When To Plant?
I get many questions just like this one that came in this morning…
“When will it finally be safe to start planting flowers and doing landscaping projects without fear of cold temps killing the plants at night? A rough estimate is fine.”
First off, there isn’t much skill in a specific forecast beyond seven days, but there is some skill at pattern recognition and thoughts on possible weather out to 16 days.
NEXT SEVEN DAYS: We are looking at lows in the mid 30s early Monday of next week, and that would mean a potential freeze for the colder valleys across the northern half of Alabama. That is the only morning with some freeze possibilities during our forecast period.
LONG RANGE: Let’s talk statistics… the information below is for Birmingham, based on weather records from 1895-2010:
Earliest last freeze – February 3rd, 1945
Average date of last Spring freeze – March 26th
Latest Spring freezing temperature – April 23rd, 1986
Earliest Autumn freezing temperature – October 18th, 1948
Average date of first Autumn freeze – November 9th
Latest first freeze – January 10th, 1932
So, the average date of the last Spring freeze is March 26; nine days away. Needless to say, it is too early to plant anything now that could be harmed by freezing temperatures. And, you can see we have had a freeze as late as April 23.
Based on the projected Arctic Oscillation, which stays negative into mid-April, we have to figure we will have on or two freeze threats perhaps into early April (see the bottom chart below)…
BOTTOM LINE: If you want to be perfectly safe, wait until April 15. However, I would suggest odds are pretty good you will be safe from a freeze beginning April 10. But, understand there are no guarantees in the weather business!
March 17th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Ok, I’ll weigh in with my 2 cents. The old timers tell me to wait until after Good Friday to plant anything that requires freeze/frost free nights. I’m not an ornamental/landscape guy, but I do raise lots of vegetables. I’ve already planted onions and hope to plant potatoes this weekend. I’ll plant early corn at the end of March and then wait until mid-April to plant everything else. Peas, lettuce, kale, collards, turnips, and radishes will also go in the ground this weekend. Soil temp is key for the warmer plants; most won’t germinate in ground that’s colder than 65 during the day. Raised beds might help some, as will mulch, but I won’t plant or transplant squash, pole beans, tomatoes, peppers, okra, etc. till at least mid-April (end of April if the ground is still cool).
Here’s to hoping that the sun comes out and stays awhile for the next few!
March 17th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
My father-in-law always said if you heard thunder in January it would frost that day in April. January 21 we heard thunder. He has been gone for 10 years but his rule is 90% correct. So we will not plant until last of April or first of May.
March 17th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Just go to the farmers market on the weekend and buy all the vegies. you want then you want have to worry about it. lol Just kidding. When would be a good time to plant cantelope or melons?
March 17th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Canteloupes and melons like hot weather, so really no need to plant them until late April or the first of May….depending on conditions in your area. Okra won’t come up until the ground is warmer and peas like hot weather, but beans like cooler weather so you want to plant them as soon as it’s safe to do so.
March 17th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
My Grandaddy always planted a huge garden every year but would never plant a thing until after Good Friday, that’s the rule of thumb I still use a