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By Dan Gamache
To all the gardening nuts out there, happy spring! Fear not, it will come. Now is the time to get ready.
I’ve been gardening for around 50 years now. When I was a teenager, my dzedo (Slovak for grandpa) would make me help in his gardens. I would’ve preferred playing ball up at Sandhill or swimming down at Intervale and Rocky Bottom, but instead I did the weeding and hoeing under his watchful eye.
I didn’t realize at the time that he would be my first gardening mentor.
Gardening then was not a hobby or the passion that it is now, but rather a source of food. Baba, (Slovak for Grandma), would spend fall days canning.
Gamache is French, so how did I get a dzedo? My French dad broke the unwritten rule and crossed the Sabattus River bridge from Lisbon to Lisbon Falls and married a Slovak girl.
In any case, enough about me. It’ll soon be time to start your seeds and play in the dirt, even though you’ll be doing it inside. Seed packets and catalogs recommend starting tomatoes and peppers four to six weeks before setting out, but in Maine, you need more time. I start eight weeks before June 1, so that’s March 22.
Other things, like the cabbage family, can wait until four to six weeks out. So, let’s concentrate on peppers and tomatoes.
CONTAINERS
Don’t start your seeds in the big deep six packs – you’ll just have to transplant later into more deep six packs. Get the plastic starter trays that have six, 12, 36 or 72 cells and come with a clear top.
SOIL
Gardening articles will say to fill your cells with potting soil, which is a catchall term for all bagged soils. Don’t take it literally. The bags labeled potting soil contain that heavy black stuff, which is made for repotting house plants. If you start your seeds in it, it will tum hard and crusty after a few waterings. Look for Pro-mix or Gro mix. They are light and stay that way. I mix Pro-mix with peat moss, which makes a great seed starting medium. You can buy smaller amounts in bags labeled “seed starting mix.”
VARIETIES
The types of tomatoes or other vegetables you plant depend on advice, experience or what looks good in a catalogue. Don’t rely on catalogue photos, ask farmers and neighbors who have great gardens what to plant.
Another mentor, Joe Karkos, of Lisbon Falls, swore by John Baer, Bush Champion and Patio tomatoes. One year he tried Bonney Best and loved them. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that’s just another name for John Baer. Charlie up on the hill likes the old Fireball tomato. Little John and Margaret in Freeport liked Roadside Reds. Those seem to have disappeared. George J. on High street planted Jetstars.
Some are determinate, some indeterminate. Read up on that if you need to. It’s important.
PLANTING
Don’t put soil in your planters, plant, and then water. Instead, put soil mix in a pail and moisten it, stirring it well. If it’s a little dry, add more water. If it’s too wet, add more dry soil until it’s just right — moist and crumbly. Don’t use treated city water. If you have a well, you’re OK, otherwise, use bottled spring water. Get it cheap at dollar stores. When you can, collect rainwater, so much the better.
Plant seeds according to directions and cover with more mix, but not the same day. Let the watered mix warm to room temperature before you plant.
Cover your planting with the clear plastic cover. The covers never come with air holes, if you don’t want to cook your seeds or grow mold and fungi on the soil surface, punch a few holes in the cover. Never use a closed plastic bag, as is suggested in some articles. Air circulation is needed.
LIGHT
If you have southeast and southern exposure windows, you’re all set. If not, use lights or lamps. You don’t have to buy expensive “grow lights.” Just put your plants under a lamp.
Tum the trays when the plants lean toward the window to keep them straight and strong.
THINNING
If you plant more than one seed in a cell, which is recommended for old seed, you’ll usually get two or three plants in one cell. Thin it to one. Some articles say to pull out the ones you don’t want, but don’t do that. The young tender roots of the plants are probably grown together, so if you pull, you may also pull out the one you want to keep. Instead, use a small scissor and cut off the ones you don’t want at soil level, leaving the one you want undisturbed. I learned this from old Joe when he saw me pulling out. Gave me heck and said I needed more lessons. He was right again.
Next is transplanting, hardening, planting out and care. Those are stories for another day.
Good luck and have fun.
