Conventional planting wisdom

says that when the forsythia are blooming, the time's right for peas, lettuce, spinach, etc. I've also heard that when the peonies are blooming, transplant your cabbage and the cabbage moth won't get 'em. And the other day I read that when the dogwood petals fall, it's time to put peppers in the ground.

Got any more of these?

My mom says that when the Indian Pear (a/k/a Serviceberry, Amelanchier) blooms, that it's safe to plant corn.

Rhonda

Rhonda, not safe here to plant corn yet and the amaelanchier are in bloom. However here where I live the saying is don't plant corn seed if snow is still visible on Aeneas Mtn. Guess that won't work for very many of you guys tho!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And snow is still visible, actually snowed there yesterday. DonnaS

Horseshoe once said to palnt your squash or pumpkin when someting was blooming, or was it, keep the row covers on until something blooms.... Shoe? Where are you? This game is perfect for you! HELLOOOO?

My Dad used to say "it's time to plant corn when the oak leaves are as big as a squirrels ear".

YEAH! That's a good one...

When the Indian Pear trees bloom here, I'll have to check the size of the leaves on the oak trees. It's worth investigating! : )

Rhonda

Hickory leaves large as squirrel ears, time to plant butterbeans. Taking a lunch break now.

I grew up in Kentucky and my grandfather used to say "you can't put out a garden until after Derby Day," which is the first Saturday in May. I live in Arkansas now, but I still wait until after Derby Day to put out my tomatoes and peppers and other warm weather stuff.

when somebody on daves garden tells me to. lol

I've always heard it was time to plant corn when the oak leaves are the size of squirrel ears, but there are so many different kinds of oaks and they don't seem to leaf out all at the same time. I may go with Farmerdill's adage of hickory leaves. A hickory in my yard is just starting to come out. They are one of my favorite trees, very sculptural-shaped branches. I'd better get busy out there.
Farmerdill, that is one good looking tractor and I'll bet that sandy soil there grows some of the best watermelons.

Now would that be the ear on a Grey Squirrel or on a Red Squirrel?..we have both here and it could be the difference between sucess or failure.

Don't plant corn until you can smell the outhouse.

I am planting my first round of early corn this week! Found an oak tree today, and the leaves are small, but haven't seen a squirrel up close lately, how big could those ears be, anyhow?

Truth be known, I plant what I can when I can and it's not a race to get the first possible crop of anything. Just great it's warm enough to plant anything and be outside again.

Here's another one.. True or false?

I sometimes helped my grandpa plant his garden in the spring. I can still remember him telling me very seriously, "Now Peggy, you make sure you put all the eyes on those beans up." He died in 1967 so I can't ask him if he was just havin' fun with me but a gardening friend of mine tells me she thinks he's probably somewhere up there still laughing his head off watching me plant beans with the eyes up.

Hehehe, Peggy, my Dad always said to plant them with their eyes down. Probably don't make a hill of beans difference! ☺

Heehees.. Big_Red... That may have been what he said too. I had a number of years in there when I didn't garden so I probably got it backwards when I started doing my own gardening. Grandpa was plenty smart. He just *knew* I was going to get it wrong. :)

Farmerdill....... LOVE your little tractor. Is it an IH??? What model??
LD

A 1956 Farmall 100

Oldseed, I just choked on my coffee I was laughing so hard..... "Don't plant corn until you can smell the outhouse!!!" Too funny! I guess that's a valid sign that the weather has warmed up, all right.

Mesquite has put on leaves, so it is safe to plant most things here! Almost had a 90 degree day this week!

Hi Critter. I can't tell when to plant around here! Outhouse or no outhouse. I don't have an outhouse, but I am reminded of a horrified comment that a French Canadian relative made to my uncle about three generations ago when told about indoor plumbing (translated loosely to preserve all our dignity): "You mean to tell me they poop in the house?" LOL!

We are having a very cold and rainy week, my tomatoes are asking to go outside and be hardened off and planted. My garden is ready, and I have a large box of seeds: bean, corn, melons, squash, watermelons just waiting. That is the worst thing...waiting... until something in me says OK..now!

Our last frost date is May 15th supposedly, but if the weather looks like it is going into a warm period the week before that, I'm puting the seeds in the ground. Many of the packages say, "plant two weeks after last frost...yeah...thanks! that's helpful. That's about two weeks before first frost of the next cold season around here.

Wrestling a wee squirrel is out of the question too. I have a pair that eat from my bird feeder and are as fat as cats. I can plainly see their ears, but have no oak trees to make the comparison. Story of my life, never have the 'other half' of whatever i need for something!

More practical planting advice might be:

Plant corn when the grass finally chokes out your tulip bed.
Plant corn when the kids, now out of school, play football in your garden.
Plant corn when the local army of stray cats have completed fertilizing your tilled garden rows.

OK time for coffee, now that I have made a fool of myself.

Okay, here's another one Grandma taught me that most likely does have some value. Don't mulch your tomato plants until they start blooming. :) The mulch cools the ground too much and it delays the blooming.

I agree with vashur.... don't mulch tomato plants until AFTER the ground is thoroughly warmed up.

I plan to use white clover as a live mulch. Any recommendations/warnings?