It’s here, the summer slump… technically it’s here anyway.  There may be a slump in what you can plant for the next few months, but there is absolutely no slump in what needs to be done in the garden.

Lots of other things are happening in the garden(s) too.  Lots of harvesting going on, egg laying by garden friendly creatures: lizards, birds, toads – usually the toads start singing after the first rain in May… this year they started singing mid April.

The heat and humidity starting in May is going to put a real damper on the garden.  It will be interfering with pollen viability which will lower production, and it creates an environment that bugs and disease totally love.  

It is best if you do not work in your garden when it is wet because the chances of spreading disease goes waaaaaay up.

Be on the lookout for fungus… particularly powdery mildew!

Here’s the skimpy planting prospects for May (and June and July!)

COOL WEATHER PLANTS

NONE

WARM WEATHER PLANTS

• Okra
• Southern peas (includes black-eyed, yard long, crowder…)
• Sweet potatoes
• Malabar and New Zealand spinach (not really spinach but a good substitute)
• Peanuts
• Maybe squash
• Maybe watermelon
• Maybe mustard and turnip (for the greens) – After you pick them they will need to spend some time in the refrigerator or freezer to give them some sweetness and good flavor

Some advice:

• Don’t work in the heat of the day – do it early or do it late. You can even do it at night if you can rig up some lighting in your garden.
• The high humidity is dangerous for you too because your body can’t use sweat evaporation to keep you cool.
• If parts of your garden are in shade part of the day, work in the shaded areas and then move with the shade (for example, my whole garden is in shade in the early morning.  Sun first appears at the west side then moves across the garden to the east side.  So, I start my gardening on the west side and then as the sun creeps in, I retreat bit by bit to the east and stay in the shade.
• Stay hydrated – big glass of ice water or sweet ice tea works well, or even lemonade.
• Wear a hat (some sun is very very good – vitamin D3 production – but too much should be avoided).
• Use some bug repellant (something natural like citronella – get a little bottle of citronella essential oil from a health food store, put a couple of drops on the palm of your hand, rub your hands together, then rub your hands all over the exposed parts of your body – ankles, arms, neck, face, hair… works for me).
• Take breaks.
• Get a hammock.

Another near winterless year for most of us.  Plants are loving it… so are the bugs and diseases.  With no cold weather kill-off, seems like they are getting a major head start.  Spider mites, thrips, aphids, powdery mildew, early blight – just to mention a few – have made themselves at home for many weeks already.

We will be running a series on controlling pests and diseases in the newsletter this month… something you will definitely want so if you’ve not signed up for it yet, do so now! Put your name and e-mail in the form at the top of the right sidebar!

Though we didn’t have much in the way of winter this year, temperatures are dropping below the normal average frequently.  Because of that, you could experiment with pulling from the “March In The Vegetable Garden” list a little bit into April.  April’s list is stingy.

COOL WEATHER PLANTS

• NONE

WARM WEATHER PLANTS

• Beans – bush, pole, lima
• Cantaloupes
• Okra
• Southern peas – crowder, black-eyed, yard long…
• Sweet potatoes
• Malabar spinach

WOW! NO WINTER AT ALL THIS YEAR, FOR THE MOST OF US…

March plantings are not much different from February’s, but the important thing is this:

MARCH IS THE LAST BIG PLANTING MONTH FOR THE SPRING SEASON.

With April’s warmth, the number of things you can plant drops drastically and then in May, June, and July there are really very few things you can plant at all… you need to have the plants growing already.  Heat and humidity will affect plant growth and productivity – and so will the bugs and diseases!!

So here’s the list for March

COOL WEATHER PLANTS

• Beets
• Carrots
• Collards
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• Mustard
• Onion – multiplier, bunching
• Peas
• Radish
• Turnip

WARM WEATHER PLANTS

• Beans – bush, pole, lima
• Cantaloups
• Corn
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Okra
• Southern peas
• Peppers
• Sweet Potatoes
• Pumpkin
• Summer Squash
• Winter Squash
• Tomatoes
• Watermelon

Remember though, this is just a generic list.  At your house in your gardening, things aren’t going to be generic.  Yours may be warmer, cooler, sunnier, shadier, dryer, moister, more fertile, different pH, more organic matter, yadda yadda yadda… than the average generic garden.

Look around your garden world.  Observe what and where things are growing, sprouting, the color, the health, moisture, disease… and use this information combined with a little common sense to guide your garden planting decisions.

WOW!  Looks like we might have another mild to winterless year (from about Orlando south anyway)… 5 in a row.

That’s good, but it’s bad.

Good because we get extra growth, don’t have cold damage dieback, soil flora and fauna grow faster building that good rich soil, planting season is extended, more time to enjoy the outdoors in our garden paradises…

Bad because no freeze means no killing off some of the bugs or at least slowing them down, and bad because it gives us a false sense of “Spring is here” so we plant and then get a frost or freeze that destroys our seedlings and transplants.  The fruit trees and bushes get confused and bloom when they shouldn’t, and there won’t be enough ‘chill hours’ that some fruits and berries need to produce, ripen and sweeten fruit – including citrus.  The greens don’t get that touch of frost/cold to make them sweet…

Regardless of whether we have any winter weather or not, there is a lot of planting to be done in February.

This list is not carved in stone.  It is only the recommended list of the FL Extension Service — which means it’s general.  Your yard is not identical to their test plots.  Yours may be cooler, warmer, wetter, dryer, higher, lower, more sun, less sun, protected, exposed… and then there are the micro-climates all over the place. 

Experiment.  Chinese cabbage and spinach are not on the list for February, but I want to plant them.  So, I’ll find a spot in my yard that’s a little bit cooler and has a little less sun than the rest and plant some Chinese cabbage and spinach there.  If it works, GREAT!  If it doesn’t, nothing lost.  It’s worth the chance.

WARM WEATHER PLANTS

• Beans – bush, pole, lima
• Cantaloupes
• Corn
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Peppers
• Sweet potatoes
• Pumpkin
• Summer Squash
• Winter Squash
• Tomatoes
• Watermelon

COOL WEATHER PLANTS

• Beets
• Carrots
• Celery
• Collards
• Endive/Escrole
• Kohlrabi
• Leek
• Lettuce
• Mustard
• Onion – multiplier, bunching
• Peas
• Potatoes
• Radish
• Turnip