Follow nature when planting vegetables
It’s finally May, and that means you’re ready to storm the seed racks with your planting schedule in hand. The tricky part? Sometimes Mother Nature has plans other than staying on a weather schedule.
As farmers say, “Want to make Mother Nature laugh? Show her your plans.”
Both an art and a science, gardening requires an organized approach that can also be adapted to the unforeseen — especially where spring weather is concerned. One way to approach your planting schedule is to consider Mother Nature’s signals. The scientific name for this approach is phenology. Google the word and you’ll get the definition: “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:
1. When the crocuses bloom and maple trees start to flower, the soil temperature is about 5 C. This means you’re ready to plant spinach, kale, Swiss chard, lettuce, bok choi, parsnips, peas and radishes, as these crops all require 80 to 100 days to mature. Lettuce is the exception (60 days), which should be planted biweekly throughout the season up to midsummer to keep the production coming right into late fall. Look for mesclun mix, tango green leaf lettuce and Lollo Rossa red leaf lettuce. Remember when you are harvesting kale and Swiss chard that you should pick the lower leaves as the plant matures.
2. When the dandelions bloom, the soil temperature is about 10 C, perfect for planting leeks, onions, turnips and Chinese cabbage. Leeks are fun because they germinate easily, love the sun and are low mainte- nance. Generally, leeks are insect-and disease-free. You can harvest them late in the season, when everything else has finished. While they mature throughout the summer, mound up the soil around them 12 to 15 centimetres high (I do this while weeding) to give them their white/cream colour and sweet flavour. My favourite variety is Lancelot.
3. When full-sized daffodils start blooming (not the small flowering jonquils), the soil temperature is about 15 C, which means it’s time to plant beans, beets and brassicas. Brassicas cover a whole range of great veggie crops, including broccoli, cabbage, kale, rutabaga and turnip. For beans, I recommend Provider or Dusky Green varieties for green beans on a small and productive bush. Yellow beans I like are Gold Rush and Gold Mine. For something different, try blue hyacinth beans — this vine-type bean will climb up anything and is a striking blue-purple. The fruit comes late in the season. I grow it for the ornamental quality, it is really quite stunning.
4. When bearded iris and lilacs start blooming, the soil temperature is about 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 have been started indoors eight weeks prior, or bought at a retailer. Tomatoes are one of my favourite crops, and I like Big Beef (All-America award winner), Sweet Heart (grape type), Sweet Million (super sweet cherry type) and Early Girl (earliest ripening). I also like Brandywine as an heirloom/heritage type, but blight can get it early in a wet season.
Peppers belong in the hottest part of your garden, they love the sun. I grow sweet types, such as California Green, a stalwart, Early Sensation for earlier fruit, and Fat ’n Sassy for huge, late-season fruit. Reliable hot varieties include Hungarian Hot Wax, Cayennetta (All-America Selections winner) and Chicken Itza. Tomatoes and peppers are heavy feeders, so add a generous amount of compost when planting and fertilize with an organic fertilizer if necessary.
5. When oak leaves are the size of a squirrel’s ear, it is time to plant corn and virtually all other “hot crops.” Melons, pumpkins, gourds or any crop that thrives in the heat and wilts in cool temperatures can be planted at this time. In my Zone 5 garden, this is usually the first week of June.
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 each planting season. Take cues from Mother Nature as reminders of what to plant when — and enjoy the fact a daffodil blooming is nature’s reminder you can put your bean seeds in the ground.
Sure beats the notifications that vibrate on my phone. Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, Order of Canada recipient, author and broadcaster. Get his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com. Look for his new bestseller, The New Canadian Garden, published by Dundurn Press. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook.