Gardening with Mike: Time to plant!

It's been dry but beautiful weather this week, and a great time to plant snow peas, lettuce, broccoli, spinach and other cool weather crops.

I’ve been growing heirloom tomatoes in the greenhouse, and today I will be putting the flats out during the day to begin the hardening off process. They won’t go in the ground until May 15 or so.  All warmer weather vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, eggplant, peppers, etc., are best planted in our New England climate no earlier than May 15, or around Memorial Day.

This is also a good time to spray your fruit trees, just after the flowers have dropped. I like to use natural oil spray "neem", together with a fungicide, to cut down on those pesky caterpillars, and other bugs that will attack both the leaves and fruit.  The fungicide is really important if you have black spots on your fruits. I find that spraying early in the morning or at dusk is best.

And finally, now's the time to plant your summer bulbs, such as Gladiolus and other processed tender bulbs. In New England, it’s always best to take these kinds of bulbs up in the fall and store them in a bucket of sawdust in a cool dry place until time to plant again!

If you have any special gardening questions, I will be glad to answer. Just post your comment here.  And if you are curious about how my garden has been looking this spring, check out my Instagram feed.

Jeff Yeager also has some gardening tips for the frugally minded - check out his latest installment of "The Cheap Life":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjuYf5lb-V4&list=PLZsySbMSwveth09re9CI5CLpZ3V0V311J[/youtube]