Planting Last frost date...ours is April 15th and it's no longer reliable. Is yours?

[Wildwood]

I know lots of folks around my area religiously abide by that last frost date and even push their luck by watching the forecast and planting as much as two weeks before if the temperatures look good. I don't think you gain a bit of growing time that way. Those extra cold nights don't have to freeze your seedlings to stunt their growth. Peppers are extra sensitive to this. Every single year, lately, I've had one or more neighbors plant around that time and end up losing everything to a freeze

Because the date is no longer reliable and I don't have a greenhouse, I start a lot of my seeds inside and as soon as they sprout, I start taking them to the edge of my porch every day where there's about six hours of sunlight in the early spring. I bring them back in in the evenings...it's a lot of work. DH helps me and every evening he says we are building a greenhouse lol. As the evenings warm, I leave them out on folding tables. Year before last, something ate all my bell peppers but six of the 48, leaving only about 1/2" of stem. I'm not sure a greenhouse would prevent that...I believe it was a mouse.

My sweet potato slips are in a tub that is so heavy, I quit moving it when nights warm up unless we have a chance of frost...they don't get stunted by cooler temps as bad as some. I left them out last night, April 16th...we had no chance of frost but when I took my others out this morning, I noticed some of the leaves looked burned on top and they were on the porch and under a roof. Thank goodness it only bothered a few leaves. DH leaves early most mornings and he said he had a heavy frost on his vehicle this morning.

Sometimes, I don't plant my starts until mid May. I do try to get my direct sewing done by the first of May.

 

[Samuel Adams]

Can’t trust nuthin’, no more……

Central Illinois, here, and last few years I’ve held off setting out the temp sensitives until almost June.

Can get away with that in rich, black soil…..

 

[Martinhouse]

Wildwood, I think I must live fairly close to you in Arkansas. I moved here from Minnesota in 1977 and started paying attention to first and last frost dates right away. Until the last ten years or so my last frost in the spring averaged around approx. April 21st. IN all that time, there were only two or three years that last spring frost was in March. Also there wwere last frosts in May two or three times.

These last several years, the seasons have been really erratic and there have been more warmups during the winter which had sometimes made things bud out early and then get killed back from a frost at a normal date.

I have a greenhouse built onto the south side of my house. It gives me a good advantage all year round, but it's not heated so there are still limits to what it can do for me. I no longer have the strength to take the plastic off of th esides and put it back up every year, so it gets rea;;y hot in there. I've decided to grow mainly things like sweet potatoes and turmeric in there in the summer from now on.

Also, except for the last several years, my last frost date in the fall has mostly been around October 21st.

 

[WalknTrot]

It's an average. Every year is different, and every place is it's own micro-climate. The gardener needs to be aware. I usually can't reliably plant tomatoes until after the second week of June, (N MN) but still pay real close attention to the forecast, and use a frost alarm all growing season

 

[hiwall]

It is fairly common here to get freezing temps well into June.
We consider it safe after the Fourth of July.

 

[greysage]

85F this past weekend. 41F when I woke up this morning.

 

[onmyown30]

Sunday night does look a little troubling for the gardens here in Arkansas hopefully it will be ok! We put everything out this week. Even though my original plan was to wait to the 18th and then check the 10 day forecast. I’ve always planted too soon in the past around spring break I put stuff in!

Wildwood! Some of my greens have bolted already! It’s been so hot here lately. Now it’s getting cold again…. I can never catch a break with my garden!

 

[ioujc]

Yep, SE Missouri here......days range from high 50's to 80 degrees!! Nights can be ANYWHERE from frost damage to low 60's!!!!

And this year is acting TOTALLY CRAZY!!! Personally, I think we are in for another HOT, HOT, HOT summer with little rainfall. This appears to be what the "masters" want, in order to kill as many of us as possible!!

I also expect the grid to be down on and off, so they can attempt to destroy any food you have frozen, or that requires refrigeration.

I HATE THESE SOB's!!!

 

[Sacajawea]

May 15th, here.
But I have seen frost on Memorial Day. This year I resisted starting seeds in March. (I'm moving the seed starting operation.) So, without heat in the new location, I made myself wait, with fingers crossed. We've had a couple days of 80+ heat & humidity, but otherwise it's been a normal, long spring. Yes, some frosty mornings but nothing real heavy.

 

[Fairwillows]

baahaahaa....I thought we were done with the wood stove. Nope...87 degrees last week. This week in the 50's!!! temps got down in to the 30's last night. sigh....We had a torrential downpour 2 days ago and I got an alert on my phone yesterday that said "fire alert" until late today. what the heck???

 

[phloydius]

For the central Texas area, it seems to be reliable still.

However, I have my own rule that I use. Many things go in after the frost date, but I do some of my planting on Feb 14th every year (unless freezing is in the forecast). My experience has been (from advice from my grandfather) is that in 9 out of 10 years we get a freeze once every year between Valentine's Day and Easter, and almost never get two. So I plant things that can be protected for that single freeze.

 

[Wildwood]

Wildwood, I think I must live fairly close to you in Arkansas. I moved here from Minnesota in 1977 and started paying attention to first and last frost dates right away. Until the last ten years or so my last frost in the spring averaged around approx. April 21st. IN all that time, there were only two or three years that last spring frost was in March. Also there wwere last frosts in May two or three times.

These last several years, the seasons have been really erratic and there have been more warmups during the winter which had sometimes made things bud out early and then get killed back from a frost at a normal date.

I have a greenhouse built onto the south side of my house. It gives me a good advantage all year round, but it's not heated so there are still limits to what it can do for me. I no longer have the strength to take the plastic off of th esides and put it back up every year, so it gets rea;;y hot in there. I've decided to grow mainly things like sweet potatoes and turmeric in there in the summer from now on.

Also, except for the last several years, my last frost date in the fall has mostly been around October 21st.

I remember figuring out last year we are at about the same latitude but I'm probably a hundred miles west of you. I will always envy that greenhouse built on to your house. I still can't talk DH into doing that. It would be a little bit of heaven on earth!

 

[Wildwood]

Sunday night does look a little troubling for the gardens here in Arkansas hopefully it will be ok! We put everything out this week. Even though my original plan was to wait to the 18th and then check the 10 day forecast. I’ve always planted too soon in the past around spring break I put stuff in!

Wildwood! Some of my greens have bolted already! It’s been so hot here lately. Now it’s getting cold again…. I can never catch a break with my garden!

It's always a gamble. We've upgraded our garden every spring for about five years so I'm always late because DH and I come up with one more project. I was under the weather and didn't get anything out early on. I've had two respiratory viruses back to back and it's kicking my booty. I do know the pollen has been extra bad and extra early this year.

I ordered those little orange hat seeds from Baker Creek you mentioned here last year. They are the cutest little plants I've ever seen...truly a stocky little miniature and every one of them germinated. They sent me the spoon tomatoes free but they are thinner stemmed and delicate looking. I discovered those stackable planters from Dollar Tree this year and I'm putting a couple of the orange hats in those and some herbs and greens.

 

[Wildwood]

For the central Texas area, it seems to be reliable still.

However, I have my own rule that I use. Many things go in after the frost date, but I do some of my planting on Feb 14th every year (unless freezing is in the forecast). My experience has been (from advice from my grandfather) is that in 9 out of 10 years we get a freeze once every year between Valentine's Day and Easter, and almost never get two. So I plant things that can be protected for that single freeze.

I'd love to know what you plant early...I'm always up for some experimenting. This year should complete all my adding rows, etc. so I can get started a little earlier next year.

 

[phloydius]

I'd love to know what you plant early...I'm always up for some experimenting. This year should complete all my adding rows, etc. so I can get started a little earlier next year.

For the spring/summer crops: Yellow squash & zucchini, green beans, and about 1/2 of my indeterminate tomatoes. Tomatoes are high risk, since you can protect them again a frost, but not a hard freeze. The first 3 we plant in succession thru the season, so we have back ups if we fail. We can have squash before the squash bore emerge and start infecting -- if we planted after the frost date the plants would be dead before they started fruiting.

Also note, that we plant these in raised beds using a modified version of the square foot method with a vertical structure next to it. This allows for us to easily put protection over theses plants for the freeze, and remove it quickly the next day incase it gets back into the 80's or 90's.

 

[Wildwood]

For the spring/summer crops: Yellow squash & zucchini, green beans, and about 1/2 of my indeterminate tomatoes. Tomatoes are high risk, since you can protect them again a frost, but not a hard freeze. The first 3 we plant in succession thru the season, so we have back ups if we fail. We can have squash before the squash bore emerge and start infecting -- if we planted after the frost date the plants would be dead before they started fruiting.

Also note, that we plant these in raised beds using a modified version of the square foot method with a vertical structure next to it. This allows for us to easily put protection over theses plants for the freeze, and remove it quickly the next day incase it gets back into the 80's or 90's.

Thanks for sharing, I like that plan. I have a couple big raised beds and we put cedar posts at all four corners just so we could cover them. It did extend our growing season a good bit year before last but last year we didn't bother after the flood and then the extreme heat, everything was spent before the first freeze.

It's a shame but the borers have ruined squash for a lot of us. I count on getting one good crop and usually plant another later in the season when the borers are suppose to be gone. They still get them but not quite as bad.

 

[summerthyme]

It's an average. Every year is different, and every place is it's own micro-climate. The gardener needs to be aware. I usually can't reliably plant tomatoes until after the second week of June, (N MN) but still pay real close attention to the forecast, and use a frost alarm all growing season

This! "Average last frost date" means about half the time it will be earlier, and half the time later. But it does seem that our seasons have shifted... much later Springs, and much later Fall and then winter.

I've used plant growth observations for years, instead of just the calendar. Once the lilacs start leafing out, you can plant Cole crops, and most everything except the real heat lovers. Tomatoes and peppers, plus melons (if transplanting) don't get out in until the lilacs are in full bloom.

There are other ways... old timers planted corn when oak leaves are the size of a squirrel's ear. (Roughly a little smaller than a dime)

These plants develop in response to soil temperatures, at a foot or two deep, rather than the surface inches which can be influenced by a few warm, sunny days. Once you learn what correlates to "anymore frost is extremely unlikely), you can make better judgements about when to plant.

However, market gardeners always say if you aren't losing at least some of your first plantings and some of your last (at the other end of the season), you aren't taking full advantage of your growing season. If I'm trying to get tomatoes and peppers established earlier, I make sure I have some way to cover and protect them in case of a hard frost. 5 gallon pails work, so do fabric covers, and often, just putting a couple of gallons of hot water in jugs near each plant will release enough heat to keep them from freezing.

Wall O'Waters were really great for protecting early plants and giving them a fast start, but ultimately were too fiddly for me, mostly due to the size of my gardens.

Keep a soil thermometer on hand, and check your soil temps about 6" down. If they aren't at least 60 degrees, skip planting heat loving crops, unless you are going to use a cold frame, which will heat things up fast.

Summerthyme

 

[SouthernBreeze]

April 15th til May 1st is our ideal time to plant, since no frosts after April 15th. Or so they say, at least. It's still too cold overnight to plant anything, so we're looking more towards May 1st as our planting date. Heck, we here in North Mississippi had a severe ice storm on April 11th one year, so we're not in a hurry. Our forecast for Sunday is possible frost.

 

[AlaskaSue]

My last frost date is May 23 but the traditional plant out date is Memorial Day. Gives me right at about 100 days growing season….but a whole lot of sunlight in that time.

I’m enjoying getting some seedlings going indoors right now, didn’t buy any new seeds…using some from past couple years and a bunch I saved from my last garden. Lots of flowers, herbs, root veg, green veg, pumpkins, sunflowers, cardoons, etc, etc. hope this is a good year for us all

 

[packyderms_wife]

In theory may 15th, but we have gotten hard freezes after that date.

 

[Wildwood]

We

April 15th til May 1st is our ideal time to plant, since no frosts after April 15th. Or so they say, at least. It's still too cold overnight to plant anything, so we're looking more towards May 1st as our planting date. Heck, we here in North Mississippi had a severe ice storm on April 11th one year, so we're not in a hurry. Our forecast for Sunday is possible frost.

We had the same but ours was snow. It was thirteen years ago and the only reason I remember is I shared a pic of snow on my daffodils on FBook and it popped up in my memories last week.

 

[Bps1691]

May 19 here. We had frost last night.

Lettuce, spinach, radishes and garlic all fine.

The potatoes, onions aren’t up yet but would have been fine as well

Tender stuff outside is a ways off for east central illinois

 

[Martinhouse]

When I lived in Minnesota, I worked llike a dog for three days and planted everything over the three-day Memorial Day weekend.

When I moved to Arkansas, I coaxed a boss a couple of years to give me a Friday off and planted everything over a three-day weekend....the last one of April.

 

[Wildwood]

My last frost date is May 23 but the traditional plant out date is Memorial Day. Gives me right at about 100 days growing season….but a whole lot of sunlight in that time.

I’m enjoying getting some seedlings going indoors right now, didn’t buy any new seeds…using some from past couple years and a bunch I saved from my last garden. Lots of flowers, herbs, root veg, green veg, pumpkins, sunflowers, cardoons, etc, etc. hope this is a good year for us all

View attachment 408442

Is that Nasturtium growing in that pot? It's beautiful whatever it is. I can't seem to grow nasturtium but I've tried. I've got about a dozen seeds started now and I'll try again this summer.

 

[Genevieve]

You don't plant anything of your summer crops here until Mother's Day and even then you have to watch the weather for a cold snap so you can cover them

I try to follow the Ag calendar from my state Extension Service

 

[Border Collie Dad]

May 21st is the 50/50 date here.

I had planted my cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower a few days ago.
That is the earliest ever.
Decided to go now because when I planted later, my crop was disappointing.

We had frost last night.
Covered them with some straw last evening.

Hoping that worked.

 

[AlaskaSue]

Is that Nasturtium growing in that pot? It's beautiful whatever it is. I can't seem to grow nasturtium but I've tried. I've got about a dozen seeds started now and I'll try again this summer.

Yes, nasturtiums are among my favorites and make a nice addition to salads and teas! I use a nail file on the seeds when I start them indoors, to scratch the rough surface. I save the seeds for the following season and have great luck. That pic is a young plant sitting at the edge of my woods. Sunlight on it was delightful!

They do best with little attention and not much in the way of fertilizer, or they end up mostly leaves

Still hard freezes here overnight but my grow room is getting busy indoors ~~~

 

[Wildwood]

Yes, nasturtiums are among my favorites and make a nice addition to salads and teas! I use a nail file on the seeds when I start them indoors, to scratch the rough surface. I save the seeds for the following season and have great luck. That pic is a young plant sitting at the edge of my woods. Sunlight on it was delightful!

They do best with little attention and not much in the way of fertilizer, or they end up mostly leaves

Still hard freezes here overnight but my grow room is getting busy indoors ~~~

I can get them to germinate but mine always end up spindly and sickly looking like they are missing something and yet here I am again...trying lol. The seeds I have now came from etsy and they are suppose to be vining nasturtium. I was looking for a certain kind of scarlet runner beans and bought a few odd things that caught my attention. Maybe these will be the ones.

 

[Sacajawea]

Things that can survive early on:

spinach
peas
onions/garlic
the brassicas: sprouts, broccoli, etc cabbage
radishes
carrots