Now that the danger of a killing frost is behind us, we can begin to think about planting direct-seeded vegetable crops, such as squash, corn, beans, cucumbers and okra pretty much in that order.

All require soil temperatures of at least 60 degrees for germination. By the time the soil has dried out enough for us to work in our gardens, it will be warm enough to germinate seeds, too.

Corn and beans can be sensitive to cool weather, but the only time I’ve lost those crops during May is when the weather was both cool and wet for an extended number of days. When it happens, you simply replant when the temperatures rise again.

For cucumbers and okra, air temperature is important as well. Those crops will perform best when nighttime temperatures don’t spend much time below 60 degrees. I generally wait until mid-May to plant cukes and okra.

While I might not lose my crops by planting a week or 10 days earlier, I won’t really gain anything either because growth is slowed in cooler temperatures. If I plant them a little late, they quickly make up for lost time.

Winter squash can be planted as soon as you can get into the garden to work again. It tolerates cooler weather better than the summer varieties and requires a longer growing season. If you’re growing Hubbards or other winter squash that won’t be picked for at least 90 days from germination, you need to get going.

Summer squash, on the other hand, can be planted any time during May. Zucchini, crooknecks and the round, scalloped squashes generally mature in 55 days from germination. As long as you get them into the ground before the full heat of summer, you’ll be all right.

Growing squash and cucumbers in the home garden requires some planning because of the space they typically consume. Even some traditional varieties of open-bush zucchini can produce massive plants that take up 4 to 6 feet of space.

Vining squash are particularly problematic. Breeders have been cranking out plenty of squash and cucumber seeds that produce plants with a compact bush habit, rather than the roaming vines. But most of the tried-and-true vining varieties still grow all over the place and can require spacing of 6 feet or more between rows and 3 or 4 feet between plants.

Some gardeners borrow a page from the urban planners who designed cities around skyscrapers. By providing vertical support for the vines, a gardener can encourage squash and cucumbers to wander upward rather than outward. Vertical support can be anything from trellises to plastic fence.

These crops tend to be thirsty and still need spacing of 3 feet even when their vines aren’t taking up space on the ground.

Growing squash and cucumbers vertically keeps the vines and the fruit off the ground, which may prevent disease, but it raises a couple of other issues. Cucumbers have a thinner skin and need the shade that the plant’s leaves provide. The growing cucumbers can’t be wrapped around a support in such a way that they are exposed to sun scald.

On large squash, you may have to provide additional support, such as netting tied to whatever vertical structure you’re using, to cradle the fruit if the vines and stem become unable to handle the suspended squash.

Last year I grew nothing but bush cucumbers and compact summer squash just to see how they compared. Burpee Spacemaster, for example, produces tidy little plants that keep to themselves. They were not as prolific as vining and open-bush varieties, however. When you’re growing zucchini, that’s not always a bad thing, but I was disappointed that the bush acorn squash didn’t give me more.

When she’s not writing about foods and gardening, Gwyn Mellinger is teaching journalism at Baker University. Her phone number is (785) 594-4554.