With spring now in full swing, most of you are probably pretty busy in the garden. Early tomatoes are starting to ripen, and cucurbits including cucumbers, squash, and zucchini can all produce in May. There is a temptation to over fertilize at this point, but this can be harmful and cultural practices will do more good. Keep suckering indeterminate tomatoes and err on the early side of harvesting cucurbits to encourage growth. Keep a close lookout for insects and disease problems that tend to crop up as weather warms. Besides your own garden, the Feliciana Farmers Market opens May 22nd at 1 pm, offering a great variety of fresh, locally grown produce. Local farmers will be selling on Thursdays at the 4-H Barn on Wilcox Street in St. Francisville.
In annual and perennial ornamental plantings, a worthwhile cultural practice is “dead heading” flowers. As individual buds fade, cut them off the plant. This encourages new growth and flowering. Leaving old blooms and seed heads on the plant can sap its energy.
If you’d rather colorful foliage, caladiums are now available at local nurseries. They can add a nice splash of color to shady areas in the landscape. They can be purchased in pots for instant gratification, and they should be planted soon to enjoy them before intense midsummer heat knocks them back. Caladium tubers (commonly called “bulbs”) are easily sprouted as well and can be good for mass plantings.
Vegetables to plant this month include cantaloupe, okra, watermelon, pumpkins, hot peppers, and beans. If you’re looking for a new vegetable to grow, take a long look at the yardlong bean. A native of Asia, this pole bean is enjoying increasing popularity in the American South. As the name implies, the bean can grow literally three feet long, but it stays as big around as a pencil. Harvesting before individual seeds swell, it can be snapped and cooked like traditional snap beans. A vigorous grower, you can plant it from seed this month or next and let it climb a pole or trellis just like pole beans. Like other legumes, it wants little or no fertilizer if the soil is decent; bacteria in nodules on its roots gather the plant’s nitrogen from the air. It is also more heat tolerant than snap beans, thriving in summer’s more intense heat.