Montana weather has made April-May gardening a tough project
Montana weather has made April-May gardening a tough project
Jim Gainan For The Gazette | Posted: Sunday, May 10, 2009 12:00 am |
This weather has really made starting a vegetable garden tricky. I planted onions and potatoes two weeks ago and took a chance with some tender seeds. That may have been a mistake. Our cucumbers are planted but, protected under little white "hot caps". While going through all of this trouble I had to pause and think, "Why am I rushing this?" The answer probably goes deeper than the Billings Gazette has space to offer so, I'll give you the short version.
I'm thinking back to my Grandpa Mysse and his garden, which was his pride and joy. I can still imagine the impeccable rows of beets and 1st crop of carrots; the tomatoes with a short dirt dam pressed around each plant to contain water and of course the hills and hills of cucumbers.
The garden was bordered by an enormous Iris bed which was painstakingly 'thinned and divided' each year. I remember watching him water his masterpiece early each evening thinking "Man… this is taking forever. Why don't you just put a sprinkler in the middle?" He explained there were a couple of reasons: 1) that would waste water 2) it would allow weeds to grow. In fact, his garden looked like the Sahara desert, dried and cracked except the immediate soil areas surrounding each plant which were moist and black from compost.
This year, I'm trying my first garden complete with a "worm garden" for the kids bordered with river rock. They've been given explicit instructions that they can only "dig" inside the rock border, in the worm garden. We'll see. I have a sprinkler set right in the middle so I'm sure there will be some weeding in my future. We planted a couple extra rows that we are growing just for the food bank. Nationally, there is a shortage of fresh vegetables given to food banks because they don't last as long as canned goods but, I'm sure the carrots and beans we planted will find their way to just the right family who will enjoy them.
I've included this chart to help you plan your garden.
Jim Gainan is VP/Shareholder of Gainan's Flower and Garden Center in Billings. Questions or comments? Email Jim Gainan @ [email protected].
Plant
Description
Germination
Spacing Row/Plant
Days To Maturity
Beans - Burpee Tenderpod (Bush)
stays tender and stringless even when mature, pods are 4-5" long
7-14 days
18-30 in/3 in
50
Beans - Early Contender (Bush)
bears 6-8 inch stringless pods, disease tolerant
6-10 days
2-3 ft/3 in
49
Beans - Kentucky Blue (Pole)
for optimum flavor, harvest beans at 6-7 inches, disease resistant
6-8 days
3 ft/8 in
60
Beans - Kentucky Wonder (Pole)
productive with fleshy, medium green pods, tender, best when 6" long, rust resistant
6-8 days
3 ft/8 in
66
Beans - Stringless Blue Lake (Pole)
tender stringless pods 5-5 1/2" long, mild flavor
6-8 days
3 ft/4 in
62
Beet - Detroit Dark Red
all-purpose variety, deep crimson, globe-shaped, tender and fine grained
10-12 days
18 in/3 in
58
Beet - Ruby Queet
bright scarlet color, sweet buttery texture, early variety
10-12 days
18 in/3 in
55
Broccoli - De Cicco
uniform, very productive variety, large heads and side shoots
10-14 days
3 ft/ 2 ft
90
Broccoli - Waltham 29
dependable, large blue-green heads 6-8 inches across, produces until frost
10-15 days
3 ft/1.5 ft
85
Brussel Sprouts - Catskill
cabbage-like flavor, tender heads 1-2 inches across on stong stalks
7-14 days
3 ft/2 ft
90
Cantaloupe - Hale's Best Jumbo
muskmelon flavor, salmon-orange flesh, large deeply ribbed fruit
5-10 days
4 ft/12-18 in
86
Cantaloupe - Sweet & Early Hybrid
sweet and juicy, firm salmon-orange flesh, ideal for short-season gardeners, disease resistant
5-10 days
4 ft/2 ft
75
Carrot - Chantenay Red Cored
good in heavy, poor soils, short, thick carrots, crunchy and sweet
14-25 days
1 ft/2 in
68
Carrot - Danvers 126
crisp, sweet, smooth and tapered root
14-25 days
1 ft/2 in
73
Carrot - Scarlet Nantes
dependable, sweet, crisp, bright orange
14-25 days
1 ft/2 in
68
Carrot - Tendersweet
sweet, tender, 9-10" tapered roots
14-25 days
1 ft/2 in
70
Cauliflower - Snowball X
medium-sized, pure-white heads, mild flavor
10-15 days
2.5 ft/1.5 ft
70
Collards - Vates
early, vigorous plants, resist bolting
10-15 days
3 ft/1.5 ft
75
Corn, Sweet - Jubilee Hybrid
most popular sweet corn in the world today
7-10 days
3 ft/20 in
81
Corn, Sweet - Kandy Korn Hybrid
butter-yellow, sweet flavor; high-sugar variety
7-10 days
3 ft/20 in
89
Cucumber - Garden Sweet Hybrid
crisp, sweet flavor, dark green 10" fruit on vigorous vines
8-10 days
4 ft/1 ft
60
Cucumber - Muncher
high yield, disease resistance, glossy dark green fruit
8-10 days
6 ft/1 ft
65
Cucumber - National Pickling