LITTLE ROCK — The warm weather may be too tempting for some gardeners, who are intent on having the first ripe tomato of summer.
A mild winter and record higher temperatures since February have warmed the soil in Arkansas, and the sunny, warm days seem made for starting a garden,
but experts from the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service said home
gardeners should wait to plant until mid-April.
“Regardless of the temperatures we have had, we will have a chance for a killing frost up
to April 10,” said Ron Matlock, a cooperative extension agent for Saline County in Benton.
“Some people will risk it and plant early for the bragging rights for the first ripe tomato in the neighborhood, but if a small frost comes, they will have to start over.”
Jimmy Driggers, a cooperative extension agent for Garland County in Hot Springs, said Arkansas truck farmers and gardeners of any sort are not out of danger of a killing cold snap this time of year.
“That there is a threat of frost before Easter is an old saying,” Driggers said. “It also happens to be true most of the time.”
Driggers said he knows it is hard to delay gardening when the weather is so nice.
“Everything is greening up, and people want to plant,” Driggers said. “Yet, I think most people are happy just to wait.”
Matlock said it will be especially hard for those home tomato growers to wait, because last year, the right time for planting did not work out, either.
“Last year the heat hit too quick,” Matlock said. “The heat came in June and not July, and no blooms were setting, or there were no tomatoes.”
The warm temperatures and recent rain have presented another challenge: Those trying for a perfect lawn are seeing the weeds get a big head start on the grass.
“Lawns are beginning to green up with the wrong things,” Driggers said. “It is too early to fertilize. You would actually end up fertilizing all those winter weeds that are in your lawn now.”
He said many of the preemergent herbicides come as a weed-and-feed combination. What is needed now is a herbicide that is a stand-alone product without fertilizer.
“Your first fertilizer application should be no sooner than mid-April, when the Bermuda grass has grown up a bit and the lawn is totally green,” Driggers said. “Waiting until May, after some of the weeds have died, is not a bad idea, either.”
While it is too early for tomatoes and other warmseason vegetables, it is an ideal time for cool-season crops, according to the Cooperative Extensive Service gardening calendar on its website, www.arhomeandgarden.org/ gardening_calendar.htm.
The extension service said it is an ideal time to plant vegetables such as lettuce, radishes, turnips, cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes and onions. Most of those should be planted as transplants of smaller plants, not seeds.
Extension agents said coolseason gardens planted now are some of the easiest to grow. Diseases and insects have not yet become entrenched in the soil, there has been recent rain, and temperatures are not too hot for a gardener to get out and dig.
For those gardeners who take the chance and plant early, Matlock said, they will have to stand ready to take action if the temperature goes down.
“Cover the plants before the frost comes,” he said. “Plastic sheeting works for a night, or put buckets over tomato plants.”
If growers forget to cover plants, or if the frost comes without warning, Matlock said, there is one last chance at saving the plants for later.
“You can try washing off the frost with water once the temperatures are up in the morning,” he said. “That can help sometimes.”
Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or wbryan@arkansasonline.com.
Tri-Lakes, Pages 134 on 03/25/2012