Historical February–March 2022 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
February and March in St. Louis are great times to get ready for growing things. Seed catalogs are available, people are ready to get outside, and the soil is ready to nudge plants into action – spring is planting time.
It can be a good time to plant many types of plants, including flowering bulbs, vegetables and trees.
This quick overview is intended to give you motivation to get those gardens going! First up, spring bulbs. No… not the ones that you plant in the fall and come up in the spring.
These are the ones you plant in the spring and come up in the summer; spring-planted bulbs are many of the biggest, most impressive flowering bulbs we can grow. Spring planted bulbs are types of flowers that are not cold-hardy. That is, the cold may destroy their ability to flower.
Some of these may be started indoors in pots and replanted outdoors after the last spring frost. Examples of such bulbs are dahlias, gladiolus, tuberose and oriental lilies.
These spring planted bulbs grow into gorgeous flowers.
As temperature ranges change (you know, climate change), some of these bulbs can be left in protected parts of your yard over winter. Or, to be perfectly safe, you can dig them up and put them in your basement until next spring. Next on the list is planting early garden vegetables outside.
The middle of March is a good time to plant many types of vegetables outside in St. Louis.
A useful garden calendar for deciding planting times for vegetables is available through the University of Missouri Extension (https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g6201).
According to this calendar, you can plant lettuce, beets, carrots, collards, onions, peas and radishes near the 15th of March. Planting them this early ensures that that they are ready to eat before the hot St. Louis summer.
To keep the harvest going after the early summer vegetables are harvested, start your other vegetables indoors. Broccoli, many cabbages and cauliflower may be started indoors as early as February 15th, for early crops. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants can be started indoors for transplant around March 15th and cucumbers, squash and melons around April 15th.
These shouldn’t be planted outdoors until the danger of frost is past, but then you’ll have a great head start on the summer crop of vegetables.
Finally, spring can also be a great time to plant many types of trees. Transplanting in the early spring, before other trees and shrubs have leafed out, works best, because plants have a chance to develop root systems first. Watering spring planted trees is very important. Planted trees must produce leaves and grow roots at the same time. For this reason, it is essential to make sure that newly transplanted trees have plenty of water. Be clear about the water requirements of your new tree and have plans to water in order to help the tree develop safely. Trees, shrubs, vegetables, flowers – there are so many possibilities. Spring is coming.
The soil is warming up.
The sun is out longer each day. People are planning their gardening.
It is time to go outside and plant!
Original photograph caption
Lily illustration accompanying spring planting column.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February–March 2022.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2022_02.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
