Mother’s Day is behind us and I haven’t even started planting seeds in the new bed – way behind this year. Last year I tried putting a bunch of vegies in the same planter as the tomatoes and, when the tomatoes got huge, they blocked the light for everything else and it didn’t grow. First, I need to dig up the grass that’s why I’ve been procrastinating. I don’t have a yard where you can dig a hole in the dirt and plant, because there’s too much rock and clay, so I need to take out the grass and build raised planters. It still means digging out some of the rocks and clay but not as much. It’s still spring at least, so tomorrow I’m taking the afternoon off of work to see what I can get accomplished.
A great thing about gardening that you usually don’t think much about, is it’s the perfect way to get grounded and connect with the earth. There’s also the benefits of exercise and fresh air, the joy of watching your plants grow, and the flavor and nutrition of fresh food. You also know exactly where your food is coming from, save time and money by not having to shop for food, and you can choose what you want to grow and eat.
What starts to grow when depends on where you live; we’re having a particularly long spring, so what I started mid-April last year is going in late May this year. Although, I asked at a local nursery for cabbage plants and the guy told me it’s too late. Here’s an approximate schedule for planting outside, but you can look up your town on the Farmer’s Almanac.
- March: Cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, kale, onions, peas, spinach, Brussels sprouts
- April: Beets, turnips, radishes, potatoes, parsnip, cauliflower, celery, chard, leek, carrots
- May: beans, okra, peppers, corn, snow peas, baby squash, cucumber, eggplant
- June: Cantaloupes, honeydews, watermelon, pumpkin, winter squash, sweet potato
Don’t let the schedule stop you because some things you can plant twice, like lettuce, peas, beans, beets, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, kale, leeks, parsnip, radish, spinach, tomatoes, turnips, and squash.
Also know that some plants do not like to be in the same bed together and some do better when they’re together. The early plants like to be together but they do not like to be with beans. Beans and peas do not like to be with onions and garlic.
If you have small wildlife like rabbits, they don’t like the smell of marigolds, so you can outline the beds with the flowers. We only have large wildlife here, like woodchucks. You could get out a shotgun and they’d just laugh. Once I asked a guy at a farmer’s market what they do to keep woodchucks from eating their cabbage and he said to just plant enough to feed them too. :/
