May has arrived and the outside chores have started. I’ve learned you really can’t stop weeds in the country but upkeep of the flower gardens isn’t so bad with a little consistency. In the past, I’d go out after breakfast with a five-gallon bucket and set a goal to fill it once or twice, depending on the day. Now that I’m writing, I’ll have to make sure the weeding still gets done. One is definitely more fun than the other.

I’ll be planting my Vegepods this week. They are raised container beds with a mesh cover to keep bugs and critters at bay. I also have clear plastic “winter covers” that help extend my growing season.

I plant tomatoes, green onions and herbs, mostly. I’ve found Korean green onion seeds produce larger scallions. I ordered the seeds online and at the end of last year I gave saving the “sets” a try. (I learned this from a video, where you save and dry the root-end of the onion plant to replant next season.) I’ll report back if they grow.

Every year I’ve tried at least one new tomato variety to see what can adapt to my covered beds while giving me the best yields. In case it helps a fellow tomato-growing container gardener out there, my opinions so far:

• San Marzano – grows well under a 2′ cover (can train horizontally). This is a staple now for me, the base for making pasta sauce and tomato soup to stock the chest freezer for winter.
• Grape Tomato Varieties – Both Smarty and Cupid do well. I prefer Cupid, just because anecdotally a little less pest/disease issues and a little bigger fruit. If I can’t find Cupid though, I plant Smarty.
• Candyland Cherry – Works well height-wise, and very prolific, but very small fruit. Won’t plant again because I’ve found better options for my recipes, but if you like popping tomatoes in your mouth like candy, this plant is for you.

• Husky Cherry Red – Great in the container, not as tasty as the grape tomatoes, but a nice combo flavor in my soup recipe. If I have room, I’d plant them again.
• Silvery Fir – This is a determinate variety, so fruits once and is done. Very compact plant though, works great in containers. Full-size tomatoes on the smaller side, if I remember correctly. Would plant again.
• Jet Star – Grows way too big for a covered container and not easily trained to go horizontal. Tomatoes are very big, but the plant isn’t suitable for a Vegepod.
• Bush Early Girl – Determinate, and supposed to fruit early. This is so far my least favorite variety of them all, as the fruit wasn’t particularly early and the plant itself was a mess.

Though it can technically frost as late as Memorial Day in the Driftless area of Wisconsin, with the Vegepods I can start gardening in the first week of May. Towards the end of the month, I’ll plant pumpkins and other squash in the open ground. So far, critter damage for those has been minimal.