Spring into the Season

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Sow your tomato seeds now, and you’ll harvest a rich mixture of color and flavor later this year.

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Maritime Canada and New England

Woodcocks and redwing blackbirds are calling, reassuring us that warmer days are on the way. Start early greens such as mustard, mesclun mix, arugula, spinach, lettuce and cilantro in cold frames or a greenhouse bed. Prune fruit trees, fertilize, and weed berry canes and asparagus. (Wet spring soil makes for easy weeding.)

Once your garden has thawed, plant greens outside under row covers. Set out onion sets, seedlings and leeks as soon as the ground can be worked. Start tomatoes, brassicas, flowers and herbs in the greenhouse, cold frame or under grow lights. Transplant tomato and pepper plants into larger pots before their roots become crowded. Start seedlings of cucumbers, winter and summer squash, melons and gourds in early May, about four weeks before transplanting into warm, frost-free soil. Crocuses and snowdrops make way for early narcissus. In the blink of an eye, the tomato seedlings will have grown another 6 inches.

Roberta Bailey, Fedco Seeds, Waterville, Maine

Mid-Atlantic

April is for planting. Start chard and early summer lettuces such as Sweet Valentine or Thai Oakleaf 88. Harden off brassicas and transplant outside in the middle of the month.

Sow radishes, turnips, Asian greens, carrots and beets every other week. When lilacs are in full bloom, sow your first beans. Hill dirt around potato plants and watch for beetles. To control beetles, handpick them off or use Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Plant a fast-growing buckwheat cover crop on any soil that will not be planted for five weeks or more. If the weather is mild and soil temperature is above 65 degrees, sow corn and transplant a few early tomatoes, such as Glacier, under row covers.

Harvest greens, savor asparagus and prepare to weed. In May, switch to heat-resistant lettuces such as Anuenue and Slo-Bolt. Harvest garlic scapes and weed by midmonth. Sow peanuts, edamame, asparagus beans, black-eyed peas and other hot-weather crops. Stop to enjoy some early sugar peas while you weed.

Ira Wallace, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Mineral, Va.

Gulf Coast

Your garden should be actively growing by now. If plants appear stunted or yellow, you may have a nitrogen deficiency. This commonly occurs when you till in organic matter with a high carbon/nitrogen ratio, such as partially composted wood chips or sawdust. To get these plants green again, foliar feed (spray fertilizer on the leaves) once or twice a week. These symptoms also may result from too much water and poor drainage. (Dig up a plant and check the roots for damage.)

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