Spring weather is always unpredictable, and this year is no different. If you think you are confused, think of your poor plants.
Many gardeners are asking the question: Should they plant or should they wait?
One group of plants that is safe to get in the ground now — even with changeable weather — are most root crops.
Lumping vegetables together as root crops is anything but scientific. Root crops are a collection of several different species that all produce an underground storage organ that we enjoy eating. Those underground portions include stems, roots, bulbs and tubers.
If you have not yet planted your onions, get them in soon. In Utah, we grow long-day onions, and they need to be growing well before the days get too long or they do not form good bulbs.
You will get bigger bulbs if you plant seeds or transplants. Good cultivars include Early Ebenezer, Utah Yellow, White Sweet Spanish or Walla Walla.
For green onions, use sets or seeds of Evergreen White bunching onions.
Leeks are another cool-season vegetable that grows well here. They have the onion taste but not the after-effects. They need a long growing season, so plant them soon.
Another onion relative is garlic, and that is usually planted in the fall and harvested the next season.
Radishes are a root crop that matures faster than any other. It is possible to harvest them in as little as 28 days. Plant them early and continue planting through Sept. 1. Keep them cool and moist during the summer to keep them from bolting or going to seed.
Easter Egg is still my favorite radish cultivar, but there are many others.
Choose by color and by heat. Red-colored ones include Champion and Cherry Beauty, while Burpee White, Snow Belle and Icicle are white in color.
Turnips are not as popular as they once were because they are prone to get root maggots. Some are double bonus plants because you can eat the tops as greens.
Plant your turnips now, but wait and plant rutabagas in midsummer so they will mature as a fall crop. Otherwise, they are tough and have a bitter flavor.
Most cultivars grow well here. For turnips, consider Tokyo Cross Hybrid, Market Express Hybrid, White Lady Hybrid, DeNancy, Purple Top, White Globe and Just Right Hybrid. Suitable rutabagas include American Purple Top and Marian.
Beet leaves are also eaten as greens, but beets are primarily grown for the roots. Make several plantings of beets until midsummer and harvest them when they are golf ball size, not softball size. They are much more tender and flavorful at that time.
While most beet roots have the distinctive purple-red color, there are several golden cultivars that grow well here. Gourmet beets might have white, pink or even striped coloration. Beets grow with round, globe, flattened or cylindrical roots.
Look for Monogerm, Pacemaker III Hybrid, Earlisweet Hybrid, Golden Detroit Beet, Warrior I or Cylindra cultivars. One of the best is still Detroit Dark Red, which is widely available.
Carrots are one of the most widely grown and nutritious vegetables available. They grow practically anywhere — from near the Arctic Circle to tropical areas — so they produce well throughout Utah.
The trick to carrots is getting the small seeds to germinate in heavy, crusting soils or during hot weather. Cover them with compost or vermiculite and keep them watered and fertilized so they do not get bitter and tough in the summer.
There are many carrot cultivars that grow well in Utah. The Imperator carrots are long and thin, but they require a very loose, light soil to produce decent looking carrots.
For most gardeners, consider a shorter half-long type including Lindoro Hybrid, Scarlet Nantes, Danvers and Chantenay. If your soil is really shallow, grow round types including Orbit, Thumbelina or Short 'n Sweet.
I have had fun growing some of the other colors of carrots. Red, yellow, white and purple types are available and help dress up a tasty garden salad or relish tray.
Parsnips are a long-season, cool-season vegetable. Plant them now, but they are going to taste best after they have had several weeks of cool, frosty weather to sweeten them. Selected cultivars include Harris Model, All American, Andover, Gladiator, Lancer, and Cobham Marrow.
Potatoes are probably the most frequently eaten of all the root crops.
They, unlike most of the others, are frost tender, but you can plant them now because they do not emerge until it gets warmer. Sweet potatoes are not commonly planted in Utah.
Like many other vegetables, there is considerable interest in the newer colors and types. There are more than 4,000 different kinds. They are divided into several groups, including russets, reds, whites, yellows (often called Yukons) and purples or blues.
I grew some blue potatoes last year. They were tasty, but I prefer the other types for baking or mashing. Russet types include Russet Burbank, Russet Butte, Gem Russet and Ranger Russet. White-skin types include Kennebec, Yukon Gold, Norgold, Chipeta and Katahdin. Red-skin types include Norland, Red Pontiac, LaSota and Cranberry Red.
I must confess I have never grown the next two vegetables. Salsify and black salsify are cool-season root crops. It takes 120 days to grow the crops, and both plants have an oyster-like taste, which gives them the name "oyster plant." Plant seeds directly in the soil now.
Celeriac produces a swollen root that is rather strange-looking but tastes similar to celery. It is added to soups or stews or eaten fresh.
Because it is frost sensitive, start it indoors and plant it in the garden about mid-May.
Root around your favorite nursery and get seeds for some great root crops. Your reward will be some great eating all summer and something in the cellar for eating next winter.
Larry A. Sagers is a horticulture specialist for the Utah State University Extension Service at Thanksgiving Point.