By Clif Knight

If you’re planning an early spring garden, it’s time to start planting.

Local farm supply stores are stocked with potted cabbage plants as well as lettuce, onions and strawberries. They also offer red potato, radish and turnip green seeds. All of these plants can survive springtime frosts and grow well in cool climates.

An unusually wet winter has been a hindrance to commercial vegetable-growers and fruit-growers, but their outlook improved late last week and this week, thanks to several uninterrupted days of rain-free sunshine.

As a rule, the target for planting early-maturing corn on our farm was late March, while cotton planting followed two or three weeks later. I don’t remember an entire crop being wiped out because of freezing weather; however, there were times when cold temperatures in May stunted growth and made chopping and hoeing cotton difficult for farm hands. Covering early crops of tomatoes, watermelons and cantaloupes with pine straw to prevent frost damage was an unwelcome chore on our farm.

Our father was a stickler when it came to getting a head start on other peddlers with tomatoes and watermelons. He picked and sold ripe tomatoes two to three weeks ahead of anybody else.  They brought 25 cents per pound when the demand was at its peak. When the price dropped to 10 cents per pound, he fed them to our hogs.

As a newcomer vegetable- and fruit-grower, I decided to try my hand as an early-bird grower of strawberries, red potatoes and tomatoes this year.

The strawberries pretty much took care of themselves during the winter months; that changed, however, when they began blooming in early March. This called for covering them with pine straw or some other medium anytime the temperature dipped into the low 30s. I stopped counting the times I had to cover them when the number reached five. Consequently, I decided to give them up this year.

The problem of planting tomato plants when there was the danger of a frost was also frustrating but worth the extra effort of covering them a couple of times. My potatoes survived a couple of light frosts and produced a good crop.

I’m hoping for much less rain and a lot more warm temperatures and sunshiny days going forward.

My son, who operates Flint Farms, grows tomato plants in a greenhouse until they have green tomatoes the size of a quarter. He says he will begin taking them to market in May, a month before mine are ready to harvest.