The Kitchen Garden
Starting the kitchen garden is a highly anticipated event every year. The garden is not complete until the veggies are in the ground.
I got so used to transplanting seedlings, home grown or store bought, I almost forgot every vegetable can be grown from seed directly outside, as they are programmed to do; any exasperated gardener who keeps plucking tomato seedlings from the unlikeliest places can attest to that. Maybe it’s worth direct-sowing them this year, late in the season as it is, at least the rare varieties.
Some plants grow fast, dislike having their roots disturbed, and they’re best started directly outdoors. Sow squashes, cucumbers, melons, peas and beans directly in the garden, in mounded nests of four or five seeds.
Snow peas, radishes, kale and spinach really love cold weather, but they must be started in cold frames because their young plants don’t take kindly to killing frosts. You’re better off planting them in the fall, as a late crop.
In warmer climates, the same goes for carrots, but keep in mind they need sixty to eighty days to harvest. A frost or two will enhance their sweetness and flavor, leave them in the ground as long as possible.
I left eggplants last, because they are heat loving plants, and take three months and a half to mature. Unless you live in a really warm climate zone, you need to plant established seedlings well on their way in order to see any fruit before the weather cools.
The problem with the shifting weather patterns is even if the weather stays warm a month longer than it used to, once the fall equinox rolls in, the changes in light levels trigger the fruit to stop ripening.
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