WHAT TO PLANT IN
May

Southern Interior Region

 

Southern Interior Garden Region Map 

ChardMixedBP 

 

"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:
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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, lima    XXX   

Bean, snap 

   XXX   
Bean, yard long    XXX   
Cantaloupe    XXX   
Corn, sweet    XXX   
Cucumber    XXX   
Edamame    XXX   
Eggplant 

 

     XXX 
Fennel, bulb 

 

     XXX 
Gourds    XXX   
Okra    XXX   
Peanuts    XXX   
Peas, southern     XXX   

Peppers 

 

     XXX 

Squash, summer 

  

XXX 

Squash, winter 

   

XXX 

   

Sweet potato 

   

 

XXX 
Tomato 

 

     XXX 
Watermelon     XXX   

CULINARY HERBS  

Sow Indoors   

Sow Outdoors  

Transplant 

Basil 

   XXX   XXX 

Cilantro 

   XXX    

Fennel, leaf  

 

XXX  

 

Marjoram  

 

  

 XXX 

Rosemary 

       XXX 

Sage 

       XXX 

Savory, summer  

 

 XXX 

 XXX 

Thyme 

      XXX 

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.