WHAT TO PLANT IN
May

Southern Interior Region

"Working with the earth, smelling it, improving it, watching things grow in it made me feel good. It slowed me down and made life seem OK even if I was depressed or sad."

Grow Your Own by Jeanne Darlington

Issue Number 3, May/June 1970

To read more about what to plant in other months and regions, visit our What to Plant Now home page.

For planting times specific to your zip code, check out the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Vegetable Garden Planner. 

Top Crops for Southern Interior Gardening:

Here are the Top Ten crops for the Southern Interior region, followed by other recommended crops, as rated in our National Survey of Most Productive Garden Crops. (The criteria for selection include ease of culture, efficient use of garden space and time, ease of storage and desirability at the table.) The recommended crops are sorted by plant family to help you plan rotations so that the same plant families are not grown consecutively in the same area, as much as possible.

Top 10 Crops: Southern Interior

1. Sweet pepper
2. Slicing tomato
3. Bush snap bean
4. Summer squash
5. Broccoli
6. Garlic
7. Bulb onion
8. Pole snap bean
9. Cherry tomato
10. Hot pepper

Other Highly Recommended Crops:

Cabbage family:  Cabbage, collards, kale 

Cucumber family: Cantaloupe, watermelon, winter squash 

Leafy greens:  Arugula, chard, lettuce, mache, mustard (all types), pac choi, sorrel, spinach, turnip greens 

Legumes:  Asparagus/yard-long bean, bush lima bean, dry soup beans, edamame, pole beans, snow/snap and shell peas 

Root crops:  Potato, radish, rutabaga, shallot, sunchoke, sweet potato 

Tomato family:  Eggplant, tomatillo

Miscellaneous:  Asparagus, okra, rhubarb, scallion, sweet corn 

VEGETABLES 

Sow Indoors   

Sow Outdoors  

Transplant 

Bean, snap 

Peppers 

Squash, summer 

XXX 

Squash, winter 

XXX 

Sweet potato 

XXX 

CULINARY HERBS  

Sow Indoors   

Sow Outdoors  

Transplant 

Basil 

Cilantro 

Fennel, leaf  

XXX  

Marjoram  

 XXX 

Rosemary 

Sage 

Savory, summer  

 XXX 

 XXX 

Thyme 

RESOURCES

* To learn more about when to sow seeds (indoors and outdoors) or when to transplant your seedlings to the garden, see: Know When to Plant What: Find Your Average Last Spring Frost Date.

* To learn more about how to start seeds, check out Seed-starting Basics. For a primer on how to transplant seedlings, see Garden Transplanting: Expert Advice.

* Find garden seeds from great mail-order companies with our Plant and Seed Finder.

* Learn more about high-quality seeds and great seed companies in Best Seeds for a Bigger, Better Garden and Best Garden Seed Companies, or through our seed company directory. 

* You might also try swapping seeds locally.

* For tips on growing everything from apples to zucchini, see our Organic Gardening homepage.