Ramblings In The Garden For The Month of May
Our month of May is proving to be much different than those in years past. So very cold and grey yet this year, hard to know exactly what to plant.
Plant a good variety of colours, shapes and sizes for making great salads. Wow your friends!
2. Onions, from sets, seeds, or seedlings. See HERE! for more onion planting information.
3. Root crops of all kinds... beets, rutabagas, kohlrabi, turnips, radishes. They love this weather and will grow fast with all the moisture we are getting.
4. Beans. All kinds, all colours. Bush beans, pole beans, drying beans, they can all go in now.
5. Celery, potatoes, kale, leeks, peas, lettuce, spinach, greens of all kinds... will thrive in this weather.
6. The heat lovers are still a bit tentative at this point. Usually we are able to sow seeds/transplants for squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, red malabar spinach, cucamelons, corn, sunflowers, etc.. all the heat lovers at this time. However, this year, I would hold off a wee bit longer! The soil needs to be warmer for them to germinate and thrive.
7. Flowers and companion plants! Plant away! Add your marigolds, calendula, zinnias and more to the garden. Herbs, too, all except the basil, which hates the cool and wet weather.
I just looked back on my post from last year ... by this time I apparently had most of my beds planted up, was just waiting for the hot weather veggies to go in.... This year, I only have two beds planted up! Oh dear!
So then... what exactly can you plant?
Tomatoes.... sort of...
Determinate paste (aka Roma style) tomatoes
Tomatoes need the soil to be warm when you plant them, so a few consistent nights of +10°C is needed before you start to harden them off to pop them into the ground. Mine are outside hardening off as we speak.. but the days need to be warmer before I actually plant them.
Make sure to harden off your plants, to acclimate them slowly to the higher light and cooler air before you plant. I put mine in a part sun/part shade location for 2 or 3 days and then go ahead and plant.
If tomatoes get too cold, the foliage will turn purple. This is a phosphorous deficiency and is caused by soil that is too cold for the plant so that the plant is unable to uptake the phosphorous. A deficiency like this will set plant back drastically, so is almost better to toss out a purple leafed plant than to try to resurrect it.
Plant a good variety of colours, shapes and sizes for making great salads. Wow your friends!
The others veggies..
Carrot seeds take from 10 to 21 days to germinate and need to be kept soaked daily till they do. Do not forget to water all your newly sown seeds!
1. Your cool weather veggies should be loving this weather that we are having. No early bolting this year! So, still time to plant and grow your cauliflower, broccoli, kale, radishes, lettuce, spinach, etc.. with no fear of bolting.
2. Onions, from sets, seeds, or seedlings. See HERE! for more onion planting information.
3. Root crops of all kinds... beets, rutabagas, kohlrabi, turnips, radishes. They love this weather and will grow fast with all the moisture we are getting.
Kentucky Blue Pole Beans, one of the favourites that I must have in the garden annually
4. Beans. All kinds, all colours. Bush beans, pole beans, drying beans, they can all go in now.
5. Celery, potatoes, kale, leeks, peas, lettuce, spinach, greens of all kinds... will thrive in this weather.
6. The heat lovers are still a bit tentative at this point. Usually we are able to sow seeds/transplants for squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, red malabar spinach, cucamelons, corn, sunflowers, etc.. all the heat lovers at this time. However, this year, I would hold off a wee bit longer! The soil needs to be warmer for them to germinate and thrive.
7. Flowers and companion plants! Plant away! Add your marigolds, calendula, zinnias and more to the garden. Herbs, too, all except the basil, which hates the cool and wet weather.
Happy Gardening!
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