friday's gardening

Hi Nicole!

So, Chris and I are moving into a town home with a backyard that gets lots of sun. At this point in the season is it too late to plant any veggies? Should I stick to container gardening a full-grown plant or can I start from scratch? I guess I just need any tips on getting-a-late start in the season, both flowers and veggies. I hope that is not too much to ask!!

Love,
Michelle

Of course your question is not too much to ask! I am so happy that you are getting a place to call your own. That is very exciting!

I really don’t think you are actually that behind. With all this weird spring weather, plants aren’t growing and developing as fast as they normally would. So people that planted their gardens a couple months ago are at the point you would be at if you went out and bought veggies and flowers from a nursery (almost).

If you are using containers, it will be to your advantage. Raised gardens/containers actually grow plants faster because the dirt gets warm faster, and stays warm, promoting quicker growth.

You could start from scratch on a few varieties of vegetables. Radishes, beats, carrots, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, peas, beans, broccoli, collards, cauliflower, Swiss chard, lettuce, and Brussels sprouts are plants that if you started early in the year and staggered plantings, you could have two ‘harvests’. One in early summer and one in the fall. So don’t be afraid to do that with ‘cool season’ crops. However, for the leafy varieties (broccoli through Brussels sprouts), you should wait until August to plant because they will not tolerate hot weather. The root crops you can start now, including potatoes.

(The difference between cool season varieties and warm/hot season varieties is how well they grow during either one. Plants that love cool, wet weather are known as cool-season crops. Same for warm-season.)

But as far as tomatoes, onions, peppers, and squash varieties I would probably buy those starts from a garden center. You could try squash from seed and see how it works. It never hurts to try new things, because you learn what works, and what doesn't. Tomatoes, peppers and onions from seed take a LONG time to produce fruit.

And flowers you can start anytime, containers and from seed. I would only tell you it was too late if it was the middle of October! You can plant perennials, shrubs, and trees clear up until you start to get frost in the fall. Someone I worked with at a garden center a couple years ago said it was okay to plant trees and shrubs right up until the ground was too hard to dig from being frozen! I think that's a little extreme, but you get the idea.

Annuals are good to plant anytime, if you want to go that route as well. I don’t know how warm your weather is there, but try to plant in the evenings (if it is hot) so the plants don’t get burned in the afternoon sun. Or plant on a cloudy day. Transplanting anything in hot (above 86 degrees) weather is almost a death sentence, unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Why 86 degrees, you ask? That is the temperature at which photosynthesis STOPS in plants because it is too hot. And they lose a lot of water in the heat.

So don't be afraid to try something new. We've all killed more than one plant. Growing up, I could never get those seeds to grow that we planted in school, or church activities. It takes practice!

Good luck with your garden Michelle! Let me know how it turns out.