Plants, Shrubs, Seeds, Trees, the Garden Beckons, how to plant?

Bird song fills the air, and the yearning to plant consumes you. Here’s where restraint is needed, before the elixir of damp earth intoxicates you. Chant “Wait, wait,” and check to see if the soil is dry enough to be worked. Scoop up a handful and squeeze. Open your hand. If the soil sticks together, it is still too wet. If it crumbles when poked, it is ready.

Never work wet soil, especially clay. You may ruin its structure for the entire season and end up tripping over solid, sun-baked clods instead of early lettuce.

Did you incorporate lots of organic matter into the soil in fall?

If you do that every year, you will find increasing ease of preparation in spring, as your soil becomes more spongy and fluffy. It will also be ready to work earlier in the spring.

Tips on Timing — When to Plant

Cool weather crops — peas, spinach, lettuce, onions, garlic, and brassicas — can go in as soon as the ground can be worked. The gardening books say beets, carrots, chard, and radishes can go into cold soil, but every time I have tried that, they have been decimated by tiny, flea-like insects. They seem to appreciate a couple of week’s grace.

If you’re a lazy gardener, you won’t try to plant the rest of your garden too early. If the seeds manage to sprout before rotting in cold soil the plants will probably struggle, and you will fuss and sputter. Most crops need soil that has warmed up.

Find out the average date of the last spring frost in your area (ask your Agricultural Extension Agent). Wait until then to plant beans, sweet corn, and New Zealand spinach.

Crops that need thoroughly warm soil are cucumbers, squash, melons, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and lima beans. Wait at least a week after the average date of the last frost before setting them in the garden (unless you are willing to provide hotcaps or some other kind of protection).

To warm up soil more quickly for heat loving crops, spread clear plastic over the ground until planting time. (It lets in more heat than black plastic.)

For an extended pea season, plant early, midseason, and late varieties at the same time, as soon as the soil can be worked. This gives better results than successive plantings of one variety. Peas of one variety tend to catch up with brethren planted earlier. Two weeks difference in planting may mean only one day’s difference in harvesting. This principle applies to corn, as well.

Plant corn when apple blossoms begin to fall.

In the North, turnips planted in spring don’t do well. If you have trouble, plant in mid-July for a fall crop.

Cole crops (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, collards) do best in fall. “They love cold weather,” says John Page, Bennington County Extension Agent. He plants these seeds in his garden in mid-July and transplants them to available spaces any time from mid-August to Labor Day.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Plants, Shrubs, Seeds, Trees, the Garden Beckons, how to plant?

• Help with Wildlife
• Plant a Tree or Climber for Wildlife
• Outdoor Eating
• Tools for Creating Deadwood
• Cool Oriental Styles and Hot Exotic Drama
• Sitemap
• Plants for Cold Winters
• Sunflowers Seeds for you and the Birds
• A mystique surrounds pruning part 1
• A Dozen Tactics for the Truly Lazy Gardening