A guide to spring garden planning

As spring rolls around, it seems like gardening and yard chores just pile up. There are fruit trees, grapevines, the yard, the garden and all kinds of plants to start and get growing. It also seems like in the spring I look at buying some new fruiting bushes like blueberries or elder berries or boysenberries or such. I have to make a list and check off what I get done.

One thing I'd do is Google "grow zone for 63780," only put your ZIP code in where mine is.

This should bring up a bunch of sites, but one you are looking for is plantmaps.com/63780, with the only difference being your ZIP code will be in the URL. Under this site you will find a wealth of information.

One thing you will find out is your plant hardiness zone. If you ever decide to buy grapevines or roses or whatever, make sure it will be hardy in your zone.

Two other important pieces of information are your average last frost in the spring and average first frost in the fall.

In our area, the last average frost occurs somewhere between April 1 and 10. I use April 15 as my dependable date. It can frost after April 15, so check your weather around April 15 just to be sure. Our first frost in the fall is around Oct. 21 to 31.

Now is the time to plant lettuce if you haven't already.

Also, peas need to be planted. Some people scatter lettuce seed on the snow, and then when the snow melts, the lettuce is planted. Plant your peas as early as you can from March on, if you so desire. Both lettuce and peas seem to be able to handle cold weather.

Now is the time to buy and plant your broccoli, cabbage, kale, collards, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. These are all cole crops and can be planted or set out four to six weeks before your last frost date. I still have my cole crops in my greenhouse, but plans are to begin planting anytime.

I have a hard time growing broccoli, so I bought some plants at Yoder's in Aquilla, Missouri. Steve has plants over at Whitaker's. Carrots can be planted two to three weeks before the last frost, so they can be planted now as well. Onions, too. I planted my onion plants and onion sets on Monday.

I'd wait a week or two on the potatoes and corn. The ground is really cold and I don't believe either would come up very good. As I was planting my onions Monday my hand actually got cold from poking the onions down into the soil. You can plant your potatoes and corn a week or two before the last frost date, but I usually wait until about the last frost date to plant mine. Some of the new super-sweet hybrid corn likes the ground to be warm.

Beets can be planted a week or so before the last frost. After you have planted the beet seed, scatter a real thin layer of straw over the bed. Beets seem to come up better through the straw.

I started some zucchini in my greenhouse this past week but will wait until middle to late April to set them out.

Zucchini are easy to start. The seeds germinate really easy and grow well. You can set them out in your garden about three weeks after planting the seeds. Cucumbers are easy to start as well. These two are good seeds for little ones to start and plant.

Everyone wants to hurry and plant in the spring, but wait to plant your tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans. These three can't stand a frost, so they should be planted after all danger of frost is over. May 1 is a great target date on all three in grow zone 6b. Some crops, such as zucchini and okra, like warm to hot weather, so don't get in a hurry planting them.

If you have grapevines, they need to be pruned as soon as you can. They will be budding out and putting on blossoms at any time.

When you prune them, they will weep, but this shouldn't hurt the vines. Not pruning them will hurt them even more. If you aren't sure how to prune your grapes, check it out online or ask someone who grows grapes. You will need to begin spraying your grapes for fungus and bugs at this time as well.

Now is also a great time to spray around the vines for grass and weeds and such; I usually use Roundup in the spring. Just be careful not to get it on the vines. Make sure there is little, if any, wind.

Some of our fruit trees are budding right now and some are about ready to. I hooked up our sprayer yesterday and sprayed all of ours with dormant oil spray. I think the only danger is making sure it doesn't freeze after you have sprayed them. We are supposed to stay above 40 degrees for several days, so I'm safe to spray.

As you plant your garden, some crops should be planted for successive crops. Radishes can be planted at one- to two-week intervals so you have radishes ready on a regular basis. Zucchini is another plant to plant, say, every two to four weeks. Lettuce is another veggie to plant successively. The same for some cabbage plants like Nero. Rainbow chard or kale can be planted like this.

We plant corn so we have a new batch every two to three weeks. Also potatoes! Our favorite potatoes are the new little ones about silver dollar size.

Even green onions can be planted successively so you have green onions all summer. Buy extra onion sets and stick them down in your crisper in the fridge to plant later this summer. The sets are cheap, so if they spoil, you haven't lost but a dollar or two.

Happy gardening.

Until next time.