What's Growing?
Corn
Corn was bred by Native Americans thousands of years ago, from a tiny edible weed into the big ear of kernels we know today. It should be planted in mid-May through early June and-- as one local resident put it-- should be "knee high by July."
Corn needs to be pollinated in order to produce: the pollen is released from the weedy-looking tops and settles on the corn silks. Each individual silk is connected to one potential corn kernel so each one needs to be pollinated! To assist this you can use a soft paintbrush to collect the pollen and distribute it onto the silks.
Corn can be grown in rows, as we are this year; or in hills. Either way, you can use the Native American 'three sisters' method. The three sisters are corn, beans and squash. The beans grow up the corn stalks and the squash helps to retain moisture and keep away critters. Two weeks after planting the corn, plant one or two beans near each stalk. One week later, plant a squash seed nearby.
Tomatoes
Although we usually think of Italy when we think of tomatoes, they are actually native to North America and were only brought to Europe in the 1500s. Tomatoes should be planted in mid-May through early June but you can start them indoors before that.
Here's a way to get lots of free tomato plants... We compost our food waste and a lot of tomatoes go into that compost. Then that seedy compost gets spread throughout the garden and tons of tiny, free tomato plants start popping up in mid May. We separate them out to give away and plant in tomato beds!
Companion plants to tomatoes include basil, which repels some pests; borage, which repels pests and provides nutrients to the soil; and beets, which provide ground cover to retain moisture.
Everything else!
Fruit
Mulberry
Strawberry
Raspberry
Husk cherry
Tomatoes
Robinson
Haitian
Yellow pear
Earlirouge
Super Sweet 100
Black Prince
Roma
Speckled Roma
Valencia
Pruden's Purple
Hillbilly
Berkley Pink Tie Dye
Mystery heirlooms
Glacier saladette
Chocolate cherry
Greens
Platonic romaine lettuce
Paris island romaine
Spotted trout lettuce
Mesclun mix lettuce
Arugula
Radicchio
Broccoli raab (2 Spring varieties)
Spinach (3 varieties)
Escarole
Red leaf lettuce
Kale (2 varieties)
Chard (3 varieties)
Peas & Beans
Shelling peas
Snap peas
Snow peas
Asparagus pole bean
Kentucky Wonder pole bean
Purple podded pole
Silver cloud canning pole
Cranberry pole
French filet bush
Flat Italian bush
Purple bush
Antigua bush
Blue Lake bush
Sweet peppers
Purple bell
Early red bell
Lunchbox sweet
Carmen
Italian frying
Hot peppers
Cherry
Ancho
Poblano
Cayenne
Squashes
Cucamelon
Cucumber (7 varieties)
Dark star
Cocozelle
Honeynut
Sweet dumpling
Alliums
Garlic
Red onion
Cippolium onion
Blushing scallion
White scallion
Shallots
Leeks
Root / Other
Radish
Carrot
Fennel
Okra
Beets
Herbs
Basil
Oregano
Lavender (2 varieties)
Rosemary
Tarragon
Chives
Thyme
Lemon thyme
Sage
Parsley (2 varieties)
Lemon balm
Chocolate mint
Peppermint
Cilantro
Catnip
Chamomile
Summer savory
Marjoram
Dill
Flowers
Monarda
Pincushion flower
Bachelor button
Borage
Marigold
Zinnia
Nasturtium
Rockfoil
Forget-Me-Nots
Forsythia
Columbine
Roses of Sharon
German wildflowers
Sunflowers
Roses: yellow & pink
Echinacea
Calendula
Tulip
Colleus
Spiderwort
Heliochrysum
Lily of the Valley
Iris
Yellow flag
Daffodil
Bleeding heart
Grape hyacinth
Hyacinth
Dahlia
Hostas
Lilies (2 varieties)
Black Eyed Susans
Cosmos
Shasta daisy
Bluebells
Blue poppies
Sweet annie