It's now approaching the usual time to plant late spring crops. On the shortlist we have beans, tomatoes, basil, and nasturtiums. Off the shortlist, all the viney, meloney things like it very warm: zucchini, cucumbers, etc. Those ones might be better to plant out in another few weeks.
If you are planting tomatoes, basil, or nasturtiums (from the shortlist), you will probably be buying them as seedlings, unless you already started them from seed yourself, hopefully a few weeks ago.
(I did start things from seed, and my seedlings are still very tiny, as the cold weather inside my house meant that they sprouted very slowly. Next year, I think I will buy some seed-starting equipment: a germinating heating pad, and possibly a grow light.)
When buying seedlings, you have to consider whether they are 'hardened off' yet. If the seedlings have come direct from a greenhouse or indoor growing, immediate full exposure to direct sunlight and cool nights will be too much for them. That will shock them, slowing their growth or occasionally even kill them (unlikely). So it's worth giving them some gradual exposure to outdoor conditions after you buy them, if you're not sure. (Ask the seller, of course.)
Though actually, the weather forecast doesn't contain very much direct sunlight or cool nights right now. Nor much soil dry enough to plant in.
Next week, I'll talk planting the late spring crops, and about transplanting seedlings into the garden.
Weeding
Meanwhile, if you've already planted early spring crops, try to keep up on the weeding in regular small doses, to make sure your plants win. When yours are well established, then they will tend to shade out weeds and there will be less weeding to do.
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