Essential Planting Tips For New Jersey Gardeners This Spring: Timing Is Everything

We're officially at that point of the year where it's deemed safe to start planting outdoors in New Jersey. Once Mother's Day rolls around, we're usually safe from any hard frost or freezes.

That's not to say it can't happen. In fact, never say never when it comes to that possibility. Usually, I like to go until at least mid-May before I consider it safe, but that's generally not too far from Mother's Day as it is.

For those who garden regularly, you know what precautions to take and how much time you have to get those vegetables planted. Even if by seed, most pros know when to get that going for a successful crop.

But not everybody is an avid gardener and would prefer to plant for fun. Or, they're only planting one or two types of vegetables that they really like.

So, for those who fall into that category, you might be wondering how much time you have to get those plants into the ground? The answer to that is, it depends.

From seed to crop

One of the big challenges with New Jersey's growing season is that it's short. At least, it's short when compared to other parts of the country.

That can make it really challenging to know when to plant certain vegetables. Particularly, those that take a long time to mature.

For plants that take 90 days or more to produce, getting them in the ground sooner is better. If you wait too long, you might run out of time for those ideal growing conditions.

For example, if you wait until mid-June to plant something that takes 90 to 100 days to produce, you'd be looking toward the end of September. A whole month makes a huge difference in New Jersey.

Peppers

This one might be more about personal preference. If you don't mind green peppers, then you'll be OK planting later in the season. But if you want fully ripened peppers (peppers that aren't green), then you'll want to plant mid to late May if possible.

That would give you as much time as possible for those peppers to go from green to red, or whatever variety of pepper you have. Pepper plants will give you a good crop as long as they have good sun and good soil conditions, so they will take care of you.

But again, if you prefer your peppers fully ripe, then they'll need more time to hang out on the plant before they change color.

Quick-growing crops

On the flip side, if you have a plant that can produce fairly quickly, say, within 60 days or less, you can usually wait a little longer for those.

Take the green beans, for example. You can plant those by seed as late as the end of August and still manage to get a decent late-season crop.

For vegetables like that, you have a much bigger window to get those plants into the ground. However, you'd be wise to do it sooner, since that would allow more to be produced sooner.

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And should the plant stop producing after a while, you can always replace it with a fresh crop. Again, it all boils down to the type of vegetable you're planting, so pay attention to the instructions.

With that said, it's still important to keep an eye on weather trends during the month of May. If the potential of a rare cold snap is in the forecast, you might want to hold up on planting until that time has passed.

The general window is short

That's just the bottom line. New Jersey's growing season is short, so you really want to wait too long to get that garden going.

Ideally, you want to get those warmer-weather crops into the ground sometime between Mother's Day through early June. That's just a few weeks to get things going if you want to have a decent crop.

As for those cooler-weather crops such as lettuce and peas? Those are ideal to get into the ground again in late August or early September.

Hold off... or plant now?

It's not to say cooler-weather plants like that won't grow now, they just don't like the hotter weather as much. Again, mid-May to mid-June the latest is your ideal window for gardening in New Jersey.

And make sure to water often, especially at first. Once the plants start to grow, you can start to space out how often you give the plant water. Watering is important, but you don't want too much at once.

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The above post reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 Sunday morning host & content contributor Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own.