WATCH NATURE

Approaching your spring planting schedule

One way to really help your spring planting schedule is to watch for what Mother Nature says in her special way.

It’s finally May, which means you are ready to storm the seed racks with your planting schedule in hand. One way to approach your spring planting schedule is to consider Mother Nature’s signals. The scientific name for this approach is phenology: “the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate and plant and animal life”. Phenology is especially useful when trying to decide when and what to plant in the vegetable garden.

Here are my phenology tips for this spring and how to interpret them:

When the crocuses bloom and maple trees start to flower, the soil temperature is around 5°C, which means you are ready to plant spinach, kale, swiss chard, lettuce, bok choi, parsnips, peas, radishes as these crops all require 80-100 days to maturity. Lettuce is the exception (60 days), which should be planted bi-weekly throughout the season up to mid-summer to keep the production coming right into the late fall. Look for Mesclun Mix, ‘Tango Green’ leaf lettuce, and ‘Lollo Rossa Red’ leaf lettuce.

When the dandelions and forsythia blooms, the soil temperature is around 10°C, and perfect for planting Chinese cabbage, leeks, onions, turnips. Leeks are fun because they germinate easily, love the sun and are low maintenance.

Generally leeks are insectand disease-free, and you can harvest them late in the season when everything else has finished.

As they mature throughout the summer, mound up the soil around them 12 to 15 cm high (I do this while weeding) to give them their white/cream colour and sweet flavour. My favorite variety is ‘Lancelot’.

When full-sized daffodils start blooming (not the small flowering jonquils) the soil temperature is around 15°C, which means you are ready to plant beans, beets and brassicas. Brassicas include a whole bunch of great veggie crops including broccoli, cabbage, kale, rutabaga and turnip. For beans, I recommend ‘Provider’ or ‘Dusky Green’ for green beans on a small and productive bush. Yellow beans I like are ‘Gold Rush’ and ‘Gold Mine’.

When the bearded iris and lilacs start blooming, the soil temperature is around 20°C, which means you are ready to plant the warmest season crops such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and eggplant.

These will be transplants that were started indoors eight weeks prior, or bought at a retailer. Tomatoes are one of my favourite crops, and I like ‘Big Beef’ (All American Award Winner), ‘Sweet Heart’ (grape type), ‘Sweet One Million’ (super sweet cherry type) and ‘Early Girl’ (earliest ripening). Remember that tomatoes and peppers are heavy feeders, so make sure to add generous amount of compost when planting and fertilize with an organic fertilizer if necessary.

Naturally, there is a degree of good judgment that should accompany nature’s signals to get out in the garden.

Sometimes there is no substitute for common sense, which is why I watch the weather forecast carefully each planting season.