WOW, what May Day weather! Working in my intensely producing raised bed, I finished pulling out most of the cilantro (which has been in various stages of blooming for a couple weeks) in a snow storm! Some of the almost two foot cilantro stalks, along with large spinach and kale leaves, were shielding stunted snap pea vines from the sun. The pea vines will now be able to take off and up the newly provided stakes and twine. Additional revamping of the bed included scratching in some compost, transplanting some of the crowded lettuce and spinach babies into open spaces, then hand watering it all with buckets of water from the fish pond and lastly carefully layering mulch over the drip lines.

My main garden area on the first of April is adrift with garlic shoots interspersed with greenhouse purchased starts like brussel sprouts, broccoli, red and green cabbage, kale of several varieties, swiss chard and onion sets in addition to radish, lettuce and other greens seeds that were previously scattered in open spaces. The sorrel and rhubarb are bulging skyward and I am waiting for the year’s second planting of peas to emerge. The garlic, planted in mid November, will be ready for harvest mid to late June. And as predicted, the arugula, cress, cilantro and some kale has begun bolting and the first planting of peas are up about 4”in the raised bed on the south wall of my shed that was started in November. For the last couple weeks I have been leaving the cover off in an effort to slow down this process. We have been passing out some of the abundance of lively, scrumptious greens recently as production is outstripping our ability to eat it all [oh, what a problem].

With spring just around the corner, now is the time to watch out for everyone's favorite, the Pocket Gopher. Many parts of Santa Fe, particularly in the downtown area and the more densely developed areas, seem to be relatively free of gopher activity, but for those of us living on the rural edges and outskirts of Santa Fe, gophers can really create havoc in our gardens.

Gophers are burrowing rodents that spend the majority of their lives underground. Their tunnels are most often in the top 18" of soil, but can be as deep as 6 feet under the ground. Gopher mounds are the result of gophers digging new soil and pushing the fresh earth to the surface. The gopher will then plug the opening of their burrows with earth to prevent predators, like snakes, from entering their tunnels. Gophers are active year round, but we often see the greatest number of fresh mounds in the fall and the spring when the ground tends to be moister and easier to burrow into. Gophers are usually solitary creatures, with the exception being in the spring, when they are breeding and often share the burrow with their litter. The main drawback of gophers is that they can devour the roots of some trees, shrubs and perennials and as a result kill the plant in question.

March can be a busy month as enthusiastic gardeners can begin tomatoes, broccoli, peppers and other starts.  Plants of the genus Brassica (kale, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, cauliflower ...) can do well when planted outside either as starts or direct seed by late this month or anytime in April.

If starting seeds inside is not your cup of tea, you can be assured some local greenhouses will have plants ready by the time they can be set out, albeit in relatively more limited choices than possible when starting your own!  Agua Fria Nursery will have an extensive selection of starts of all kinds, and in particular a wide range of tomatoes and other warm weather plants a little later in the year.

Since January saw precious little moisture fall on Santa Fe and surrounds, those of us in the plant guaranteeing business have been busy hand watering trees and shrubs planted last year. EcoScapes' maintenance crew also continued deep watering trees to lessen the stresses from the lack of lack of winter snow pack and a longish stretch of unseasonably windy, warm temperatures.  While this weather potentially threatens the survival of perennials and trees, it is a boon for the winter greens gardener. With some sun-admitting cold protection, established greens continue to grow, albeit still slowly even as the days get noticeably longer.