As Texas leaves behind the cold months of winter and heads into the warmer temperatures of spring, you may want to begin planning your vegetable garden. Whether you’re brand new to growing or you’ve been doing it for years, here’s a guide for what vegetables to grow this spring and when to plant them.
A map from Texas A&M’s Aggie Horticulture breaks down the Lone Star State into a series of gardening regions. The different regions correspond to the average extreme temperatures, which may make some regions more suitable for certain plants than others. Within the map, Beaumont is on the cusp of regions two and three and we’ve focused on crops related to region three in this guide.
Before getting into what to grow, it may be helpful to first look at what not to grow during the spring.
In region three, there are only two vegetables Aggie Horticulture recommends not growing in the spring: Brussels sprouts and garlic cloves.
While not recommended for spring, both plants can be planted in the fall. It is recommended to grow Brussels sprouts starting Sept. 1 and garlic cloves starting in October.
In addition to crops to avoid, there are some vegetables that have already passed their recommended growing time. That includes beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, onion, parsley, English peas, potatoes and spinach.
Each of those vegetables were recommended to be planted between January and the beginning of March.
Next, let’s look at what vegetables you should begin planting this month.
There are multiple vegetables that are ready to grow now or will be recommended to grow beginning in March. Those include snap push, snap pole, lima push and lima pole varieties of beans, collards, sweet corn, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, cantaloupe, mustard, southern peas, pepper, radish, summer and winter squash, tomato and watermelon.
While an extensive list, the recommended last day for a couple of those vegetables is quickly approaching.
If you want to grow lettuce, it is recommended to do so by March 15. If you’re looking to grow collards, you should do so before March 25.
While many of those vegetables are ready to plant now, you should wait until mid- to late-March to begin planting lima beans, eggplant, cantaloupe, southern peas, pepper, tomato and watermelon.
Additionally, asparagus is a vegetable you can begin growing at any time.
Finally, let’s look at what you can begin to start planning to grow.
What to start growing by April, May
Once you have your immediate growing needs figured out, you can begin planning what to grow later in spring. Plants to begin growing in April include sweet potato and pumpkin.
April and May are also the last months to start planting some of the vegetables that are ready to be planted now.
By early- to mid-April, snap pole and lima beans, mustard, southern peas, pepper and tomato should already be planted.
Snap bush beans, sweet corn, cucumber, eggplant, cantaloupe, pepper, summer and winter squash and watermelon should all be planted by May 1. Sweet potatoes can be planted until May 15 and southern peas should be planted by May 20.
For more information on when and what to plant this season, visit https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/earthkind/ekgarden14.html