P80312The calendar does not always agree with the weather. It really is about time to start replacing aging cool season vegetable plants with fresh new warm season vegetable plants. Earlier warm and dry weather had suggested that it was getting late. More recent frosty weather followed by rain suggested otherwise. Regardless, there is no point in arguing with what the calendar determines.

The last seedlings for broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts (for those who are able to grow them) should be well established in the garden. There should be enough cool weather for them to finish before the heat of summer causes them to go bitter. No more should be planted this late. Also, the last seed for beets should have been sown already. Peas should finish soon.

Warm season vegetables like tomato, pepper, squash, cucumber, corn and bean are the main concern now. Tomato and pepper are most easily planted as seedlings purchased in cell packs. A packet of seed costs as much as a cell pack, but must be sown and grown into seedlings, which is extra work. If necessary, varieties that are unavailable in cell packs can be grown from seed.

The other warm season vegetables grow so fast from seed that there is no advantage to planting them as seedlings here. Some would be distressed from transplant as seedlings. Besides, so many individual plants of each type are typically grown together that it would be expensive to purchase so many cell packs. Squash might be an exception if only a few plants would be enough.

Bush beans may seem like they would be easier to grow than pole beans because they do not require support. However, pole beans can grow on the sunny side of a fence in the background of a vegetable garden, utilizing otherwise useless space. If it would not damage the fence, string can be strung in a zigzag pattern (up and down) between nails pounded part way into the top and bottom of the fence. If the string is held an inch or so from the fence (at the heads of the protruding nails), bean vines would be happy to climb it.

14 thoughts on “Warm Season Vegetables Start Now”

    1. I think that bush beans take too much space. Pole beans stay out of the way. Besides, pole beans are so undemanding. I do happen to like some of the varieties that are bush beans, and might grow them again, but only if space allows.

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      1. I built a pergola and I train the beans to go across the poles on the top when they get tall enough. It’s just tall enough for me to stand under it and pick the beans. And it’s actually pretty when it gets covered with the vines.

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    1. Oh my! I did not know anyone else ever noticed THAT! How funny! I can not tell you how often I get told there is no ‘s’ there. I am still not certain if it should be capitalized. Is the proper name or merely an adjective of some sort.?

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      1. The B should be capitalized for the city of Brussels. According to Wikipedia: “Brussels sprouts as they are now known were grown possibly as early as the 13th century in what is now Belgium. The first written reference dates to 1587.”

        The reason for the confusion is that it’s hard to pronounce the [z] sound at the end of Brussels right in front of the [s] sound at the beginning of sprouts. To simplify the pronunciation, some English speakers drop the [z] sound, and other people hear them saying what sounds like “Brussel sprouts,” which then gets misspelled accordingly.

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      2. Like duct tape and duck tape. The funny thing is that first product with that name was duck tape, which was waterproof tape. Duct tape came later, when the product was found to be useful for heating ducts. Now we just call it duck tape because we do not know better.

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