The Garden Coach

Now that spring is almost here, and the garden and seed catalogs are coming in the mail daily, I reminisce about wonderful gardens past and how this year I’m going to have the best garden ever. Then I remember that by July I’m sick of watering and weeding, and what was I thinking, planting so many tomatoes?

Here’s the way I plan to plant and harvest this year.

There are a couple of things I’ve learned the hard way and am going to pass on.

First, plant early and plant often
Second, animals and bugs will get some of your harvest so plant extra for them
And Third & my favorite, if you need only three tomatoes and plant only three, all will die - if you need only three tomatoes and plant a dozen to make sure you have some survivors, all twelve will live. Go figure.

Anyway, if you want to have a great garden this year, follow my lead.

Tomatoes: transplant seedlings from any of the great local nurseries & support your local businesses. If you don’t get the seedlings in the garden before June 20th, don’t bother.

… Plant: May 15, Harvest: Aug 7-Oct 7

Lettuce & Spinach: plant seeds, they prefer cold weather and get very bitter with hot weather. I plant only for fun, to be truthful the stuff from the supermarket is usually better than my own, but I can plant weird varieties to add color and texture to my salads and the neighborhood rabbits like them very much.

Head Lettuce … Plant: April 1, Harvest: June 20-July 23
Leaf Lettuce … Plant: April 1, Harvest: May 15-June 23
Second Planting: August 4, Harvest: Sept 15-Oct 23
Spinach … Plant: April 1, Harvest: May 22-June 25
Second Planting: August 1, Harvest: Sept 21-Oct 21

Onions, Shallots & Chives: plant sets, try to let them fully mature before harvesting, it can be very hard with sweet, wonderful shallots. They don’t like weeds or to be crowded and if you pick the tops for salad greens always leave a few on each plant, never cut them all. Chives can be left in place and will come back every year. Hint: cut the chive blossoms and place in vinegar, remove after a couple of weeks and you have a great salad dressing.

…Plant: April 1, Harvest: May 22-June 20
Second Planting: June 20, Harvest: Sept 3-28

Peas: plant seeds as soon as the soil can be worked. Once they’ve gone by, pull up and dig them into the soil, let it rest, and plant a second planting in the same spot. They fix nitrogen into the soil and are a great natural fertilizer. It’s been my experience that the fall planting must be made between August 1stand 7th, or you won’t have a long enough growing season.

… Plant: April 1, Harvest: May 21-June 21
Second Planting: Aug 1, Harvest: Sept 21-Oct 7

Beans: plant seeds, very easy to grow – a good kid’s project, taste like shoe leather if you let them go too long before harvesting. They also have a habit of ripening while you’re away on vacation, so be sure to have a neighbor pick them and enjoy while you’re gone. Bush-types are easiest for the suburban gardener.

… Plant: May 3, Harvest: July 15-Aug 30
Second Planting: June 18, Harvest: Aug 25-Sept 30

Carrots: plant seeds, I plant them out of spite, as mine usually look like mutants from the black lagoon and taste like it too, but the tops are nice in a salad. My advice, buy them in the supermarket.

… Plant: April 1, Harvest: June 15-July 30

Peppers: Green or Hot: transplant seedlings, put in the absolutely sunniest spot in your garden. If you don’t get the seedlings in the garden before June 20th, don’t bother.

… Plant: May 15, Harvest: Aug 10-Oct 10

Squash, Eggplant, Cucumbers & Pumpkins: transplant seedlings, easy to grow from seeds but can overwhelm your garden if you’re not careful. I plant mine in threes in 4’ diameter mounds and mulch the mounds with salt marsh hay (not field hay – it’s full of weed seeds). Also, the squash borers always find my plants and kill them about the time we’re really getting sick of squash, so I don’t care. If you do care, spray for the borers from mid-July on.

Summer Squash … Plant: May 15, Harvest: July 21-Oct 7
Eggplants … Plant: May 15, Harvest: Aug 10-Oct 7
Cucumbers … Plant: May 15, Harvest: July 21-Oct 7
Winter Squash … Plant: May 15, Harvest: Sept 21-Oct 30
Pumpkins … Plant: May 15, Harvest: Sept 21-Oct 30

Watermelon & Muskmelon: Similar to squash, I usually throw some seeds on the compost pile, far away from the garden, and pick what the deer, rabbits and crows don’t eat. I use them as a decoy, so the animals don’t find the real garden.

Watermelon … Plant: May 15, Harvest: August 21-Oct 7
Muskmelon … Plant: May 15, Harvest: July 21-Oct 7

Corn – Sweet, Native American or Pop: Plant seeds, easy to grow – a great kid’s project. I usually plant them too early in the season; the ground really has to be warm for them to grow properly. Even if you don’t get any edible corns, the stalks are useful for Halloween decorations. Also the growing corn stalks make a great support for second plantings of climbing beans or peas.

… Plant: May 7-30, Harvest: July 21-Sept 21
Second Planting: May 20-June 15, Harvest: July 30-Oct 5

As I said earlier, this is my plan, it’s ideal for Sudbury’s climate, and I have every good intention of sticking to it. However, as has happened about every year, some of the planting dates slip because of sports, work & life. Not to worry. Just as long as you don’t plant before these dates, you can vary by about a week without any negative impact on your harvest.

In the words of Yogi Berra, “It gets late early out there”, so get started today and you’ll soon be enjoying a wonderful harvest of fresh vegetables this summer.