Plants to Start Early, Like Now!
Yay! Let’s talk early early starters! You can actually start a few unexpected plants from seeds, but they need to get planted early early in the pre-growing season.
This year, we are featuring rhubarb seeds and yucca seeds. These will need to be started as early as possible. Rhubarb needs to be started 2-3 months before the last frost. Seeds can be found in the Seed Lending Library on the 2nd floor of the Steele Memorial Library.
The yucca seeds we have on hand will be available around mid-February. They are currently in cold storage (cold stratification-it helps them germinate) and will not be available until then, but that will still give you plenty of time to get them going.
Heads up: other seeds to get a move on soon are broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, tomatoes and head lettuce, although, these may be started a few weeks later than the above.
Check out this handy seed-starting calendar courtesy of the Old Farmer’s Almanac:
https://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-calendar/zipcode/14901
Other Things to Do This Month:
- Check out the new seed catalogs! Either online or in your mailbox, it’s a fun way to prep for the upcoming season.
- Some leisurely tree and shrub pruning, before the sap starts to run, nothing aggressive, just the branches that are inconveniently brushing against your car or simply bugging you.
- Continue to enjoy the down time before things rev up again.
Caroline Poppendeck, Librarian
Steele Memorial Library