Anyone planting in zone 5 yet?

[littlekrb]

I live in Missouri and this winter has been anything but winter as far as I'm concerned. Is it too early to plant cool weather crops? Days are getting into the 50s pretty consistently but nights are still dipping into the 30s.

We moved into a new house in December and I will be building a raised garden from scratch. The sooner I can get started the better!

[orgoveg]

That's a tough question that I think alot of us have been pondering. I knew an elderly farmer who was listening to someone express their anti-gambling opinion. The person went on about the lottery and the casinos and her opinion that it was wasting lives and their hard-earned money. I happen to share that opinion, but the old farmer had a very good point. He said, "What do you think farmers do every year?" We plant and then hope that the weather, pests, disease, weeds, equipment failure, and everything else doesn't cause us to lose everything. It's a big gamble every time"

Personally, I'm sticking to the same schedule that I've had some success with for many years. Planting now is very tempting, but I just can't allow myself to count on the weather to remain mild for the rest of the winter season. It's tough to decide because last year, we had a very short traditional spring season before the summer heat became overwhelming and ruined the cool season crops. Getting them started earlier would help to avoid that scenario but I'm sure we'll get another deep freeze which would also wipe out those crops.

Good luck with your own roll of the dice

Note: I'm not sure why the word "spam" appears above where I had typed the word "casinos". I tried to correct it, but the same word appears in its place. It must be a forum filter that weeds out certain words to keep spammers from cluttering our conversations.

Ha! This is my second edit. The word "spam" again replaced the word that I originally used. Here is the definition: A place of business featuring games of chance. Just think of Las Vegas.

[rainbowgardener]

Littlekrb - I think in Missouri, you are fine to plant your cool weather crops now and probably would be in an ordinary winter. I am planning to plant some this weekend, just because tempted. But I usually plant my cool weather stuff right around mid March. Being so far south of me, you would probably ordinarily be planting them end of Feb or beginning of March. We are not all that far off of that. Plant!

They are very cold hardy. If you plant the seeds and then it freezes again, they will just sit there for awhile and then grow when it warms up. I still have some of my fall planted spinach and broccoli in my yard despite several snows and some nights down in the teens.

PS I just looked again and saw that your title says zone 5. Interesting, I am so far north, but I am in zone 6 (warmer than you). If you are right about zone 5, you must be up in the mountains? That would temper what I said a little bit, but you still don't have much to lose... If it doesn't work, you can always plant again later.

[digitS']

Keep in mind these "zone 6," "zone 5" designations have to do with winter cold not growing season temperatures.

I've been trying to bury some compostables in a garden bed south of my little greenhouse for a week now. We have had a few nights when there was no frost . . . Still, I can't break thru the frozen ground with my Pulaski !

Soil temperature is more important than air temperature for the sprouting of seed. Researching your usual last frost date can be done here: [url=https://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/climatenormals/climatenormals.pl?directive=prod_select2&prodtype=CLIM2001&subrnum%20to%20Freeze/Frost%20Data%20from%20the%20U.S.%20Climate%20Normals]Freeze/Frost tables by state[/url] I realize that between the 10% probability of the last frost having occurred and the 90% probability of the last frost having occurred is a good -- 4 weeks, for just about everyone!!

History is still a better guide than some things. Personally, I like to use both history, blooming of outdoor plants and what my thermometer tells me after checking the depths to about 2" to 4." I would appreciate a 45°F reading.

Blooming outdoor plants? I like to see some of those buds on the Oregon Grape turning yellow before I plant anything .

Steve

[Mastergardener]

[/I][/b] Hi I'm Janice from Indiana. I live in zone 5b I saw your post and thought I'd hope in here and say HI. It's still to cold here to start planting. I love planting and working in my garden.

[rainbowgardener]

I planted lettuce, spinach, chard, onions, scallions, radishes yesterday!

My ground is very workable -- easily step the shovel in all the way to the handle, turn it over, then tap the clump a couple times and it falls apart into seed bed!

YAY!! Spring!!

[orgoveg]

I planted lettuce, spinach, chard, onions, scallions, radishes yesterday!

My ground is very workable -- easily step the shovel in all the way to the handle, turn it over, then tap the clump a couple times and it falls apart into seed bed!

YAY!! Spring!!

That gets me excited. You're a bit south of me so maybe I'll do the same in about a week. I direct-sowed onions a couple of weeks ago. I remember you saying that you overwinter your onions. I neglected to do that in the late fall. I wasn't planning to sow the cool-season stuff until early March.

[rainbowgardener]

I did plant onions in the fall, just threw a few more in with the scallions now.

I usually don't plant anything outdoors until March. Often not until mid-March because early March gets rainy and then the ground is too wet. So this time with the early warm up, I got the seeds in the ground ahead of all that.

[jal_ut]

At least plant some spinach.

Check with your extension service to see if they have a planting schedule for your location.

You can jump the gun a week or two if you are having an early warmup, but I wouldn't push it more than that.

Yes, its always a gamble. Plant in faith and hope.

[rainbowgardener]

I planted lettuce, spinach, chard, onions, scallions, radishes yesterday!


YAY!! Spring!!

[jal_ut]

This morning I woke up to 4 inches of fresh snow. Of course now that its time to be spring, its going to snow. We haven't had much this year and the ground has been bare most of the season. I don 't think this will stay long. It should melt in a couple of days.

Have a great garden!

[happygardener]

I am in Missouri, 5b. Night temps are still in the 30 degree range. I will not plant until those are at least 35 degrees and then throw some light covering over any plants. The saying is that if you see a dandelion bloom, plant potatoes.