KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When that first taste of spring arrives, gardening enthusiasts get their green thumb ready to plant something new and colorful, but planting too soon can be a recipe leading to a barren flower bed instead of a lush flower bed.
We reached out to Soil Service Garden Center to find out the tips they give people on when is the best time to plant, and what are the best items to plant during the spring months.
Tip No. 1: Don’t get ahead of the weather
Kansas City weather during the spring months can go from cold to hot in a heartbeat. Planting too soon can wither your hopes for a beautiful garden.
“We’re still in danger of frost,” Leslie White, an assistant manager at Soil Service Garden Center, said. “We got to pump the brakes on some things, but there's a lot that we can be doing."
White says some of the plants to consider early in the season include pansies, azaleas, hyacinth, tulips, and snapdragons.
“They'll take a fair amount of cold like into the 20s most of them, upper 20s,” White said.
What plants like things to be a little warmer?
“If you're one of those people that's really waiting for the geraniums and petunias and tomatoes and peppers, that's where we need to pump the brakes," White said. "It's not warm enough yet, so let's think about starting to prep for those."
Tip No. 2: Correctly prep your soil
Without a good base, your garden or flower bed won’t bloom to its fullest potential. White advises people to clean out the old, dead material in garden beds and condition the soil and any containers.
“Maybe fertilize or put some pre-emergent in to prevent those weeds coming up in the beds and start that kind of prep work right now,” she said.
Tip No. 3: Prepare for the worst
During the spring months, there's bound to be frost-filled mornings on the calendar. White says if you prepare for those times now, gardeners will have a better chance of saving the plants already planted.
“You can purchase frost blankets from a garden center that you put that over [plants] to protect some of those things,” White said. “If you have them in containers, you pull them into a garage.”
White says sometimes just getting plants out of the elements and as close to the house or under the porch will protect them from the frost.
Tip No. 4: Don’t forget about your lawn
While many focus on their flower beds, White says now is the time to put some thought and preparation into the lawn.
“You might think about over-seeding if you have some bare patches, as this is the perfect window for that,” she said. “And of course, fertilizing trees and shrubs.”
White also says now is the sweet spot for attacking crabgrass that might be springing through the ground.
