Helpful Gardening Guide On What To Plant This Season

The weather is finally warming up and it's time to start thinking about what you want to plant in your garden this spring or early summer. If you're not sure where to start, here are a few gardening tips for planting the perfect plot!

Preparing The Soil

Before you can do any kind of planting, you need to take some steps to prepare the soil.  

The best way to do this is to start by mixing in organic matter, such as compost, into the soil. You will want to add about two inches of compost into six inches of soil.

There are several benefits to doing this. 

First, adding compost will help your plants better acquire nutrients, water, and air via their roots. It will loosen up the soil and make it easier for roots to penetrate through tough, heavy soils like clay, while also improving drainage and water retention.

The right amendments, like compost, can also help improve soil fertility. Your plants will have all the nutrients they could possibly need, right at their disposal!  

Don’t get carried away when adding organic matter though  - this is not one of those situations in which “the more, the merrier'' applies. Too much compost can be counterproductive and inhibit plant growth, so make sure you only add ab it.

You can do this in the fall or you can do it in the spring. If you add organic matter in the spring, take the time to also till the soil to create the ideal seedbed.

Tomatoes

Ah, the tomato - the classic garden fruit!

There’s a lot to love about growing tomatoes, but many gardeners fall short when it comes to harvesting tomatoes because they don’t give themselves enough time to grow these tasty plants.

Tomatoes have a long growing season and they love the heat. If you live in a colder growing zone, you might think that you can’t grow tomatoes because we simply don’t have enough time between the last expected frost and the first.

The key is to take advantage of indoor seed starting. Boys start tomato seeds indoors about eight to ten weeks prior to the last frost, you can get a jumpstart and start harvesting tomatoes in the middle of summer. Plant your tomato transplants out in the garden in the late spring or early summer and you’ll be good to go.

Just make sure you add lots of fertilizer, compost, and other nutrients to the soil - tomatoes need a lot of room and are super heavy feeders!

Asparagus

Asparagus is one of the best plants to grow in the early spring - the downside to planting asparagus, however, is that you probably won’t see results the right way.

Asparagus is a perennial vegetable, and the first tender, tiny spears of asparagus poking through the garden plot is usually a telltale sign of spring! These first shoots tend to appear when the soil temperature is around 50 degrees. Plant asparagus once, and you’ll have spears for many years to come - decades, in many cases!

You don’t need much space for asparagus but it’s a good idea to choose your planting spot with some careful thought and attention.  Your spears will be here to stay so it’s important to make sure your beds aren’t overcrowded.  

Once established, asparagus plants will produce for decades and each individual harvest can last for several months a year. However, you can’t harvest until the second year or later. Plant year-old crows about four to six weeks before the last frost date to speed things along - or grow the plants from seed if you want to save money.

Asparagus grows best in zones 4 to 9 and requires full sun and sandy soil.

Peppers

Although peppers are trickier to grow if you live in a cooler climate, early spring and summer are the perfect time to plant seeds indoors. You can start pepper seeds indoors and transplant them outside about eight to ten weeks later.  

When you sow pepper seeds, keep them in warm, wet conditions. Using tools like a grow light and heat mat can be helpful in starting these plants inside.

Once your seeds sprout in their peat pots, keep them well-watered until it’s time to transplant outdoors. Wait until temperatures are regularly at least 55 degrees overnight before you transplant - and be sure to harden them off!

Garlic

Another easy to grow plant that’s perfect for spring and early summer is garlic. The key to growing garlic is to start it in the off-season. In most cases, you will plant garlic in the fall. You can also plant it in the early spring, if desired, but this may push your harvest back a little later.

To plant, you’ll divide each bulb into cloves Place each clove about two inches deep into the soil and four inches apart. Be sure to cut off any flower shoots that appear in the spring - these can limit bulb growth.

Your bulbs should be ready for harvest around July, but don’t use all of them in your favorite spaghetti sauces! Instead, save a few cloves and replant them for a harvest next year. You can keep going and going!

Potatoes

Who doesn’t love potatoes? The potato is the quintessential garden crop and is easy to grow in large quantities.

Plus, potatoes can tolerate a mild frost. The beauty of this is that you can start your potato sets far sooner in the year than you can many other frost-sensitive vegetables, like tomatoes. Plant them at the beginning of the spring but be sure to loosen up the soil first. Potatoes that are grown in severely compacted soil may become rotten and misshapen.

When you're ready to plant, cut up a potato (ideally with each piece containing an “eye”), with the eye side facing up, about four inches deep into the soil. 

Later, when your plants are about eight inches tall, you will need to begin the process of mounding soil up onto the bottoms. This is known as “hilling.” It protects the developing tubers from sunlight exposure, which can make them green and taste bitter. Keep them covered until they’re ready to be harvested.

Onions

Onions can be planted more or less as soon as the soil has warmed up into the spring. While they can tolerate the heat just fine, they also do well in the cold (as long as the tops don’t get frost).

Ideally, you should plant onions in fertile soil mixed with a bit of compost in the early spring. Place your bulbs about six inches apart and provide a steady stream of water throughout the summer to make sure the bulbs develop into full-fledged onions.

Otherwise, onions are remarkably easy to grow - and even easier to store! You don’t have to have refrigeration to hang on to onions throughout the winter, especially if you choose a variety that’s well-suited for storage (most red onions fall into this category).

Peas

Some gardeners claim that the best time to plant pea seeds is on St. Patrick’s Day, but for others, that might not be practical. In many parts of the country, there’s still a thick blanket of snow on the ground at this time of the year!

Nevertheless, peas are some of the first plants you can get into the garden in the spring, regardless of where you live. Peas planted even in late April will rapidly catch up to those planted in March - but be sure to get them planted before it gets too hot. While peas don’t bode well under freezing temperatures, they also aren’t fond of intense heat.

You can plant a wide variety of peas, including snow peas, shelling peas, sugar snap peas, and more, and you’ll be able to enjoy a bountiful harvest by early May. These plants grow best in zones 2 to 11 (in warmer zones, you may even be able to grow peas all throughout the winter, too). They should be grown in partial shade.

Beans

Like peas, beans can also be planted in the early spring. They don’t do well with being transplanted, so you will want to start bean seeds directly in the garden first thing in the spring. You can plant them as soon as the soil is warm enough to be worked.

Plant your seeds about an inch deep, three inches apart. Make sure they are planted in a spot where they will receive at least six hours per day of sunlight and provide a trellis for the beans as they start to climb!

Beets

All kinds of root crops are best started in the spring - including carrots, parsnips, and of course, beets. The beauty of growing beets in the late spring or early summer is that you can sow crops in succession so you always have a harvest of these tasty tubers.

Beets don’t require a lot of space and you can even grow them in containers. However, they don’t do well in intense heat, so you may want to provide a bit of shade.

Spinach

Spinach, like most leafy greens, also grows well in the cooler conditions of spring and early summer. Find a spot for your spinach that receives full sun to partial shade in zones 2 to 9.

Spinach is a heavy feeder that requires well-draining, fertile soil, generally with a neutral pH. You will need to start seeds early since spinach likes to be grown in cool weather and will rapidly bolt to seed if the conditions turn hot.  

There are some varieties of spinach that are allegedly bolt-resistant, but bolting does still happen - it just might happen a bit later. So time your planting when the weather is still chilly!

This plant grows rapidly so you won’t have to wait long to be able to enjoy it. Plus, you can extend your harvest by continuously sowing seeds every other week until the last frost date. Keep your plants well-watered to slow bolting and harvest often to keep the tasty, tender leaves coming!

Broccoli

Broccoli, along with other members of the cabbage family like cauliflower, kale, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts, grows especially well in the early spring. You can grow it by sowing seeds directly into the garden or you can wait and grow broccoli from starter plants that you buy at the local nursery.

Whatever the case, these slow-maturing plants are best started in the spring or at the very latest, in the early summer. Consider starting seeds indoors to speed things up -  you can start them under grow lights about six weeks before the last expected frost.

Broccoli, cauliflower, and all of these related vegetables grow best when temperatures are in the mid-60s. Too-hot temperatures, as with spinach and other cold-loving crops, can cause the plants to bolt and flower, producing a somewhat bitter flavor.

That said, broccoli plants are tolerant of frosts, so you don’t need to worry about an occasional chill when growing these plants.

It’s Never Too Late To Start Planting and Gardening For Spring and Early Summer

Don’t wait until it’s too late to start planting and gardening. There are so many options for what you can plant in the garden, but before you get overwhelmed with all of your choices, think about which plants will be best suited for summer and spring weather. Pay close attention to the patterns in your area when you’re making this decision.  

Remember that some plants need more care than others do; if you have time to put into gardening this year, then choose something like tomatoes or cucumbers (they require a lot of water in hot climates, as well as frequent fertilizing).

If time is not something you have an abundance of right now, try smaller vegetables like lettuce or spinach instead. These are so easy to care for that you can even cultivate them in a basic windowsill garden!

The only thing left after determining when and what to plant is to head to the store and pick up your seeds. Have fun thinking outside the box and get started with planting your spring and early summer garden today!

Karen A Mulvey is a personal social blogger and mom with 14 years of experience in the every day world of motherhood and sustainable product research. Karen is on a mission to help everyday families select sustainable, non-toxic organic products, stop stressing about uncertainties on sustainable home goods and apparel, and start living the life they’ve always wanted.

Follow Karen at @karenAmulveycs | Karen A Mulvey

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