Spring is a time of optimism. But summer is coming and you’ll have to look after what you plant. Don’t take on more than you can handle.
Plant frost-sensitive vegetables and flowers in the latter part of May. When planting, make sure the soil surface is smooth, with fine soil and no lumps. Read the seed packets to determine spacing, length of germination, and days to maturity. Keep the seed rows moist to ensure germination. Mark your rows or keep a record of what you planted and where.
The following are the more common vegetables to be planted in late May:
Beans: Space seeds 12 centimetres apart in rows 40 centimetres apart. For the bush bean, I prefer the green haricot variety. I have also had success with pole beans grown up an 2.5-metre trellis.
Beets: Beet seeds need a warmer soil than other root vegetables. I prefer the Detroit variety that yields globe-like bulbs. Both the root and leaves are delicious. Space the seeds five centimetres apart and thin to seven to 15 centimetres.
Corn: Corn is frost-sensitive; most often the growing season is too short. Plant in early May and cover if it is going to freeze. You should get corn two out of three years.
Cucumber: I plant cucumbers directly into the ground with a trellis to support the vine. Four plants in two mounds will produce enough cucumbers for your family. Use any excess to make pickles.
Pepper: Start in mid-April in a potting-soil mix. Transplant into garden soil enriched with compost spaced 45 centimetres apart. Place a 30 mL of crushed egg shells in the hole before you transplant the seedlings. Choose a location that will receive six to eight hours of sun, with little sun in the afternoon. Do not overwater.
Potato: In a 15-centimetre trench, space the seed potatoes every 30 centimetres in rows 45 centimetres apart. Ensure each seed potato, if cut, has at least three eyes. Each eye forms a single plant that produces four or more potatoes. Hill the potatoes once they have sprouted. If you don’t, sunlight will turn the exposed potatoes green. The green portion is a poison. Potatoes like a slightly acidic soil.
Pumpkin: Pumpkins grow long meandering vines. The variety, Small Sugar, is my favourite. Start seedlings inside and transplant them two to a mound of garden soil and compost in late May. Be prepared to cover in case of a frost.
Squash-Winter: Butternut and spaghetti squash are two favourites. Start them inside. Transplant in late May, two to a mound of soil mixed with compost. In case of frost, be prepared to cover the young plants. You can also grow them up a trellis instead of letting the vine crawl along the ground. A new variety, Golden Nugget, is a bush type yielding six to 10 softball-size fruit per plant.
Tomato: There are two types of tomatoes, indeterminate or vine, and determinate or bush. The vine type must be staked or grown up a rope or trellis. Contain bush tomato plants in a tomato cage.
Plant the seedlings in well-composted soil to a depth of its first two leaves. Roots will then grow from the stem. To limit blossom rot, place 30 mL of crushed eggshells in the hole before you transplant the seedlings. Space the indeterminate plants about half a metre apart. Space the determinate or bush plants at least a metre apart.
Most tomato plants bearing small to medium fruit grow well in containers 30 centimetres in diameter or more. An Edmonton-developed variety, Sophie’s Choice, grows well in containers.
Zucchini: One hill of two plants will provide enough zucchini. Plant four seeds in a 15-centimetre mound of soil mixed with compost. After germination, remove the two weakest. Provide a 1.5-metre diameter space for the plants.
Charles Schroder is a St. Albert resident and an avid gardener.
