If you’ve never jumped the gun on spring planting and lost precious seedlings, you haven’t been gardening long enough. We in the colder gardening zones (from USDA Zones 3-6) are chomping at the bit come spring to see some growing activity and color courtesy of growing plants.
When the soil is wet, working with it is bad in so many ways. Walking on or working in wet soil makes it harder for plants to grow in it. If you’ve ever had the wind knocked out of you, then you know what happens each time the soil is trampled. It’s up to the plant’s roots to work their way through the soil in search of moisture and nutrients. They won’t get far in a soil with no airspace.
Assessing Your Soil’s Moisture Level
Here’s how to get a sense of moisture in your soil: Scoop up a handful from the surface and squeeze—just as hard as a firm handshake. Release your grip and see what you have. If it looks like the beginning of a mud patty, it’s not ready yet. But if it crumbles apart as it sits in your hand, scoop a few inches below the surface with a trowel and do the squeeze test. That’s the important level, where plants’ roots will be growing. Soil dries from the surface downward, so if the weather remains sunny and dry, it won’t take long before it is ready to work in.
When to Begin Planting
Garden centers open their doors to spring around late-March/early-April. But if you live in Zone 6 or colder, you won’t want to plant heat-lovers like tomatoes and zinnias outdoors until around the second week of May or even later. Buy a soil thermometer and follow the temperature requirements for tomato plants when determining when to plant most summer annuals, and you won’t go wrong. According to the University of Missouri Extension, the soil temperature should be above 60 degrees F for tomatoes (and other heat-loving annual plants) to thrive.
You can still plant some containers if you use the right plants and methods. One crucial consideration is soil drainage. Days are still on the short side, temperatures on the cool side, and there is little doubt it’s still the soggy side of spring. I start with the lightest soil I can find, and add some extras, mixing it up in a big Tubtrug®. Materials like lava rock chips, large poultry grit, orchid bark or pine bark fines, and perlite have irregular surfaces, which improves pore space and allows water to drain quickly away from plants’ roots.
Stick with large pots—at least 12 to 14 inches in diameter. The larger the pot, the less water it will require when the temperatures reach into the 80s and higher. Don’t forget the fertilizer, because the potting mix you use either has none of the nutrients your plants will need, or just enough to get them going. I use Osmocote when I first put the container together, but I also use water soluble fertilizer as well. Osmocote is activated by heat; it’s important to have it in the mix for the warm days, but it doesn’t hurt to use the liquid or powder materials that are mixed with water when the containers are planted and ready to be watered in.
Now comes the fun part. Head on over to your favorite garden center for inspiration, but be sure to drive a large enough vehicle for stowaways. Two of my favorite sources are Sunrise Greenhouse in Grant Park, IL and Vite Greenhouses in Niles, MI.
