Frost dates/When to plant

Since I was looking up some things for a different post, thought I'd add them to this:

Information about frost dates and when to plant.
Vegetable Planting, Zone 5
Spring planting chart, any zone
Fall planting chart, any zone
Informationabout last freeze and last frost for Chicago
Clyde's Garden Slide Chart cost a few bucks. I haven't tried it, so not sure how it works.

Ways to protect container crops:
General tips

Viewsaksew, thank you very much for posting these links. Going over them I realize some of the mistakes I made last year...and I'm reminded that it's time to get the radishes in the ground.

Shoot, I meant this post to part of the other resource thread. If a mod would mind putting them together, I'd be extremely grateful.

And, you are welcome. It seems to be coming up a bit and I always have to look, too, so it makes a nice reference for all of us.

ViewsAskew wrote:Shoot, I meant this post to part of the other resource thread. If a mod would mind putting them together, I'd be extremely grateful.

Not sure what you mean. Please indicate the "other resource thread" where this discussion should go. Thanks.

So sorry - in the wee hours of the morning when I can't sleep I also apparently can't write, lol! It's this thread. Seems a good thing to keep resources together, though they obviously apply to more than urban gardening.

ViewsAskew wrote:So sorry - in the wee hours of the morning when I can't sleep I also apparently can't write, lol! It's this thread. Seems a good thing to keep resources together, though they obviously apply to more than urban gardening.

I put a pointer in that thread, but it seems like this timely information deserves to be here, too.

Bumped for the new gardening year...

Hi,

What I have never done is cold crops which plant before frost dates. David Hammond is planning to plant peas and spinach on March 17th. If the ground doesn't have snow cover, it will certainly be soggy. When have some people planted these early crops?

Regards,

The wet ground is definitely an issue, especially if you're in a heavy clay area and haven't had time to amend the soil and have poor drainage. It's very important to prepare your bed in the fall if you are planting peas because it can be difficult to work the soil depending on the snow/rainfall. I bet a raised bed would be nice for this.

Last year I plants some Asian greens early - say mid to late April - along with lettuce. But, I was using Earthboxes so it was easy.

My grandfather, old Italian gardener straight from Sicily, used to swear that you never plant anything in the ground before mothers day. No madder how warm id was!!!!!!!!!!

dan

Does anyone have any resources for planting times of seedlings in Earthboxes? I wanted to plant some snow peas and I know they don't like heat, but I can't seem to find any good info for planting them in this area (I'm up near Great America).

Thanks,

P.S. I sure hope we have a better planting season this year. Last year was so disappointing.

Mike, I use the similar recommendations for in ground when planting in EBs. The soil is warmer in EBs, which is an advantage, but the outside temp isn't. At most, I might move it up two weeks as I have a row cover that I can put over the boxes in case it gets too cold. I also know I can shimmy the boxes next to my outer condo wall to help keep them warm at night if needed. Things like can tolerate cold can probably be pushed a little earlier more easily than things like tomatoes. If they freeze, they are dead! They also don't grow well in cold so it doesn't really give you much advantage to plant early.

Last year I planted some Asian greens earlier than I would have in the ground. They languished until it got warmer and the ones I planted 2 weeks later ended up maturing at the same time. Now, granted last spring was miserable and very wet, so that may not be a good indicator.

This early, I was thinking about planting snow pea seedlings. Today I hear it's to be 70 by next Thursday. Typical Chicago weather.....If you don't like the weather, wait 20 minutes, it will change.

I've seen conflicting info on peas, snap peas, and snow peas. I just saw one site that said snow peas 42 days before the last frost date. That date varies based on if you're in the city by the lake or out in the burbs, but now would be close to 42 days prior. The next site said 2-4 weeks prior, which would be April 15 - May 1.

I guess I figure what's the worst that can happen? I planted earlier last year and I didn't lose them...they just didn't really grow until it got warm enough. And, if I'd lost them, I could have planted more. I think I'd potentially not keep my water reservoir full; very damp soil might be a problem. And I'd make sure I had a way to cover them in case of a freeze.

We seem to go through this topic every year. My post from 2005 covers much of what is being asked here.

The general rule for peas is that they can go in when the soil is workable. Mudding in will cause all sorts of problems as the roots will not develop properly even if the seed does not rot. This year mine were planted on March 17 but would have been a day earlier if I had come home in time. I planted the first spinach on March 14. It started coming up yesterday along with some volunteer arugula. Both the peas and spinach were covered with clear plastic film to warm the soil and stabilize moisture, neither too wet nor too dry. This had some benefits with the blast of cold rain and snow we got. You must check the plastic daily for seedlings coming through as they are easy to cook under this micro greenhouse. Planting spinach or peas after April 15 is likely to reduce yields as they will not have full production before heat does them in. Spinach and pea seedlings tolerate temperatures in the upper twenties very well but really hate the upper eighties at any age.

The big secret for cool-tolerant plants is to have soil with a lot of organic matter so tilth is good over a wide range of moisture levels. Clay with a high organic matter content will drain well even without using raised beds. My main garden does not use raised beds while another place I have gardened has raised beds but with lower organic matter. The good soil was workable weeks before the raised beds. At home it was hard to tell which portions had been spaded in the fall as all of the soil was very workable. The spinach followed arugula that produced way into November until it was hit with ground-freezing cold and snow and so could not be spaded. Some space where lettuce is going in this week was in Italian dandelions or cutting celery last year and again could not be spaded because they were producing so far into November.

The effects of Lake Michigan are a very important consideration. Within a few miles of the lake in Chicago and near northern suburbs the lake buffers both very cold and very warm temperatures. The last typical frost is much earlier than in the western suburbs while the latter have very much more warm weather in May and June. Lincoln Square is a great place to grow cool-season plants planted early while warmth-loving plants like basil, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant need to be planted later than further inland because it is just too cold for them even though using last frost dates would lead one to plant these vegetables earlier in Lincoln Square than inland. Gardening near Grand and Harlem for a couple decades has shown material differences in spring and fall compared to Lincoln Square even though the distance difference from the lake is only about six miles.

Rooftop gardening or gardening near masonry walls are very different animals from gardening in open ground for which the knowing the microclimates is critical.