Be your own farmers market. There’s nothing as satisfactory as walking out the backdoor and picking homegrown vegetables for supper. By growing your own vegetables you can pick your own varieties and can control the way they are grown. Good exercise and fresh air are an added bonus. Now if only the weather will cooperate.
Cool season vegetables can tolerate some frost. They include artichokes, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, kale, lettuce, onions, peas, potatoes, radishes, spinach and swiss chard. All cool season vegetables can be sown from seed or transplanted from starts now.
Warm season vegetables need to be planted after all threat of frost has passed. This is typically around Mother’s Day in our area. We recommend planting these vegetables outdoors starting in mid-May at the earliest: beans, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, any kind of melon, peppers, pumpkins, tomatoes, and squash. These can be put in earlier but cool weather makes them sulk, and they may contract diseases.
June is the best time to put out heat loving vegetables like eggplant and herbs like basil.
You can get a jump on the season by using transplants of these warm season vegetables. Already small plants when you select them in May or June, these veggies will produce an earlier harvest, which is of great importance in our cool maritime climate. Squak Mt. has a great supply of seeds, vegetable starts, compost and organic fertilizers to make your vegetable garden a success. Let our staff share some tips from our local experience today.