It sure looks like spring has (finally) made it. Tomatoes and peppers are being planted, some for the third time. The planting guides have been a little off this year. Plants and seed depend on sunlight, moisture and soil temperature to do what they do. This year’s delay can be attributed to the soil temperature. Even the grass is taking longer to wake up.
So you already have tomatoes and peppers in the ground, what else to plant? Cucumber is a favorite crop and does well in the DFW area, but they can take up a lot of room. To remedy the space issue try growing them vertically. Squash is another crop that does exceptionally well here. Beware…there is a critter called the squash vine bore. This critter is the finger of death to a squash plant. The insecticide BT can prevent them from getting into the plant. Be diligent, because once the squash plant is infected, there’s no hope of recovery. Click here to read more about planting squash.
Since I seem to be stuck on these types of plants, a word about last year’s watermelon. My crop rotation plan really stunk up the place last year so I had about 80 square feet and that needed a low growing crop. Well, I have been telling folks for years to pick any crop other than watermelon, so I picked watermelon. I grew Black Diamond from plants. Harvested 8 of them and they were unbelievably good. I had another 8 split with so much enthusiasm that you could hear them. The down side is that it took 2 recycling bags to hold the vine. So you can take this as the official retraction of me tell you not to plant watermelon!
