How brave/dumb are you getting...

[JayPoc]

Zone 6A/Bish here. Historic average last frost date somewhere in the first week or so of May.

And yet...it's been regularly in the 60s, even 70s the last couple of weeks...and looks to stay above freezing with warm days for the next 10 days at least.

So...I'm doing stuff. Planted new collard and kale seed directly in the ground Monday to go along with the stuff that has overwintered. Usually, I'd start them indoors and not plant out for another month or so...but there's very little to lose I think with the current forecast. They'll be up and raring to go before another frost comes, and they can handle it. If we get a really cold snap and they die, I can start over. I also started lettuces, cabbage, and broccoli in trays as well. I'm bringing those in on the cooler nights until they germinate and will make a decision on those in a few weeks.

I started my peas indoors two weekends ago, and they're living outside now. I have to start them inside normally because the ground is still so cold this time of year that the seed rots...and since our spring here is only about 72 hours long, I have to get them going or they'll wither in the heat. I'll get them in the ground in another week or two if the forecast looks good.

Wish I had some onion plants to plant...but I guess I'll stick to my regular 3rd week of March planting date for them.

I'll start my Maters and Peppers indoors in the next week or so. I have access to a nice greenhouse, so no worries there...

Crazy weather we're having. How is everyone handling it?

[rainbowgardener]

Most seed packets of cold weather crops say "plant as soon as the ground can be worked." If your ground can be worked -- unfrozen and dry enough to turn without clumping up, I say go for it. FOR THE COLD WEATHER CROPS (only). It is hard to go wrong planting spinach, broccoli, etc anytime the ground can be worked. They are exceptionally cold hardy.

Warm weather crops need much more caution.

[jal_ut]

"Wish I had some onion plants to plant....."

Do you have any onion seed? Here onion seed planted early makes loads of nice green onions or if let go full season makes small one inch bulbs. You likely get a few more growing days there than I do here though so the onion seeds may make larger onions?

[digitS']

That's it -- I started some onion seed -- in a flat of soil, in an unheated greenhouse. I know, you were hoping for responses from gardeners having an early spring as in your location. I'm about 2 weeks late with my onion seed but it looks about right for this February, 2017! We might be on our way to a record amount of February rain and there is still plenty of snow around. In fact, I had to dig a basin out of the snow so that I had something to put the flat in to soak in water.

I once started peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, and broccoli (I think it was) indoors on February 17th. It was a big mistake and about 2 weeks too early, that time. So, I'll be patient here in the Pacific Northwest Inter-Mountains .

Okay, my soil drains quickly but that appropriate "as soon as the ground can be worked" takes soil friability into the equation. Wet soil generally should be allowed to dry. Second, it is awfully nice to have cultivated ground and wait for that first batch of weeds to sprout - then, run over them with the rake or just skim the soil surface with something like a Mantis tiller. Garden plants can often get all the headstart they need to shade the ground and suppress later weeds if that 2nd cultivation is done. These are just a couple of reasons to be patient and I'm not in a part of the world with an early spring.

JayPoc, you probably have all the experience to know what you are up to and what, if any, risk you are taking. I'm just trying to conciliate myself and my own impatience. (That, and I seldom get to use the world "conciliate" and wanted to try it out on HG .)

Steve
or, is it "reconcile?"

[ButterflyLady29]

I've been planting outside, in pots. Turnip, beet, radish, parsley, onion, lettuce, carrots, and some cold hardy flower seed. We had some good rain yesterday and today and I'm thinking of going ahead and planting pea seed. So hard to not be out there planting and working in the garden when the weather is so lovely. Sure I worry that we'll get a nasty last cold snap/deep freeze in April. It's happened before. However gardening is always a gamble. Sometimes you win big, sometimes you get burned (frozen, dried up with drought, washed away by heavy rain, etc). Unlike the casino, the payout often exceeds the losses.

I am upset with myself that I forgot to leave room for the broccoli, kale, cauliflower and cabbage. Oh well, I have another garden and I can start the seeds in the shed.

[rainbowgardener]

I have spinach, carrots, lettuce, peas, and broccoli seedlings sprouted (in the ground)

My ten day forecast shows highs in 60's and low 70's and lows in 40's (with 32 on Sat and 39 on Mar 2). That's only a little bit above seasonal average which would be 56- 34. Ten day forecast goes through March 3. My average last frost date is mid-March, so I'm guessing the possible light freeze Sat will be our last one. Sat night the temperature only just hits freezing about 6AM then immediately starts rising again...

I'm feeling like I'm a little bit behind the season already!

[imafan26]

I took some more cutting of the bay leaf, coleus canina, euphorbia cotonifolia, rosemary, and Lavender. One of the euphorbia looks like it might make it, half the lavender (hard wood cuttings) look like goners. The citrus are flushing and I have fed them so maybe I will be able to get long enough stems to get cuttings soon.

I am still cleaning up the yard, which needed to get done long ago. I can actually see bare ground now. I still have a lot to do but the bonus is that cleaning out all of the hiding places has reduced the snails as well.

I missed the fall planting season since the snails ate everything and the weeds were just taking over. I finally turned to Round Up and even though, I still have to retreat the weeds that have sprouted, I finally am making headway. I feel dumb because, I really should have done this sooner, then maybe my weedwhacker would not have burned out trying to hack through impossibly tough weeds and I wouldn't have gotten so far behind. I still have more to go, but at least I am able to maintain what I have reclaimed now in a lot less time.

My weather is normal for this time of year. Rain on days when I plan on working in the yard (like yesterday) and days like today which is windy and making it hard to keep the plants standing up. I did manage to do some weed whacking, but I can't put down weedcloth in this wind by myself. I will try to get some more of the bigger weeds pulled and see if I can plant the eggplant in a bigger pot. It is a cool 74 degrees right now and actually not a bad time to work in the yard. I am hardly breaking a sweat. I am just getting dust in my eyes from the wind.

[applestar]

This is the time of the year, when the fellow gardening members in the south and warm regions are starting to report GROWING things -- they already started a while back -- and the ITCH starts ... to get going. So difficult to resist.

That said, I was looking at the mild 10-day forecast and walked around outside today, half-hearted;y cleaned up here and there.... it's time for me to take down winter/freeze-killed remains and put them on the ground to decompose. Direct on the ground and the paths are sopping wet still.

But some of the raised bed surfaces look dry ...others that are raised above low-lying or downslope/downgrade from the house looked pretty much wet through and through. No worm signs yet.

I AM tempted to plant some of those cold weather stuff -- peas, some of those lettuce, onions, and brassica/asian greens that sprouted and will be separated soon.... hmmm maybe I'll start the prep-work for the peas -- pre-germinating and then planting in egg cases

Eh. First things first -- need to prune the fruit trees and re-build the compost piles, finish cleaning up....

[imafan26]

In my location, I should be able to have stuff all year. About the only time it is not worth planting anything is in midsummer when it is too hot for most things and watering is hard to keep up with. It is a good time to solarize though. The winter months are the best time to put in the cool season crops. I actually have to start Brussel's sprouts and broccoli in July or August to get the best harvest from the broccoli which has to mature while the temperatures are still in the 70's.

I can plant tropical corn as late as November but it grows painfully slowly then, so I usually harvest the last of the corn around September or October. Onions need to be planted before the end of October. We usually only grow onions from seed.

I can grow greens year round but in the warmer months I do have to grow them in partial shade and they need to be heat tolerant or local varieties.

I don't have to worry about freezes or have to bring plants inside. The plants are much happier being outside all year. The only thing I might have to do is bring the succulents in under cover if it decides to rain for a week and fungicide the susceptible plants within three days after the rain stops.

[gumbo2176]

Well, it's now just past 3:45 a.m. on the 23rd and after a bit of sleep I plan on getting out into the garden plot and pull a few rows to direct sow seeds. I'll put in some pickling and slicing cucumbers, squash, Japanese Yard Long beans, soybeans for Edamame, and some hot pepper seeds in trays to get them started. That should keep me busy for a few hours today.

Our weather looks like there is no more chance for anything remotely close to cold with our daily temperatures being in the mid 70's and nightly temps averaging low to mid 60's. Last year at this time we had crazy amounts of rain that put off my planting for close to 3 weeks because I could not work the ground. Much different this year, and I'm glad to get an early start.

[jasonvanorder]

Zone 6a here too and we have had a very warm few weeks here too. I'm itching to get things started but I must wait. The funny thing about Michigan weather is we can go from 70 one day to a blizzard for the next month. And for the life of me I just cant keep anything alive inside long enough to plant outside

[gumbo2176]

Well, I did manage to get done what I had posted about around 0 Dark Thirty this morning. I pulled the remaining turnips out of the garden, turned over the soil in that area, mounded up just over 100 ft. of row with a hoe, shovel and heavy rake, and planted cucumbers, yard longs, soybeans and squash seeds directly sown into the ground.

Then I watered it all in to give it a kick start on this fine 70+ degree day of bright sunshine and clear skies. A nice hot shower and a plate of food later and I'm set to relax for the remainder of the day.

[jal_ut]

Here it is 30 degrees and overcast and calm. Two inches of fresh snow on everything. The only thing growing is ice.

[rainbowgardener]

Here it is 75 degrees and sunny! Normal for the date would be 56; we are only 3 degrees shy of the record.

[jal_ut]

This morning 22 degrees and snowing. Guess I won't be planting this week.............

[jasonvanorder]

Zone 6a here too and we have had a very warm few weeks here too. I'm itching to get things started but I must wait. The funny thing about Michigan weather is we can go from 70 one day to a blizzard for the next month. And for the life of me I just cant keep anything alive inside long enough to plant outside

Called that one. Just south of me there are thunderstorm warnings. To the north winter weather advisories. And later today to the east there is a chance for strong thunderstorms and tornados. Gotta love Michigans Bi polar weather

[JayPoc]

It's like 70 degrees here today. Amazing.

I want to start my maters, but I think it's still to early...trying to weight another week...lol...

I did order some seeds today. A couple of new varieties of tomatoes and romanescue broccoli. My daughter thought it looked pretty, so if it grows maybe she'll eat it?

[jal_ut]

Its snowing on top of the foot that was already on the garden. I went out and got on the Big Green tractor and moved snow off the driveway. Ain't likely to be planting for a while....

[rainbowgardener]

It's like 70 degrees here today. Amazing.

I want to start my maters, but I think it's still to early...trying to weight another week...lol...

I did order some seeds today. A couple of new varieties of tomatoes and romanescue broccoli. My daughter thought it looked pretty, so if it grows maybe she'll eat it?

If you mean start the tomato seeds indoors, not too early. When I lived in zone 6 with an average last frost date of about mid-April, I usually started them indoors under lights around Valentine's day or in the week after Valentine's.

[The garlic man]

Planted some kale seed, spinach, lettuce, mache, and tatsoi. (Under a small plastic tunnel.)

Might throw in some old onion seeds as others have suggested.

USDA Zone 6a-ish (Which seems a little generous to me.) But hey, we were in the 60's for a few days so what is a gardener to do?

[HomewardBound]

This recalls the Great Zone 6 Ice Storm of April 17th, 2014, which wiped out all of my basil plants which were supposed to be OK to plant by April 15th. The weather is simply too weird and too wonky to take chances, I'm not doing anything until May1. A good thirty years ago, probably closer to 35, eek, I remember a stonking blizzard on a Monday, about 18 inches of snow, in mid-April, and by Saturday, we were outside doing the spring clean-up.

[rainbowgardener]

Well, it's a toss up either way. By being VERY conservative about how early you plant things out, you make sure you don't lose any to frost. But if we are talking about things like spinach and broccoli, you wouldn't anyway. They are exceedingly cold hardy and frost tolerant. But by waiting a long time to plant your cold weather stuff (I'm not talking tomatoes and peppers here!!) , you risk problems on the other end. Where I lived in zone 6 (Cincinnati, OH) spring tended to be short with a sudden warm up before it was even officially summer. All the cold weather stuff would just bolt and be done then. You give them a lot longer growing season by planting sooner.

Remember climate was quite different 30-35 years ago. In the late 70's in Cincinnati we had several years of incredibly severe winters, blizzards, -30 deg F, piles of snow, the Ohio river actually froze all the way across, solid enough that you could walk across it, one of those years. . Cincinnati will never see a winter like that again (hard to miss it too much! ) Just because you had an April blizzard back then doesn't mean it will ever happen now.

[ButterflyLady29]

My mom has pictures of us hunting Easter eggs in a couple feet of snow. And then a few years back we had near record breaking cold right at the end of April. Mom lost over 50 chicks that piled in a heap to stay warm. The heat lamps were taken down nearly a week before because it was so warm. The same year our feed store owner lost nearly all his little tomato and pepper plants that were in his greenhouse because it was just so cold. So yes, there is a huge risk of freezing or a serious cold snap just as those plants are getting started. In fact our overnight low is predicted to be around 20*F in just a few days, after several days of temps in the 50's and 60's.

Rainbow, spring in Ohio is still incredibly short. I think it was all of 4 hours last year. But fall was wonderful! It was the latest freeze I remember. We didn't turn on the heat until November. And we never unpacked the coats during our family camping trip in late October.

[rainbowgardener]

" spring in Ohio is still incredibly short. I think it was all of 4 hours last year."

[ButterflyLady29]

It's pretty pitiful when you go from heat and wool blankets at night to air conditioning and fans in the same week.

[HomewardBound]

Weather and climate are indeed changing in all sorts of ways, but I don't think it's changing for the better -- I haven't any reason to believe that we wouldn't be blasted with an April blizzard ever again, we've had very bad snowstorms late in the season in more recent memory, and then, just picking a case at random from our files, the delightful "October Storm" of, when was that, the year before Sandy, 2011? All the leaves still on the trees, and I'm out there with a broom after barely making it home, knocking snow off the branches of the cherry in front so they wouldn't snap the power line, and turning myself into Frosty without his magic hat in the process...this is my first year here, and I noticed when I moved in that their hydrangeas were nothing but leaves, and all at the old place except for my limelights didn't produce flowers for three years straight, and then only a couple last summer, because of late frost. The other day, I didn't need a jacket; tomorrow the high is supposed to be 24 degrees and I'll be standing on the train station platform next to the river, and I'm dreading it.

My orientation is different than many; I don't do cold weather crops, so that's a big difference. My gardening jones comes from my grandfather, an immigrant from southern Italy, and we only did hot weather crops because that's what we used most and that's what he grew there, so I am from the tomato, pepper, basil, oregano side of things. We could buy delicious broccoli, but you can't buy a good tomato!!! His garden was an urban garden for most of my life, and space was at a premium.

[digitS']

Seattle has out-snowed king-of-winter Minneapolis

"It's the first time since 1968 that Seattle has had more snow between Jan .1 and Feb. 28 than the Twin Cities.
Of course, Minneapolis having a record-snow-drought in February ..."

What year did I arrive here from California? 1968.

Well, I arrived about 300 miles inland, on the the other side of the Cascades and in the foothills of the Rockies. We had an amazing winter ... but, I thought it might be "normal" because, what did I know?! It wasn't normal but the experience with so much snow and severe sub-zero temperatures helped me with surviving the next nearly 50 winters.

What seems to happen is that high pressure builds up on the other side of the Continental Divide as most of the US experiences a heat wave. Pacific storms stay on this side of the Rockies. I'm pleased that we have so much snow, in contrast to the very dry summer months, and that the snow is melting so slowly that we may avoid serious flooding.

What has been happening this winter may not have much effect on the gardening season except having a well-charged aquifer, we will have to see. If the movement of clouds and storms persist into spring (and beyond!), we will be in trouble! The cool conditions and lack of sunlight will stunt warm season crops. Wind with late spring and summer storms may damage gardens, we will have to see.

Not planting a garden will guarantee garden failure. Hope and reasonable expectations are what it takes ... try to think of ways to hedge your bets, also .

Steve

[jal_ut]

Nothing ventured....... Nothing gained.

We plant in good faith, then hope. Yes, at times we fail, but we also may have some good success.

For each locale there is likely a planting routine that will work well. For this country, it is plant garlic in the fall. Plant early things like spinach, onions, in early or mid April. As soon as you can get on the garden. (right now its snow covered) 5th of May is the target date for squash, beans, potatoes, and corn. June 1 for cucumbers.

Yes, do plant!