2 inches annually or every other year. Cocoa bean mulch, although it smells wonderful and has an appealing color and texture, is not recommended. It can be toxic to pets, it is toxic to certain plants such as tomatoes and lilacs, and has been associated with spores of Southern blight fungus.”

In this week’s Outdoor Project Video, we feature LP Smartside Siding residential installation with the professionals from Lindus Construction. This video has had over 10,000 views!

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