Published: March 15, 2008 09:01 pm         

Gardeners: Don’t rush the season!

Gardeners, beware! Warm temperatures and an extra hour of daylight can create some false hopes — and frozen plants, a West Virginia University Extension agent warns.

“What gardeners have to consider is the soil temperature,” said David Richmond, who serves Raleigh and Summers counties. “Day length doesn’t have as much effect if the soil temperature is too low, especially if gardeners are planting from seeds. We will still have cold days through April and early May.”

This time of year is best for planning, not planting, he said.

“This is a good time to be thinking about what you’re going to plant this year and how you might like to rotate some of your crops, if it’s time to do that. You could be planning and designing a flower garden or a small backyard vegetable garden.”

Gardeners who want to get a head start can build the season extenders — small frames covered with plastic, which serve as miniature greenhouses.

“For anyone not using the extenders, I would not plant anything in the ground, other than potatoes, before May 15,” Richmond said. “Traditionally, at our elevation, we have a late freeze May 20-22. That’s what happened last year. We had a hard freeze and a killing frost right around that time. It killed fruit, a lot of the trees that had leafed out. People lost a lot of their flowers.”

West Virginia’s climate affords home gardeners the joy of growing many types of plants. However, in many areas of Appalachia there are limitations when it comes to growing warm-season vegetables such as melons, tomatoes, eggplants and corn, Richmond said.

“Even if the growing season is long, air and soil temperatures may be too low for maximum plant growth. Luckily, there are ways to enhance your chances of producing and harvesting, luscious melons, juicy tomatoes and beautiful flowers,” he said.

Richmond offered the following tips for planning:

- Site selection is the first step to a productive garden. Choose a garden location that receives full sun and is protected from wind. A site with a slight south- or southeast-facing slope will warm early in the spring and allow colder air to drain to a lower location, thus allowing you to begin planting at an earlier date.

- Soil preparation is a major factor to consider when planning the garden. A light, well drained soil, either sandy in texture or amended with organic matter, will warm faster in the spring and stay warmer in the fall. Also, soil in raised beds warms faster and allows for earlier planting. To further speed soil warming, cover the soil with clear polyethylene plastic film. This can increase the soil temperature by 10 to 15 degrees over a period of a few days, thus allowing you to plant earlier in the spring.

- Select the vegetable varieties best suited to your growing environment. Pay close attention to the days to maturity listed on the label. With the elevation around the Beckley area, it is best to use varieties with shorter days to maturity.

- When the air temperature warms and the days get longer, people want to get out and get to work in the soil. This is why you must be careful not to rush the season. Soil temperature, not air temperature, dictates the germination rate of most plants. Optimum soil temperature for most plants ranges from 65 to 75 degrees. Warm-season vegetables require the warmer soil temperatures to germinate and warmer day and night temperatures to reach maturity.

For germination and early growth, soil temperature is as important as air temperature. Don’t rush. Vegetables planted too early may fail to establish well and may take longer to begin producing and have smaller total yields than those planted after soil and air temperatures have warmed. If you have planted before late May, watch for frost and freeze weather advisories and be prepared to cover plants at night.

- Proper fertilization is critical when growing long-season vegetables under less-than-optimum temperatures. Plants need to get off to a quick start and have adequate nutrition in order to mature quickly. Phosphorus is especially important for early growth in cool soil.

- Soluble chemical fertilizers are a good choice for plants growing in cold soil because the nutrients are immediately available to plants. Apply organic fertilizers later in the growing season when soil temperatures have risen; the microbes that break down these fertilizers and make them available to plants are most active in warm soils.

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It takes only a small increase in temperature to speed up plant growth and development, Richmond said.

“Covering plants with cold frames, clothes, clear plastic and hoops, plastic-wrapped tomato cages or floating row covers will significantly modify the growing environment. These covers increase air and soil temperatures and conserve heat that otherwise would be lost during the night.”

Some of these methods can be used with several plant varieties, but others cover only an individual plant. Some are most suitable for modifying the environment at the beginning or end of the season, while others are suitable for use during the entire growing season, Richmond said.

“The most important thing to remember is not to rush the season,” he said. “Plants established between May 15 and June 1 will be just as productive and healthier than the ones set earlier. If you plant too early, you will see a decline in germination rates and an increase in seed and root rots associated with cold wet soils which will result in replanting later.”

For more information, contact Richmond at 255-9321 or the WVU Extension agent in your county.

— E-mail: bdavis@register-herald.com