Rising temperatures bring rapid growth in garden

Does your garden seem to be growing overnight? Warm weather (and warmer soil) help young plants get off to a fast start. You’ll notice rapid changes, especially in the vegetable garden. If you’re planning on planting summer vegetables, now is the time to get them in the ground.

▪ Transplant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and squash seedlings. Make sure they get enough water, especially if temperatures rise or if the soil is dried out by wind. Irrigate them twice a week by hand.

▪  Plant seeds for melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes and annual herbs such as basil. Keep soil slightly moist (not wet) and they’ll sprout quickly. Hand water for best results.

▪ In the flower garden, it’s time to plant seeds for salvia, sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, celosia and asters. You also can transplant seedlings for many of those flowers.

▪ To retain moisture, add a layer of insulating mulch around your vegetables and flowers. This also cuts down on weeds. Be sure to leave a small circle around the base of each plant to prevent rotting stems or trunks; don’t bury your seedlings under mulch.

▪ Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions. As the weather warms, lettuce will turn bitter and go to seed; cabbages will split.

▪ For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses and other plants.

This story was originally published May 12, 2017 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Rising temperatures bring rapid growth in garden."