Mother Nature really knows how to optimize the growing season. Some plants start poking through even before the snow melts. Others love to start off in the cold and die back in the heat. Then, there is a whole new crop of plants starting off mid-summer and growing right through the fall. Some plants even love the early frost.
The most common myth about gardening is that we plant on the 24th of May and put the garden to bed on Labour Day. By doing this, we miss out on about four months of growing and harvesting! Succession planting -- sowing seeds every couple of weeks from April to September -- follows Mother Nature's example and allows us to increase the amount of food we get from our little gardens.
Lettuce, a cold-weather crop, gets bitter once the heat of the summer hits. It is July 7th, today and I just pulled out and composted the last of the lettuce. It was a good run. We had salad every day for six weeks without making trips to the grocery store or the farmer's market.
Now, I am planting new crops. Basil, for one. The first basil plants started flowering, so I yanked them out, harvested the leaves, and composted the rest.
To get ideas on what and when to plant, check out the links below.
Canadian Organic Gardeners
Johnny Seeds
Food Share
Rennee's Garden
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