This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Spring, at last, and with the warming weather comes more time, and light, to be out in the garden planting. Two experts from the Missouri Botanical Garden took time to share their tips and tricks for getting the most out of your garden this spring, with vegetables, herbs and flowers.
Elizabeth Spiegel, a horticulturist and chief bee keeper, and June Hutson, supervisor of the Kemper Home Demonstration Gardens, spoke with the St. Louis Beacon about getting your garden growing.
When?
Over the last 35 years or so, Spiegel says, the planting zones have changed around the country. The date of the last frost is generally when people begin planting their spring vegetables. And while that used to be around May 15, Spiegel says April 15 is now more accurate.
The weather changes a lot from year to year, she adds. Last year, it was a warm winter, and by this time, she’d already begun her planting in February. When to plant is more of a year-to-year decision, she says. And Spiegel recommends paying attention to what else is happening both weather-wise and in the green world around you.
“For example, they say you put crabgrass prevention down when the forsythia’s peak blooming time is,” she says.
You can learn more about this way of understanding how things work and respond to each other, known as phenology, through a variety of resources, including the USA National Phenology Network.
For now, some vegetables you can plant include carrots and onions, Spiegel says, and herbs such as cilantro, dill, chives and parsley.
For summer planting, which usually happens in May, plan to plant tomatoes, peppers, beets, melon, cucumbers, squash and beans. Spiegel says the tomatoes and peppers should be planted closer to mid- or the end of May.
What and where?
Some people are lucky enough to have ground to grow in, but whether you do or not, containers provide a lot of options, too.
If you’re looking for the right flowers to plant for spring, Hutson recommends the following for container gardening: pansies, fuchsias, calendula, nemesia, bacopa, sweet alyssum and nasturtiums.
With vegetables, Spiegel recommends: Lizzano tomatoes, Terenzo tomatoes, Corno di toro peppers, Blue Lake 247 bush beans, Bush baby cucumbers, Burpless bush slicer, Scarlet nantes carrots, Spacemaster 80 cucumber and early jalepeno peppers.
In the ground, plant: Brandy boy tomatoes, Eureka cucumbers, Sungold tomatoes, black cherry tomatoes and white satin carrots.
In ground flowers: snapdragons, Gerbera daisies, bachelor’s buttons, linaria, schizanthus and stock.
“These all do well in the ground in moisture retentive, well-drained soil in sun or shade as the trees still are not fully leafed out,” Hutson says.
How?
If you’re a seasoned green thumb, then chances are you’ve figured out what you’re doing by now. But if this is your first year to try a garden, Spiegel recommends starting out small.
“Figure out how much you can take care of and grow that way,” she says.
That first year, you’ll figure out problems with your soil and what kinds of pests you’ll have, she says.
And the best way to feed your garden, Spiegel says, is with your own compost. Things such as coffee grounds and banana peels provide a lot of nutrients for your garden. Just start your own compost pile and let it break down, Spiegel says, with a general rule of 2/3 brown to 1/3 green. The result should look a little like soil. Before planing your beds, work the compost into your soil.
“And that will add some fresh nutrients to the soil and get your bed ready.”
The Missouri Botanical Garden celebrates Foodology this year, and there are lots of ways to learn more about home gardening both there and online, including upcoming classes, an herb sale, plant pot recycling, and a home garden blog, with tips, advice and recommended plants. For more, go to www.mobot.org.