Friday, May 21, 2010

Dayton "Dirt" - May 21, 2010

This week for some is a good planting week for your vegetable garden and annual flowers but still the watch word is just that "watch" as frost still could occur. With the soil much warmer, seeds and plants should do just fine unless we get an extended cold, wet period.

In 1972, Hurricane Agnes came up the east coast and was absorbed by a low pressure cell centered over Pennsylvania. Wiles-Barre and Scranton, Pennsylvania flooded severely and even here in Akron, Ohio it was very cold, wet and rainey June 11th through June 15th. I remember well the weather as I had 600 medium hot pepper plants on a somewhat sandy ground which seemed to drain well. Nevertheless the plants were stunted and never did grow well after things warmed back up to normal!

Our hanging baskets should be in their prime now as we time them to look their best between Mother’s Day and last until Memorial Day. It seems the 12" hanging baskets do well with the large soil volume to keep the roots cool and of course allow room for roots to grow. Our larger hanging baskets still have a charge of Osmocote slow release fertilizer to carry them into summer; however, it’s a good idea to supplement this slow release feed once weekly with a liquid fertilizer like Miracle Gro or 20-20-20.

Back to vegetable plants. Remember to not only depend on heirloom varieties of plants as most are not disease resistant like the hybrids are. Also, check into growing plants in an earthbox as this system of growing vegetables is very productive and does not take up a lot of room.

Happy Planting!
Tom

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