Some plants need a cool start

It is time too long to start planting vegetables – at least vegetables.

“Some cultures such as carrots, radishes and most leaf greens prefer to grow in cooler floor in front of the summer heat,” said Sharon Yiesla, plant knowledge specialist in the Plant Clinic at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle. Others such as tomatoes, peppers and melons have to wait at least until May and the risk of the frost is over.

Cooling season plants can be started from seeds indoors in the early spring, and the seedlings transplanted in April in the Chicago region in April as soon as the floor is thoroughly thawed and drained. “You can start you from the seed yourself or buy them yourself,” said Yiesla. “You can also sow seeds from many vegetables with a cool season directly into the garden floor, although it takes longer to get a harvest.”

Most cool seasonal vegetable sprouts grow best at the spring temperatures in the 1950s, and the foliage can tolerate one or two night temperatures of about 32 degrees or even a snow snow. “This is a good thing in the Chicago area, where our spring weather is extremely irregular,” she said.

To secure your bets against cold congressions and hot spells, place every harvest by sowing the seeds or running the seeds in batches over a period of two or three weeks. Make sure you choose a full-sun site for all vegetables that are far away from every shadow source such as tree branches.

The cool season vegetables include carrots, radishes, parsnips, beets, beets, asparagus, peas, onions, garlic, kale, spinach, salad, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, rose bushes and broccoli. “Most leafy vegetables become bitter when they grow in hot weather,” she said. “Time so that you can harvest before July if the real warmth uses.”

In the heat of the summer, vegetables thrive on the other side and cannot tolerate either their seeds in the cool spring floor or their leaves due to cold weather. These cultures include tomatoes, peppers, melons, beans, cucumbers, pumpkins and other hard pumpkin, zucchini and summer urbis, eggplants, sweet potatoes and sugar corn.

Since the warm part of the vegetation period in the Chicago region is so short, seeds are normally triggered indoors in the warm season and grown for a few weeks before they are transplanted outdoors. “Plan your garden so that you can plant it in mid -May to early June,” said Yiesla.

Some relatively cold-tolerant herbs such as parsley, coriander, core, chives, dill and oregano can be planted outdoors outdoors. Others, such as basil and thyme, are more delicate and need warmer weather. “Plant your basil when you plant your tomatoes,” she said.

Not all varieties of vegetables are the same. Some were bred to be more tolerant, or it takes more or less time to reach the maturity. “Read the seed packages or the catalog descriptions carefully,” said Yiesla. “You give you the specific information you need to plan when every vegetable variety should plant.”

The plant times are usually given in terms of the average expected date of the last frost. In most cases in Chicago this is about May 15th. “However, this is only an average, and sometimes we had frosts at the end of May,” she said. Play it safe by consulting the long -term weather forecast before you have set the vegetables of the warm season or other delicate plants.

Cool and warm-season vegetables have different needs because it originally came from different climate zones. Kale, for example, comes from the Mediterranean region, in which winter resembles like a cool spring in Chicago. Tomatoes are native to Central America, which never sees freezing. Potatoes come from the high, cool Andes of Peru.

“Your genes say plants when to sprout and grow,” said Yiesla. “We have to plan our gardening for their basic natures.”

For tree and plant advice, contact the Plant Clinic in the Morton Arboretum (630-719-2424, Mortonarb.org/plant-clinic or Plantclinic@mortonarb.org). Beth Botts is a staff author in the Arboretum.