The Warm Season Begins

by John Tullock
May brings reliably warm weather, so it is time to get those warm season veggies in the ground. I prefer buying started plants of tomatoes and peppers, because we need only a few. I plant beans and cucumbers from seed.

Other vegetables you can plant this month include eggplant, squashes, melons, okra, tomatillos, and sweet corn. Check the temperature of your garden soil with a thermometer. When it is above 60F, you can plant even the most demanding crops, like melons. If you don't have a thermometer, or are not sure, wait until after the middle of the month, by which time we are likely to have had a day or two in the 90s.

Eggplants, melons, and squashes need protection from insects. Despite all the remedies, organic and otherwise, that you may have read about, the best approach to preventing damage from flea beetles (eggplant) or squash borers (squash, melons) is to cover the plants with a fine, lightweight fabric. You can use frost blanket, sometimes known as Reemay, or nylon window shears. I find the latter work well supported over the plants by a tomato cage or similar contrivance. Remove the cover when blooms appear on the plants, and damage should be minimal. You can use the cover for multiple seasons. Covered plants may need extra water. Check the soil regularly to make sure.

This year, we are growing Sungold tomatoes for salads. This productive, orange cherry type has a unique flavor. For general use, we decided to try Better Bush, a determinate version of the famous hybrid Better Boy. We are hoping for traditional flavor on a compact, uniformly productive plant.

Our pepper selection this year is our old standby, Sweet Banana. They are hard to beat in the Valley, and can be used for salads, in Creole dishes, to stuff, or as pickles. A single plant is all we need, as it will bear peppers until frost if well cared-for.

We are growing Homemade Pickles cucumbers, for the obvious reason, and our bean selection continues to be Fantastic Filet. Three seeds every two or three weeks keeps us in beans all summer long, and they are among the most tender and delicious green beans available.

Have a vegetable gardening question? Email me.

Planning for Next Year

We are still tidying up here and there from last season's garden, and what should arrive in the mail last week but the new catalog from Park Seed (Greenwood, SC). I have awaited this catalog with great anticipation for more than 50 years, and each holiday season it never fails to delight. Only a few years ago did they modernize some of the photos. The pictures of children that used to appear, holding a giant sunflower, for example, or a really large tomato, were so old that many of those people no doubt have grandchildren by now. For sure, some were older than I am, because I remember seeing them in the catalog when I was a child.

Seed catalogs remind us that the best time to plan next year's vegetable garden is right after the holidays. Not only do the catalogs fill your mailbox, or inbox, at that time of year, but also thinking about a lush garden of vegetables and flowers is a great way to fight the post-holiday blues.

I note with pleasure that this year's catalog offers many new varieties of vegetables that are compact enough for container growing, something that is becoming every more popular in urban and suburban settings. When space is at a premium, a few large containers on a patio or balcony can produce a surprising amount of food. Besides a wide variety of herbs, lettuce and other greens are an excellent choice for containers.

Among the new cultivars that caught my eye in the Park Seed catalog:

Nasturtium 'Phoenix' is an interesting new selection with flame-like flowers in a variety of colors. Trailing nasturtiums are great "spillers" for a container herb and veggie garden.

Pak Choi 'Toy Choi' grows only 6 or 8 inches tall, perfect for a porch box or planter. Ready in 40 days, you can raise a crop before the weather warms up, getting double duty from the same container.

Tomato Genuwine from Park Seed

Arugula 'Speedy' provides another opportunity for a quick crop ahead of warm season vegetables like tomatoes. This new arugula selection matures in only 30 days.

Carrot 'Atlas' produces roots somewhat like radishes. It would make a good companion, in fact, for 'Park's Beauty Blend' radishes.

Among warm season crops, I am anxious to try Eggplant 'Patio Baby,' which produces mini-eggplants on plants remaining under two feet tall.

Pepper 'Sweet Pickle' and its hot, spicy cousin 'Cayennette' would look great flanking an entryway in 16-inch pots.

Another intriguing trend that plant breeders seem to be following: crossing two heirloom vegetables to produce a new hybrid. A great example is 'Genuwine' (pictured) which is the offspring of Costoluto Genovese and Brandywine. Expect higher yields, hybrid vigor, and excellent flavor.

We'll have more suggestions from the catalogs as they keep rolling in.