Time is ripe for gardeners to plant many of the most popular home-grown vegetables

It's time.

This would be the weekend to get peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and squash in the ground.


That's what Ben Beale, University of Maryland Extension educator for agricultural sciences in the extension's Leonardtown office, said he'd be doing if he wasn't in the process of moving and had his own vegetable garden this spring.

A number of plant sales are scheduled Saturday to meet the needs of area gardeners who are itching to get their gardens started, hosted for example by the Kiwanis Club, Summerseat Farm and Sotterley Plantation and the Society Hill Garden Club in Breton Bay.

The weather earlier this week was cold and rainy. But even beginner gardeners know that deadlines for planting are coming quickly at this time of year.

It's too late for cool-weather vegetables like garden peas, spinach and lettuce – although those can be planted at the end of the summer again — but the time is right now to put out many vegetable garden favorites, including tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, squash and green beans.

The time is right because the threat of frost has likely passed for Southern Maryland. "We're pretty safe," Beale said Wednesday.

However, this week's rain might be a complication, Beale said. "Ideally, you want to wait until the soil dries out" a little.

Dean Meloney, master gardener, presented a workshop Aug. 25 on the first day of the Garden Fair at Sotterley Plantation in Hollywood to offer some advice about what gardeners should be doing this spring and when. Meloney suggested those trying vegetable gardens for the first time this year think carefully about what they should plant. "Choose vegetables and varieties that you and your family like to eat … that do well in Southern Maryland and are disease-resistant," he said.

While it makes sense to grow something you are confident you would eat, Meloney also urged workshop participants to be willing to expand their eating horizons a little. Some people try vegetable gardening with the idea that they will just grow what they would normally buy at the grocery store. "Don't be afraid to try something new," he said.

He also noted that when planning the garden, consider the final height of plants so shorter plants won't be shaded by taller ones.

It's hard to say what can be grown trouble-free in Southern Maryland. But the early colonists to the area learned to rely on a trio of vegetables that became staples of their diet – corn, beans and squash – referred to sometimes as "the three sisters" that helped ensure the colonists' survival.

Meloney also suggested several vegetables for those new to gardening. "Cucumbers are pretty easy," he said. "Tomatoes are popular. Squash is good, but can have some insect problems … lettuce is a piece of cake, but it can get slugs if you let them grow too close."

Marcella Hayes, a volunteer with the Sotterley Garden Guild, established the vegetable garden currently cultivated at the historic Hollywood site and has been involved with vegetable gardens her entire life. Hayes recommended green beans as a good choice for new gardeners. "They're pretty easy. They have a long season," she said as she took a break from her work at Sotterley last month. "Tomatoes too … but don't plant them until after the first of May."

Bob Aldridge, a member of the steering committee of the Sotterley Garden Guild and the volunteer in charge of the garden's vegetable plot this summer, suggested that it is worth your while to search for disease-resistant varieties of vegetables. He also suggested that it might be smart to plant cucumbers and squash on the later side of their suggested planting dates. They are susceptible to borers, caterpillars that get inside their stem. If a gardener holds off a little, "a lot of bugs will have invested in something else," he said.

Beale said Southern Maryland is a good area for many vegetables, giving even inexperienced gardeners plenty of safe choices from which to choose. Beans, tomatoes, squash, peppers are all good options, he said. "Most of the traditional vegetable crops we grow, we can grow really well," he said. "We have one of the best climates for growing kale, turnips and collards."

Others can be more troublesome. Beale noted that eggplant "requires a very long growing season and is susceptible to almost every pest known to man."

And while both pumpkins and watermelon are frequently grown locally, gardeners with less experience may want to avoid both as they are just starting out. They "are susceptible to powdery mildew that gets on the leaves in the summer and don't tolerate poorly drained soils," Beale said.

Sweet corn "grows great in this area," he said. But it's not something Beale recommends for a new gardener, if only because of the amount of space it requires, the shade it causes and its susceptibility to pests. "It's easier to buy it from a local farmer," he said.

New gardeners should use transplants for tomatoes, eggplant and peppers, Beale said. It gives the gardener a head start on the growing season and also they don't have to deal with the tiny seed those plants are grown from.

He noted that a rookie mistake is not planting seeds correctly from the start. "A common mistake is planting too deep … Two to three times the width of the seed," is the rule, Beale said, for how deep to plant seeds.

And if Beale were actually putting in a vegetable garden this year, he would definitely be using plastic mulch to better warm the soil, conserve moisture in the root zone and prevent weeds, he said. He is also a believer in a drip irrigation system, one that is installed even as the plants are being put in. This puts the right amount of water right where it is needed, he said. "A drip irrigation system is recommended … almost essential," he said last month. "It provides water at a slow, steady rate, directly into the root system."

Intimidated? Slugs, powdery mildew, height considerations, water … but not too much.

"A lot of it's a skill," Beale said. "There's a kind of art to it, too."

Aldridge said much about gardening just comes with time and experience. "Starting gardeners should be very patient with themselves," he said. "It's a very relaxing, I think, very renewing activity. You're doing something very positive and you're going to get good, nutritious food."

Aldridge noted that he is not surprised by the renewed interest in the hobby of vegetable gardening in this high-tech culture. "I think for a lot of people, particularly those with desk jobs, [gardening provides] a unit of work. You start it, you finish. You can see a completed job," he said. "It's very satisfying in that regard.