Now that it’s May, if you haven’t started your garden for the summer yet — or you’re ready to move seedlings you started indoors out — it’s time to kick your gardening into high gear.
When it comes to planning your garden, think about what you like to eat, says Romondo Woods II, garden development coordinator at the nonprofit Keep Growing Detroit.
“That is the real motivation behind your commitment to growing. Any vegetables that you can eat, think of the cost you can save by growing them and then start there,” Woods says.
It’s prime time to plant vegetables like radishes, beets, carrots, lettuce, kale, chard, green onions, and onions right now.
A good rule of thumb is to start planting around late April/early May, but it is Michigan, after all. Weather can be your best friend — if you know how to work with it. “Weather here in Michigan is real feisty,” Woods says of temps that can fluctuate wildly in the early spring. If you started seeds indoors, wait until the low temps are consistently between 45 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit to move them outdoors, he says.
And don’t bring them out all at once. “Hardening off” — when seedlings are brought from indoors to outdoors in increments — will make sure your transplants will make it.
One way to mitigate potential losses of plants is to plant in succession, or intervals. “If you plant half of your plants, and then [there’s frost] a week later, you’ve still got your other half.”
This story is from the May 2022 issue of vlog Detroit. Read more stories inour digital edition.
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