Coming Soon in YOUR Neighborhood

Is it possible this is the time of the year to get your taxes filed? Sorry, it is. Better than this, it is preparation and planting time for most regions. We happen to be in the middle of Illinois which falls into region/zone 5. A friend in Oklahoma has already put in onion sets and potato seeds and jokingly said they’d be ready by Saturday. He’s got to be kidding. But then, another of our friends announced he dreamed he planted a new variety of tomatoes the other night. They were the 6 hour variety (from ground to table). Do these people think they have a chance of being believed?!

Patience IS a virtue. While you wait for a frost-free date to roll around you can be busy planning your veggie garden. Determine what vegetables you really like – list them. Then be realistic and decide which of all of these nutritious items you can and will care for as well as how you will harvest, what you’ll do with the plentiful crop, what it will take to maintain a healthy garden. Are you going to have a “Friends and Family” plan, with help being promised? Are you on your own, maybe doing container gardening? Will you be in combat with wildlife and how will you handle the invasion?

If you just cannot wait, go ahead and get the asparagus and broccoli into the ground. And, yes, the onion sets, tater tubers, and even cabbage can be put in now. So you CAN get your hands dirty! Most other plants need for you to wait until the soil is warmer. Get your calendar out for them.

You’ll just get the garden tools cleaned off and hung up on the pegboard and it will be time to put in seeds for lettuce, spinach, peas, and turnips. Then cauliflower, radishes, carrots and beets can go in – yes, before April 15th! After all the danger of frost is behind us you can plant tomatoes safely. Likewise sweet corn, summer squashes, beans, pumpkins, watermelons, cucumbers, peppers, and sweet potatoes.

Still, this is an only an overview – if you are experienced you probably have your own plan; if not, error on the side of doing too much research and too much planning before you plant – but remember, time is not going to stand still – for gardens or taxes.