Getting in touch with nature is probably something you crave after the cold winter months. If you happen to have an ideal outside space, you can prepare for the garden and grow your own food. But before you start planting, be sure that there is one popular seed that you shouldn’t be sowing just yet. Local experts in the US have warned people not to plant that one thing this year. Read on to find out what the food you love is. For more warnings to watch out for, see The Thing Not To Plant This Spring.
You shouldn’t plant tomatoes just yet, experts say.
Horticultural expert Scott Eckert, a Kansas state research and expansion agent, went to The Kansan to warn of the dangers of planting tomatoes if they are prone to frost damage. “Tomatoes are sensitive to frost and do not thrive in cold garden soils,” wrote Eckert. “If there is a risk of frost after the plants are planted, be prepared to provide temporary shelter.”
Doug Oster, Co-host / producer of the radio show The Organic Gardeners, told CBS Pittsburgh radio that “tomatoes can’t even be below 50 degrees”.
“Freezing causes darkening of leaf or stem tissue,” said Canada’s Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. “Damaged areas later wither and turn brown. It can be difficult to tell if the growth point has been killed at first, and damage can become more noticeable the day after the frost.” The agency says tomatoes can experience “stunted growth, wilting, pitting or necrosis of foliage, and increased susceptibility to disease” if left in the cold.
And if you spend a lot of time outside when you live here, watch out for those “crazy worms,” experts warn.
However, you should start by growing seeds indoors.
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While it’s not quite tomato-planting season outdoors, now is a good time to begin seeds indoors. “Making tomato plants from seeds is easy, but requires growing them under light for about 8 weeks before heading out to the garden,” said the experts at the William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
This “gets tomatoes off to the best start in the garden when warm weather finally arrives and it saves several weeks in the growing season,” note the experts at the University of Illinois Extension.
And for more gardening advice, check out the 15 Ways You Can Destroy Your Garden.
Wait at least until May to plant your tomatoes outside.
Your ideal planting date will depend on where you are. But Eckert says, “Late April through May is the proposed transplant date for most of eastern and central Kansas.” However, he waits until May to be safe. Oster suggests waiting until Mother’s Day, which falls on May 9 of this year, to plant tomatoes outside.
In particular, you want to know the last frost date in your area, which is usually between May and June in most parts of the United States. With the frost data calculator of the old farmer’s almanac, you can determine the last frost in your zip code.
“Frost is predicted when the air temperature reaches 0 ° C. However, because it is colder closer to the ground, frost can occur even when the air temperature is just above freezing,” explains the almanac.
If you weapon jump and notice frozen tomato plants in your yard, get rid of them and start over, SF Gate notes.
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And be careful, the tomato season ends in early autumn.
The tomato season ends in September October, and the first light autumn frosts arrive in mid-October.
When the season is over, SFGate says to harvest any ripe fruit that is green and get rid of the rest. They recommend wrapping each tomato in a sheet of newspaper and packing it in a paper bag or box. Keep them in a cool place like your garage or basement. When you’re ready to ripen them, take them out of the box or bag and put them in a dry place that stays around 70 degrees. Know that tomatoes’ ripening time “is between 45 and 90 days,” says SFGate.
And so that more things can be observed while you are gardening: if you see this in your garden, insects are about to invade, warns the expert.
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