It's May 20 and it's time to start planting around here. Tonight it will freeze (minus 2) . Most nights now are 2 or 3 above zero. So we can start to plant and by the time the plants come up there will be little risk of frost.
I have seeded radish, lettuce , chard and carrots. When it dries up I will seed the remainder of my garden. I will have to wait before I put out bedding plants. Petunias are tough and they could go in now because they will tolerate some frost. I plant my corn in pots so that they get a head start. If I plant them in the garden as seed they probably wouldn't mature. Tomatoes will go in after June 1.
Now in many areas the crops are quite mature. I see some people picking beans.
So how is late planting done here so that plants will mature? Plants have been developed specifically for this area. So the plants mature or ripen in less time.
Second , mother nature plays some tricks. Now we have a very long day so the plants grow rapidly and mature.
Today the sun rose at 5:32 AM and sets at 9:31 PM. This means we have 15 hours and 59 min of sun. We have long sunsets and long sunrise this also adds to the light our plants can use.
When I was in the Arctic from 63 to 66 the priest at the mission grew some garden plants. The cabbages at that time were the biggest I had ever seen. Of course he started all his plants in the house and put them out when there was less risk of frost. And there were times when he covered his plants to protect them from frost. His biggest problem was to get good soil for gardening.
So I'm on a bit of the extreme for gardening but I thought it would be interesting to share.
