Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Gardening in May

According to the Seasonal Planting Schedule for northeast Florida, we are still enjoying spring with cool nights and warm days but it is also imperative to get plants and seeds into the soil as soon as possible.

Silver Queen Corn:  There are many different kinds of corn, but we prefer the sweet Silver Queen at the Back Forty.  We plant them three seeds to the hill with a foot apart.  We amended the soil with commercial cow manure, Ironate, and garden fertilizer because we had previously planted potatoes in what is now going to be the corn field.

The seeds for the corn will germinate in 8 days and the corn will be ready for harvesting  in 80 - 90 days.

Clemson Spineless Okra:  We only sowed one row about 20 ft of okra after preparing the soil as for the corn.  The Okra will germinate in 10 days and will be ready for harvesting in 50 - 60 days

Sieva Butter Beans:. The Sieva Butter Beans are our favorite.  We prefer the Beans that grow 6 to 8 ft high and they need to be staked.  Sieva Bush Beans are also available and do not need any staking.  The beans will germinate in 6 days and will be ready for harvesting in 60 - 70 days.

Sweet Potatoes:   Recently, I could not resist temptation at the Standard Feed where they had green and beautiful Beauregard Sweet Potato plants and I believe there were 9 plants in the container.  I had to provide a new place for these potatoes and I planted them against the woody area so that the greenery may spread and cover the area.  Sweet Potatoes will be ready for harvesting in 180 days.

Southern Peas:  Southern Peas are also known as Field Peas and we are going to hold off on sowing them until the Spring harvest is complete and bare spaces are available in the garden.  The peas are nourishing but we will use them as cover crop which will be good for the soil, weed control, as well as water conservation.

Tomatoes:  It may be too late for regular tomatoes that require 60 - 90 days to harvest which will be in the heat of the summer which is the time that tomatoes do not do well; however, cherry tomatoes will do well (even in containers).

Happy Gardening!
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