When it’s safe to start planting outside. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
When the minutes of daylight starts to increase in winter, so does the yearning to get outside in the garden again. But don’t let a couple of warm days in early spring fool you into setting out your homegrown seedlings or new plant babies from the garden center too soon; a cold snap could wither them overnight. That’s why it’s best to understand your last frost date before adding any new plants to your yard.
So when is that, exactly? The short answer is: It depends. But you can get a pretty good idea of when it will be based on when that date has occurred in past years in your region. A “frost” date really means when temperatures fall to 32°F or lower, which is cold enough to damage leaves or kill tender plants.
The “growing season” is essentially the time between when the last freeze happens in spring and the first time temps get to freezing later in the year, known as the first fall frost date.
To figure out when you’ll likely see the last of ice this winter, check out the map personalized for your zip code through the National Gardening Association’s online database.
Listen to Cathy Isom’s This Land of Ours program here.