Many annual flowers and veggies can be planted now

For Island gardeners itching to exercise their green thumbs the wait is over. This year's warm, early spring means you can plant many kinds of annual flowers and vegetables, bothseeds and plants, right now.

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Kool Breeze Farms in Summerside has 15 greenhouses, mostly full of annual flowers such as pansies and petunias, begonias, bacopas and geraniums as well as annual grasses and vines, many of which can be planted now.

Every year is differentthis year, everything is coming a little quicker. Edwin Jewell

"There's a rule of thumb on P.E.I. not to plant until after the last [full] moon in May, sometimes that falls in the first week in June," said Sunny Gallant, a customer service representative and garden designer at Kool Breeze.

But those rules can be broken with this year's warm weather, garden centres agree.

Early spring

"The reality is we have an early spring this year and you can put your annuals out earlier this year," Gallant said.

"I would say June 10 is the date we've used for a long, long time," said Edwin Jewell, owner of Jewell's Country Marketin York, P.E.I, noting, "Every year is different this year, everything is coming a little quicker."

Annuals including pansies, violas, dusty miller, dianthus and alyssum are hardy and can be planted now, Jewell and Gallant agree.

"If they got a light frost it wouldn't bother them," said Jewell, noting they try to "harden off" the plants by placing them outside for a few days, takingthem inside at night.

You can also plant many kinds of vegetables now all the cole crops including cabbage, as well as kale, spinach and lettuce.

Tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers, pumpkins and most varieties of corn will have to wait a couple more weeks until the soil warms up enough, the experts say.

What's 'warm enough'?

"The old English way is to pull down your pants and sit in the soil to see if its warm enough," laughs Gallant, admitting she's never tried it.

Another folk tale says "you can plant your corn when the oak leaves are as big as a squirrel's ear," Gallant adds, noting the oak leaves are not even cracking their buds yet, but Kool Breeze has already planted its corn maze.

"Nowadays, seeds have been hybridized or bred to plant earlier in colder weather and still germinate," she said.

Many people will purchase their planters and hanging baskets on the long weekend in May, when selection is good, said Jewell, adding gardeners must then be mindful of frost in the forecast.

"You need to babysit your plants if you take them too early," he said, by keeping them out of strong winds and either taking them indoors on a frosty night or covering them with a light fabric sheet.