how late is too late to garden?

[MommyHawk]

I have yet to start my garden - zone 7 - and I don't forsee being able to do so for a few weeks now (financial/time reasons)...

how late is too late to start?

Also, I have two cauliflower plants given to me by a friend that are not happy, but I have no where to put them right now. Should I just give them away? Or keep watering them?

thanks!

[kriket]

I hate cauliflower because it hates me, so can't help you there. But the warmer weather crops you still have time for. I am a zone above you, but the chart says April 15th is your last freeze date. Plus you always have the fall crops!
Here is a nice pic of when you can put things in the ground in your area.
http://www.veggieharvest.com/Vegetab...ting-calendar/

[Alyantavid]

I haven't even tilled my garden yet. I'm not sure what zone I'm in, I can never remember. But I never plant before the end of April because inevitably, it'll freeze before then.

I plant seeds directly into the ground with a few exceptions and it works really well for me.

[koofie]

Hi MommyHawk! I'm in Columbia, and last year I didn't start my garden until mid/late April because I built one by digging down and it flooded, so I had to build a raised one. My lettuce and spinach didn't do well, but most everything else I planted did ok. I have started a number of things from organic seed this year and I'll have too many when they are ready to transplant in a month or so; you are welcome to some of them. PM me if you want to know more!

[westcoastlady]

Where we live I don't start planting in mid-June. Just make sure you check the maturation dates on what you are planting so that your plants have enough time to develop. There are a lot of early maturing varieties out there that only take 60-70 days to mature.

[dannic]

I am zone 8 and there's some thing that can be planted every month of the year. So I'm thinking you can plant something!

[mattemma04]

Some plants are more cool season,and don't do well starting out in summer heat.Other than that issue I think it is fine to start at any time. Shoot I planted tomatillo and ground cherry seeds midsummer since it took me forever to dig up my driveway garden. I planted corn seeds in July and they still managed to grow about 6-7 feet high-no corn cobs but nice privacy.

I would give the plants away.They can only grow so much in a pot.Now if you moved them each to a five gallon bucket they might survive.

[kcstar]

I'm zone 7b. As pp have pointed out, the *average* last frost date is April 15, which means there's a 50% chance of frost after that. The 10% frost free date is more like April 30.

We're fortunate to have an extended growing season here. Cauliflower and broccoli, as cool season crops, I put in about a month or more ago. Pole beans I just planted this morning. My tomato and squash/cucumber/watermelon starts are waiting until May to go outside.

Cool-season plants can be planted again later in the year, I haven't caught that bus yet. I did plant some lettuce and spinach late last year, October or so. The plants survived the winter so I've had salad this spring.

If you can plant something now, and again in about two weeks, succession planting helps to extend your harvest. It works nicely for the home gardener, because we don't usually want a ton of produce all at once.

It's the big commercial farms that want to plant everything and harvest everything in big batches.

[workjw]

We're in zone 7, and the only things we have in now are early things like lettuce, broccoli, onions, etc. We usually don't plant our main crops (tomatoes, squash, beans, etc) before the first of May, although this year I'll be planting everything this week b/c FIL is on vacation which means I'll have a little help (YAY!). We also plant a "late garden" the first or second week of June, so you should have plenty of time.

I agree with pp that you should either put the plants in 5 gallon buckets or give them away if you can't get them in the ground soon. Good luck!