Welcome to Short Season Garden Tips, for mid-June 2021.

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Zone 3 gardeners can have a tendency to wait until it is safe to plant everything, before they plant anything.

Well, you never know what to expect for weather here in zone 3.

After 2 days of record-breaking heat, we have a hard frost. And according to the Farmer’s Almanac, we are a week past our last expected spring frost date.

If you adhere to the folklore that we always get a frost around the full moon, we could have frost as late as June 24. That is why a lot of my friends have not planted their gardens yet. They have got blistered too many times. It is heart breaking to put a lot of effort into tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, beans, and corn – only to lose them to a late frost.

A common question that local gardeners ask each other in late May and early June is, “Have you got your garden in yet?”

And typically, the answer is “No”.

We then assure each other that “There is lots of time yet” and go on our way.

For some reason, many people in zone 3 with small gardens like to plant their whole garden in one day. The problem with that is, if you wait until you are absolutely sure that your heat loving plants will thrive before you plant anything, you will have very poor luck with cool loving plants.

There are some plants that absolutely do not like the heat and will survive some pretty cool temperatures.

Peas will not thrive in hot weather, and your lettuce and spinach will bolt.

The long day onion varieties that we plant in zone 3 need to be up and growing early to take advantage of 15 plus hours of sunlight in the month of June.

Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and all your brassicas will easily survive a frost. Many say that kale tastes better after a frost.

While root crops such as carrots and beets will do okay in hot weather, they do not need the heat to thrive. You can actually plant an early crop for summer consumption and a late crop for winter storage.

So instead of asking your zone 3 neighbor, “Have you got your garden in?”, you should ask, “What have you got planted so far?”

Happy gardening,

Stephen

P.S. Check out frost-protection-for-plants.html

P.S.S. Having a hard time knowing how much water to give your container gardens. Check out Wicking buckets YouTube video

Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you. Just reply to this zine and tell me what you think!