Plant Your Veggies

As spring edges toward summer, and we hopefully see our last frost for the season, many of us are busy deciding which vegetables to plant in our gardens and how to grow better vegetables this year. Gardening is a learning process. Each year, we gain more knowledge about how to grow our favorite vegetable. Since we typically grow more than one vegetable in our garden, I have compiled some gardening tips.

Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower
Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower are excellent spring vegetables. If you are observing small, white or yellowish-white moths or butterflies around your cabbage, broccoli, or cauliflower during the day, it is probably the adult imported cabbageworm looking for a place to lay eggs. The worms can be devastating to your plants, eating the leaves and florets before you can. To control this troublesome insect, I suggest using a lightweight row cover or insect barrier that can be purchased at many local home garden stores. The cloth will prevent the moths from laying eggs on the plants while allowing enough sunlight and rain water for the plant to grow. Another alternative is to plant dill, mint, and yarrow to attract beneficial insects that feed on cabbageworms.

Remember, the later you plant cabbage and broccoli in the spring the more insects you will encounter. If you are purchasing transplants, I recommend a careful inspection of the plants. Many insects hitchhike on plants, and when you plant in your garden, you import the insect as well.

Asparagus
Asparagus is emerging in the garden. Spears are snapped when they reach about six inches. Stop harvesting asparagus when the spear diameter decreases to the size of a pencil.

Be vigilant for the asparagus beetle, a blue and black insect with cream-colored spots. The asparagus beetle feeds and lays eggs on the spears and ferns. The easiest way to control this insect in the home garden is physically removing it from the plant.

Rhubarb
If your rhubarb is flowering, you should remove the flower stalks. Do not harvest rhubarb the first year after planting to make a light harvest the second year.

Tomatoes
Many gardeners consider tomatoes both a challenge and a pleasure. With more than 300 varieties, there are a lot of choices. If you cannot find the variety you desire locally, it is not too late to buy seed and grow your own plants, provided you have the space and time.

Tomato plants should be four to five weeks old when transplanted. If you choose to buy transplants, don’t purchase plants that are too large and elongated. Older plants do not transplant well. I also recommend removing any flowers on the transplant before planting in the garden. This practice enables the plant to grow more leaves and vines, rather than setting fruit prematurely.

Research has documented that deeper planting can improve plant growth. Also, planting tomatoes on a mulched, raised bed will significantly improve growth and disease resistance.

In Central Missouri, I would not plant tomatoes later than June 15. The later tomatoes are planted, the more stress from insects, drought and temperature they will encounter. Always stake or cage your tomato plants. Also, if you desire earlier fruit and less plant growth, prune your tomatoes by removing the stem suckers that grow between the main stem and the flower stalk. I recommend leaving two to three stems per plant.

Older varieties of tomatoes are called "heirloom" tomatoes and are popular with many gardeners. Although they have excellent taste, many heirlooms lack disease resistance. However, heirlooms and other tomatoes called "indeterminate" or vine tomatoes will produce fruit through summer until frost.

If you desire a sweet, salad tomato, I highly recommend grape tomatoes. In University of Missouri variety trials last year, Juliet, Sweet Olive, and Chaquita were excellent varieties. With grape tomatoes, it is important to remember that a little plant goes a long way in producing a lot of fruit.

Peppers
Peppers are typically planted after tomatoes, since they prefer warmer soil temperatures. Pepper plants should be seven to eight weeks old and free of flowers and fruit when planting. A very good choice for red, sweet bell peppers is Vidi, Lipstick, and King Arthur.

Sweet corn
Sweet corn can be planted through early June. However, like most vegetables, the earlier you plant, the fewer problems you will have with insects. Remember to isolate yellow varieties from white and white/yellow varieties by planting them two weeks apart.

Lewis Jett, UMC Horticulturalist and State Vegetable Crops Specialist, (573) 884-3287