Likewise, transplant tomato, pepper, eggplant, or melon seedlings when the weather becomes settled and warm. Plant seeds of snap beans, corn, cucumbers, melons and squash when all danger of frost is past – daytime temperatures and the soil temperature warm to 60° ‐ 65☏. These cool‐season plants tolerate light frosts. Seedling transplants that thrive in cooler weather (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, onions) allow you to get a jump on the season. Sow seeds of peas, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, onion, and radishes about two weeks prior to the last expected frost date or as soon as the soil dries and warms enough to be loose and crumbly when turned. Transplants of many varieties abound in garden centers in the spring! Cool Weather Crops Many warm weather crops are transplanted as seedlings because the growing season in Massachusetts is too short to seed them in the garden. Seedling transplants offer a quick, easy way to establish a garden. Many plants grow well from seed as long as soil and air temperatures favor their growth. Lettuce and leafy greens can handle a little shade. Tomatoes, peppers and squash require a full day of sun, root vegetables such as carrots and beets need less. Most vegetables need 6‐8 hours of sunlight a day. A 3’ X 6’ plot will provide plenty of fresh salad all season! Sunlight A garden can be any size from tiny to huge. But, my biggest garden dream for 2011 is that our family has fun together with each other and other gardener friends in our community garden.What vegetables do your family like? What size garden do you want? What will grow well on your site? Make a sketch on paper to show where you will plant each crop. For additional crops in early summer and late fall I would like to try planting leeks, shallots and peas and Asian greens, broccoli and kohlrabi along with our regular crops of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchini, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, carrots, beans, spinach, turnips, greens and herbs. I want to plant new types of veggies and make a cold frame. I dream of a longer growing season so I can cook from our garden harvest all year. He also wants to combine the garden beds, reduce the walking paths and cover more plants with row covers so the plot has intensive plantings thus more produce and less bug damage. My husband dreams of installing a drip system so we can work in the garden (and visit the goats and snowball stand) while the plants are being watered. This year he also wants cucumbers, tomatoes, bugs and more visits to the goats and the snowball stand near our community garden at the Howard County Conservancy. Every year our son dreams of growing tall gigantic sunflowers. Who says you can't dream big?My husband, my son and I share our garden dreams before we start planning and ordering seeds for the new growing season. My son's garden dreams include bugs and three suns (can you see them at the top right?) Semi-Dwarf Peach Our Garden Plot Dreams for 2011 In another spot about 15 feet away from the flower and kitchen garden we planted two new trees: There is a lot of work to do, but we persevere with thoughts of watching our new garden come to life in Spring.Ĭhionodoxa Blue Giant (Glory of the Snow) This will prevent moles and other ground digging critters from tunneling through our kitchen gardens. My husband is putting a wire mesh on bottom of one raised bed. My husband built two beautiful cedar structures to contain our kitchen garden. She inspired us to make these changes…stone path, drainage system, new plants and two raised beds. We wanted a natural and clean looking flower and kitchen garden, but did not know where to begin so we consulted a landscape designer from Sun Nurseries. Most of the day, one side of the plot is in shade and the other is in sunlight. This fall we transformed a 12 foot by 20 foot soil patch in the backyard of our townhouse into a new garden plot.
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