May 13, 2017
May is a good time to cover your tomatoes at night. The temperature is not up to what they prefer yet and it slows their growth. I've been putting two cloches on two of my cherry tomatoes at night and they are taller, greener and bushier than the two that I didn't. The melon prefer some evening shelter too because they also originated in warmer climates..
Breeze is beneficial to most plants because they respire, but wind is more often a problem. Some commercial cantaloupe growers use windbreaks to help mitigate the negative consiquences of strong winds. I sometimes put buckets next to my transplants not only for shade but to keep them from getting blown over..
May 14, 2017
The blossoms on the five foot tall kale plants are on the wane and the plants are covered with seed pods. I can let them dry where they stand or pull them up and lay them along the fence line. The last time I did that they reseeded themselves and I used that seed for spring planting. I won't be planting kale in the spring anymore now that I've learned how to overwinter it. The plants start producing as soon as the weather warms up and they have an extensive root system to support rapid growth..
I direct seed August 1st, thin when the plants are 4" tall, and they have enough time to get bushy before winter stops their growth. Cauliflower, on the other hand, needs to be direct seeded July 1st in order to have enough time to produce. It does not overwinter, so you need to harvest before the first hard frost..
May 15, 2017
Now that Mother's Day has come and gone you can pretty much plant whatever you want, from seeds to garden center plants. We still are not 100% sure there won't be a frost so it behoves you to remain vigilant. I've temporarily run out of things to plant so I found a sunflower growing behind the barn, and dug it up to put in the garden. I even put a cloche over it because it's special. The first planting of cauliflower is a foot tall and broad leafed with the beginnings of a head forming. The second planting is all gone except two plants..
Killed by pill bugs and ants. The third and fourth plantings are doing great which makes me tend to think that the sow bugs, pillbug and ant problem was within a window of opportunity for their successfulness. A perfect storm perhaps, that may not be repeated next year. Hope spring eternal..
