Wait until your soil is dry before planting

QHow do you prepare plots for seeding and transplanting vegetables and flowers? What fertilizer(s) do you use?

A: Planting has been delayed this year because of cold, wet conditions. Seeding or transplanting into wet soils is a recipe for disaster in the form of rotting, especially if soil temperatures remain cold.

When soils have lost their sogginess, it’s time to get plots ready for planting. Here is what I do.

First, clean an area designated for planting. Clear away weeds and debris. Then dig the area carefully and pull out any wandering roots, rocks and other offending bits. This is most important in plots where root vegetables are to be seeded. Removing obstacles and breaking up clods of earth help to clear the path for nicely formed roots.

The next step is to spread a modest layer of compost, sprinkle fertilizer over the plot and lightly fork or rake it in. Then seeding or transplanting can be done. The actual seeding or transplanting is the smallest part of the process. The health, productivity and beauty of a planting depends on the soil quality. Most coastal soils will need liming as well, except for plots where potatoes will grow.

For decades now, I’ve used all slow-release, natural source fertilizers. These are available pre-mixed wherever organic fertilizers are sold. For mixing your own, some outlets carry seed meals (nitrogen source), bone meal and rock phosphate for phosphorus, kelp meal and greensand for potassium, and lime to counter the seed meal acidity.

I’m ever fiddling with formulas, but here is a basic one.

4 parts (by volume) mixed seed meals (alfalfa, cottonseed, canola)

1 part lime (ideally half dolomite, half calcium carbonate) 1/2 part bone meal 1/2 part rock phosphate 1 part kelp meal For transplanting, I use liquid fish and seaweed fertilizer, combined in a dilute solution. These deliver a multitude of trace minerals.