Your garden · This week
What the garden needs right now.
A weekly read on where your garden likely stands — what to tend, what to watch, what can wait. Add your ZIP code and it adjusts to your actual frost window.
This week in the garden
Spring is the season of decisions made too soon.
The urge to plant arrives before the soil is ready in most years. -- lettuce, spinach, peas, carrots -- can tolerate light frost and may go in now depending on your location. like tomatoes and peppers need to wait for consistently warm nights.
Soil workability matters as much as air temperature. Digging wet soil breaks its structure. When a handful squeezed in your fist crumbles rather than sticks, the timing may be right.
Worth doing this week
- cool-season crops if nighttime temps stay above 28 degrees F
- Check soil temperature -- most seeds need at least 50 degrees F to
- any indoor starts gradually over 7-10 days before planting
- beds with before planting rather than after
Coming up · May
The main transplant window is open. Move carefully.
Transplant warm-season crops in evening or on cloudy days to reduce stress
Watch for this month
Aphids
ScoutAct soon — within 7 dayskale, lettuce, pepper, tomato, broccoli
Check undersides of new growth weekly. Strong water spray dislodges colonies.
Flea beetle
PreventAct soon — within 7 dayseggplant, arugula, radish, kale
Row cover on transplant day. Kaolin clay spray on leaves. Most plants outgrow damage.
Slugs and snails
TreatAct soon — within 7 dayslettuce, basil, strawberry, cabbage
Iron phosphate bait around seedlings. Water in the morning, not evening. Clear mulch from stem bases.