It’s planting time for everything

We have had some gorgeous spring weather the past couple of weeks, and lots of gardening is underway across our state.

We are in prime planting season for most everything, including all of our warm-season color annuals and vegetables. It truly is time to “plant away,” and the sooner you plant now, the longer growing season you will enjoy.

We can plant container-grown trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals and vegetables most anytime the ground is not frozen. Our low night temperatures are now 50 degrees or higher so we can plant most everything, including the warm-season crops like okra, caladiums, periwinkle and sweet potatoes.

The quicker we plant crops and get them watered in, established and growing, the better they can handle our really hot weather when it arrives in June or July. Most of the warmseason plants actually grow best when we have mild or warm days and slightly cooler but not cold nights.

You can wait to plant in June or July or even August, but you will get more growth, more flowers and more fruit or vegetables to harvest if you plant sooner rather than later.

Timing on many of the warm-season vegetables is more critical as it takes a certain growing time to produce your vegetables or fruit. Watermelon, cantaloupe and pumpkins take 90 to 120 days to harvest from seed so they need to be planted in the next few weeks to get a late August or September harvest.

We are nearing the end of planting season for green beans, lima beans, summer squash, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant and peppers.

We are at the beginning of a short six-week planting season for okra, Southern peas, sweet potato and winter squash. These warm-season vegetables can be planted in traditional ground-level gardens, in raised beds or in decorative containers. Many folks are evening mixing vegetables into their flower beds.

Color annuals are what add excitement and color to your flower beds and decorative containers. Use the traditional bedding plants for shady or part shade areas like impatiens, begonias, coleus, caladiums, salvia, lobelia and alyssum.

For sunny or part sunny areas you can use geranium, petunia, periwinkle, celosia, cockscomb, Jacob’s coat, wax begonia, hibiscus, dahlia, Dusty Miller, ageratum, lantana, marigolds, zinnias, purslane, rose moss, verbena and many other newer or niche plants.

This is also a great time to add perennials, shrubs and trees to your landscape. They also will benefit from a spring planting and the opportunity to get established or rooted in before the stress of our summer heat.

There are lots of choices and styles you can choose as you landscape or decorate your yard and living space.

• You can plant only vegetables, greens, berries and fruit trees that will produce food you can harvest.

• You can plant only perennials that come back year after year but usually freeze to the ground each winter.

• You can plant only color annuals that will beautify your yard during the growing season but succumb to the freeze each winter and leave you an empty yard after the freeze and a fresh palette for the next season.

I like to see a combination of all these plant types in most landscapes.

Use trees and shrubs for shade, windbreaks, site screens and living fences to anchor your landscape.

Add perennials to fill space and produce several weeks of excitement and color in your yard and to stretch budgets since they come back year after year.

Use annuals to add color and excitement across the full growing season from April through October.

Add some vegetables, herbs, berries and fruit trees to produce fresh locally grown food in your own yard.

This is the season to plant Bermuda grass seed, springs or sod if you need to add new turf grass in lawn area. This is the best time to apply grub control, which is the best way to stop mole and gopher problems since they like to feed on grubs.

This is a good time to feed your trees, shrubs, annuals, vegetables and perennials as they are making their spring growth spurts. Make sure to water your new planting thoroughly. Water after you apply fertilizer ad consider mulching your flower beds and plantings to dramatically reduce water needs and weed pressure.

Hope you have a great spring and enjoy time in your yard.

Rodd Moesel serves as President of Oklahoma Farm Bureau and was inducted into the Oklahoma Agriculture Hall of Fame. Email garden and landscape questions to rmoesel@americanplant.com.