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It’s all in the time . . .

Posted on May 1st, 2009 – 9:49 AM
By Connie Nelson

My mom used to garden by the calendar: Lettuce, 3rd week of April. Beans, 1st week of May. Tomates, Memorial Day weekend. Weather be damned. My pal Ray gardens by feel. “I’m putting in broccoli this weekend,” he’ll say. Feels right.” Me? I plant when I have the time.

I know when you’re supposed to do things. I know that you can plant cool-season crops as soon as soil as the soil’s dry enough to work. That warm-season stuff shouldn’t be planted until the temps stay above 50 at night. That it’s easiest to divide most perennials in spring and that spring-blooming shurbs are best pruned after they’ve bloomed.

But when it comes right down to it, I do what I can when I can. And sometimes I suffer the consequences. I’ve lost more than a few annuals (which I planted prematurely, of course) to a late frost. And I’ve spent the better part of a day trying to divide a fully leafed-out hosta that was the size of my car. (I don’t know who it was harder on — me or the hosta. But, hey, we both survived.) For the most part, things have turned out OK. That could be because I don’t rush the season much. I tend to err on the side of caution and plant a little later rather than earlier (pansies excepted).

How ’bout you? Do you go by what the experts say? Or do you go by your gut? Do you rush in and take your chances? Or do you hang back a bit and wait? Do you use cold frames, Wall-O-Water or mini greenhouses to cheat the season?

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 9:49 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

24 Responses to "It’s all in the time . . ."

Amanda says:

May 1st, 2009 at 10:36 am

I’ve always been a Memorial Weekend planter. I like having the extra day and since most people in our neighborhood are gone, it is nice and quiet. Last couple years I’ve done my container plants a couple weeks before. I like to go to the Friends Plant sale and that’s on Mother’s Day weekend. I can’t buy all these plants and not do anything with them…that’s torture. Am participating in a friendly family contest to see who gets the first tomato from a plant you’ve started yourself from seed. Am going to try Wall of Water…that’s not cheating is it?

Mike says:

May 1st, 2009 at 10:40 am

I plant when I feel like it. =) The south part of my yard has been ready to work for almost two weeks now. The north part of the yard is still hardly showing signs of life.

I have most of deck containers planted with annuals already. Geraniums, pentunias, and panseys are doing great.

Connie Nelson says:

May 1st, 2009 at 10:51 am

Ha! Is Wall-O-Water and other mini-greenhouses cheating? What say, greenthumbs?

I’m too lazy to bother with most of that stuff. I, too, just wait ’till Memorial Day to plant most stuff. . .

Connie Nelson says:

May 1st, 2009 at 10:53 am

Whoa Mike, you’ve already got your geraniums out? You must have lots of sun in your back yard.

I’ve got a really shady yard, so the only thing I’ve planted so far is pansies. I do have scilla and some snowdrops in bloom and it looks like my azeala is ready to burst.

Anyone seen the magnolias? They look terrific!

Rayg says:

May 1st, 2009 at 10:53 am

I admit cheat and it is so sweet. I put in lettuce, spinach carrots and radishes three weeks ago. I put in Broccoli, Pak Choy and tomatoes a week and a half ago. I have my tomatoes covered in a little green house I built to keep them safe. I just can’t wait for Memorial Day. Today, just minutes ago I put in two rows of Swiss Chard. Cost me a buck twenty nine. I need the hope of sanity that my vegetable garden brings sooner than that. I plant to sooth my soul now and to feed by body later. If I have to replant some things later, so what, that just means a little more time in the garden and how sweet is that.

Rayg says:

May 1st, 2009 at 11:00 am

I admit cheat and it is so sweet. I put in lettuce, spinach carrots and radishes three weeks ago. I put in Broccoli, Pak Choy and tomatoes a week and a half ago but replanted a couple of broccoli yesterday that a bunny got to. I have my tomatoes covered in a little green house I built to keep them safe. I just can’t wait for Memorial Day. Today, just minutes ago I put in two rows of Swiss Chard. Cost me a buck twenty nine. I need the hope of sanity that my vegetable garden brings sooner than that. I plant to sooth my soul now and to feed by body later. If I have to replant some things later, so what, that just means a little more time in the garden and how sweet is that.

Chadwick says:

May 1st, 2009 at 11:33 am

I planted cauliflower, cabbage, radishes, carrots, onions and lettuce from seed about 3 weeks ago in my raised beds. I have netting over them to keep out the pests. Everything is coming along very nicely; Everything is about one inch tall thus far! I’ll put in tomatoes, green peppers and herbs over Mother’s Day weekend. I have a South facing yard that gets constant sunlight, so I think that a couple weeks early for the non cold-weather veggies should be OK; hopefully?

Mike says:

May 1st, 2009 at 11:34 am

My deck, where I plant my geraniums, easily gets 20 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. I just have to be careful at night. But, so far so good.

Connie Nelson says:

May 1st, 2009 at 11:41 am

wow! you guys are so brave!

I’ve got a pack of impatiens in my porch, but I’m too chicken to plant them. . .

Judybusy says:

May 1st, 2009 at 12:49 pm

Amanda, the whole point of tomato competition is to try as many cool gadgets as you can! Otherwise, where’s the skill and the sweet taste of victory? ;)

For heat lovers, I wait till it’s really warm to put in anything, then if I have time, it gets done. All that being said, I tend not to schedule social events on the last weekend of May, when I usually plant out! In recent years, I’ve started more annual flowers from seed, some of which can go out earlier.

This year, I am planning to do WOWs for some of the tomato plants.

I’d like to take a moment and express my profound grief that neither azalea made it through the winter. *sniff!*

Kelley Leaf says:

May 1st, 2009 at 1:15 pm

I plant container gardens and windowboxes early- they are above the ground and stay warm enough. I have a tomato plant outside on a table and it’s doing fine. Got it at Costco, and it’s been outside 2 weeks. I wouldn’t plant it in the ground though!

Linda says:

May 1st, 2009 at 1:17 pm

I did radishes, carrots, lettuce and bunching onions about a week ago, radishes are sprouting, they can take the cooler weather. I try to wait until May 15 for the rest, but most of the time I can’t wait to get going. I will put my tomatoes in then and keep them covered with buckets at night for another week. Last year I wrapped the tomato cages with clear plastic tarp for first two weeks in ground, it made a nice natural green house. Happy planting!

jenyuki says:

May 1st, 2009 at 2:00 pm

Wow, I feel like a loser… I haven’t even cleaned up the garden beds yet. My hostas are poking out of last year’s dead leaves.

Randy says:

May 1st, 2009 at 3:12 pm

I do what I want when I want. Course I temper that with being a trained Ag Teacher and farmer for 30 years. Experts do not know my soil type, micro climates that can be caused by living close to bodies of water and other local conditions. Experience will tell you whats right.

mnmom says:

May 1st, 2009 at 4:48 pm

A little here, a little there. That’s one way to stretch out the season and savor it. Before Easter the grocery had pots of pansies inside. It was the first blooming thing I’d seen for sale. Then the lady behind me in the checkout line started passive- aggressively mocking the purchase to the clerk. “I would never buy that. We could have three blizzards yet.” I turned to her and said. “I just need to buy this, OK? I’ll take it in and out if I have to, but it’s time for me to buy this.”

Bluebird74 says:

May 1st, 2009 at 7:52 pm

I’m new to perennials (few years) and am finally to the point of needing to divide. Do I do it before they even leaf out? Just dig them up, cut them in half, and replant? I’m thinking specifically of my catnip, it got huge last year and I want to move half of it. Right now it’s about 5 inches. When do I divide it?

Also, I am hating on bee balm. Damn plant moves everywhere and takes over. Why do people like it so much?

DebW says:

May 1st, 2009 at 9:50 pm

Bluebird,
If you are hating the bee balm jut wait until that clump of catnip reaaly gets to taking over! Any mint sends out underground shoots and colonizes and smothers everything in its path.
Bee balm is another one of the mint family. People love it because it brings many butterflies and hummingbirds. That is the nice public side, the dark ugly side is that it is a mint member and is very invasive.
If you really want to move the catmint do it now before it gets hot, dry or the thing starts to bloom. If yours dies I have some in the side yard that is intertwined in the peonies that I can’t seem to get rid of.

Bluebird74 says:

May 3rd, 2009 at 11:58 am

DebW, thanks. I haven’t seen my catmint do that at all, that’s interesting. It grows huge, but stays in its place. Do all types send out shoots and smother? This was “walkers low” or something like that. Should I completely pull out the bee balm if I don’t want it taking over? I could move it to our wetland area, where we don’t keep a “manicured” garden look. Is there a way to keep it in it’s place?

DebW says:

May 3rd, 2009 at 4:35 pm

Bee balm is the cultured cousin of the native horsemint which is a light lilac color and is kept in check by native criters and insects. Since this is a european cultivar the locals don’t know what to do with it!
The only way I have been told to keep it in check is to plant in an enclosure (pot, raised bed, isolated area surrounded by cement). I inherited mine with the house and the more I attempt to dig it out the more little plants set off on their own. The peony bed is slated for an overhaul this fall so I will sift the dirt to irradicate it then. Meanwhile I am VERY popular with my cats while weeding in there…

laura says:

May 3rd, 2009 at 7:37 pm

i planted my broccoli, rapini, kohlrabi, radishes, daikon, romaine, endive, escarole, snap peas, and spinach about two weeks ago. last week i got the carrots and onions in and transplanted my brussel sprouts that i’d started under grow lights. i’ll wait until probably may 15 to plant the warm weather stuff, unless the weather the week before seems warm enough to me. i have tomatoes and petunias under my grow lights, slowly getting bigger. but i’m unemployed right now so i have time on my hands.

Bluebird74 says:

May 4th, 2009 at 10:48 am

Deb, this walker low type really doesn’t do that, even this year it is remaining in it’s own mound. Tell me, what else is like Bee Balm, because I never want to plant a naughty perennial like Bee Balm again. Now everything that says it “self sows” in my gardening book is making me nervous. Please, tell me the main ones to stay away from! Is gayfeather bad?

DebW says:

May 4th, 2009 at 6:18 pm

The native gayfeather is o.k. for the same reason stated above. HOWEVER, the european gayfeather is taking over wetlands and is now regarded as a invasive weed much as buckthorn is. Any plant that makes seeds or has runners can be a problem, some folks consider lilacs a problem. When purchasing anything do a little research online or chat up the plant purveyor. If they say “fills in bare spots quickly” you can translate that to mean it will take over unless you have a flamethower.

katyk says:

May 5th, 2009 at 11:16 am

Is it okay to put in my cucumbers/zucchini/pumpkins yet?

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