With a bumper crop of tomatoes, peppers, onions and herbs, it's easy to create your own home-made sauces and salsas. Enjoy them fresh and freeze or can the extras.
Planting Guide:
Parsley
- Start seeds 1/4″ deep indoors 10 to 12 weeks before last frost.
- Transplant seedlings into garden up to a month before last frost.
- Spacing: two plants per sq. ft.
- Edible all summer and into winter.
- Biennial: plants will go to seed second year.
- Days to harvest: 75. Begin harvesting foliage at any time. Very frost-hardy.
- Hint: Parsley takes up to 21 days to germinate. Treat seeds with hot water before planting.
Onions
- Start seeds 1/4″ deep indoors 12 weeks before last frost
- Transplant plants into garden a month before last frost. If planting sets, plant them 1″ deep.
- Spacing: nine plants per sq. ft., or plant more densely and then thin and eat small onions
- Days to harvest: 100 to 120 days. Frost-hardy.
- Hint: Onions will not tolerate weeds and require consistent moisture.
Hot peppers
- Start seeds indoors 1/4" deep 10 to 12 weeks before last frost.
- Transplant into garden three weeks after last frost or when soil reaches 70 degrees F.
- Fruits are edible from early green to full-color maturity. Heat increases with maturity.
- Spacing: one plant per sq. ft.
- Days to harvest: 50 to 65 days green, 80 to 85 days to full color. Not frost-hardy.
Cilantro
- Sow seeds directly in the garden around last frost date. Plant 1/4″ to 1/2″ deep. Cilantro goes to seed quickly, so plant more seeds every three weeks to ensure a constant supply.
- Spacing: Sow 18 seeds per sq. ft.; thin to nine plants per sq. ft.
- Days to harvest: 50 days for leaves, 90 days for seed harvest.
- Hint: Do not fertilize. Harvest individual stems or cut back entire plant with scissors, leaving 1″ at base to regrow.
Tomato
- Plant seeds 1/4″ deep indoors, six to eight weeks before last frost
- Transplant into garden one to two weeks after last frost or when soil reaches 65 degrees F.
- Spacing: one plant per sq. ft. Grow early season crops nearby to allow more room later.
- Days to harvest: 55 to 100 days from transplanting, depending on variety. Not frost-hardy
- Hint: Remove lower leaves before planting and bury extra stem.
Basil
- Plant seeds 1/4″ deep indoors six weeks before last frost; outdoors two weeks after last frost.
- Transplant seedlings two to three weeks after last frost or when soil reaches 70 degrees F.
- Replant if you have space and want more.
- Spacing: two plants per sq. ft.
- Days to harvest: 40-55 days from transplant. Harvest leaves as desired. Not frost-hardy.
- Hint: Pinch stems early and often to stimulate branching and bushy growth.
Peppers
- Start seeds indoors 1/4″ deep 10 to 12 weeks before last frost.
- Transplant into garden three weeks after last frost or when soil reaches 70 degrees F.
- Fruits are edible from early green to full-color maturity.
- Spacing: one plant per sq. ft.
- Days to harvest: 50 to 65 days green, 80 to 85 days to full color. Not frost-hardy.
