What I’m doing now

Planting season. The window is open.

• Transplant tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant after the soil holds 60 degrees.

  Soil thermometer, not calendar. Cold soil stunts nightshades for weeks even if the air is warm.

• Direct sow beans, cucumbers, squash, and corn after last frost.

  Warm-season crops go in fast once the risk is gone. They grow quickly in warm soil.

• Side-dress heavy feeders with compost.

  Tomatoes, peppers, corn, and squash all benefit from a ring of compost worked in lightly around the base.

• Watch for flea beetles on eggplant and brassicas.

  Small round holes in the leaves. Row cover handles it, or a light dusting of diatomaceous earth.

• Keep up with succession sowings of fast crops.

  Radishes, bush beans, and lettuce all do well with a new sowing every two to three weeks.

• Thin direct-sown crops before they crowd each other.

  Thinning carrots and beets is tedious but necessary. Crowded roots fork and stay small.