Posted by erin in Growing Stuff on June 01, 2013 at 17:20 and edited at May 27, 2019 at 05:07
PermalinkI live in Massachusetts in the US, and just found out that I do, indeed, have space for planting in the giant garden that is apparently shared between the neighborhood. Is it too late to start zucchinis and watermelons? What about sauce tomatoes? I've never tried to start anything this late in the season before and am wondering if I should just go buy transplants.
ETA: According to the google machine, our last frost date is usually the end of April and first frost is in October.
3 comments
I'd definitely try everything you have space for, but with transplants this year. Starting from seed takes so long, especially for things like tomatoes and peppers.
The tomatoes will depend on variety, but if you get seedlings and transplant them, you should be able to get a good harvest. I'd look for tomato cultivars with 55 to 65 days to maturity like Fourth of July – here's a list that's includes days to maturity. For zucchini, just resolve to eat them young and small.
You should be ok with zuchinni or any of the vine squash/cuke varietals if you plant from seedlings. It's way too late to start anything from seed at this point. Tomatoes… I'd go with large-ish plants and be ok with having less variety than normal this year.
Thanks for everyone's advice! My upstairsneighbor's father stopped by with a bunch of extra tomatoes and peppers that filled my space right up, so I guess I don't need to worry about this until next year. :D