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Spokane, WA

What You Need to Know about Spring Planting Dates

In the Spokane area, most gardeners are chomping at the bit in early May to get their plants in the ground. Most gardeners in the area consider the weekend of Mother’s day to be the start of planting season and happily start plunking plants and seeds in the ground accordingly. While it’s true that the last frost date is usually sometime before Mother’s day, it isn’t necessarily true that you should start planting all frost tender plants the week after Mother’s Day. Here’s what you need to know about spring planting dates going into this gardening season.

thermometer reflecting cold days - What you need to know about spring planting dates

1. Peppers Don’t Like Chilly Nights

I think the first important thing for gardeners in our area to note is that Peppers don’t like chilly nights (or days, but that should be obvious). Peppers don’t handle nighttime temperatures below 50 degrees well. That means that if you’re still having temps in the 40s in May, you should probably hold off on planting peppers for a couple of weeks. In 2021, it was difficult to get peppers in the ground as the temps kept dipping well below 40 into late May.

Optimal Time for Pepper Planting – what you need to know about spring planting dates

As a best practice, you shouldn’t put peppers in the ground until at least 2 weeks after your last frost date (ideally a month after the last frost). This will prevent them from being stunted due to cold nighttime temps.

Pepper starts waiting for warmer days to get planted

2. Tomatoes Prefer Warm Nights, but will Tolerate Chilly Weather

While tomatoes prefer warm weather to thrive, they won’t get stunted like Peppers in cool temps. If you can wait, Tomatoes will do best if planted a couple of weeks after the last frost. However, if you really can’t wait to get them in the ground, they won’t be stunted by cool temps. Tomato growth is directly related to the weather. Thus, if you plant them in cool weather they aren’t going to grow very quickly. But, if you plant them in warm weather, they will grow like crazy.

Optimal Time To Plant Tomatoes – what you need to know about spring planting dates

Don’t worry about needing to get your tomatoes in the ground early. They will make up for any lost time when the days are warm and grow more rapidly than they would in cool weather. Wait till at least 2 weeks after the last frost for optimal results.

German Pink Tomato Start just planted in the ground

3. Cucumbers, Melons, and Squash really don’t like the cold

A few more crops that won’t appreciate a hasty planting are cucumbers, melons, and squash. Sure, you’ll find monstrous squash plants that look anxious to be planted in big box nurseries starting in April. However, if you put those plants in the ground the week of Mother’s Day, it’s highly likely they will be stunted. Squash, melons, and cucumbers planted too early, will take much longer to produce fruit. Another problem with monstrous starts in April or early May is the fact that these crops don’t like their roots disturbed. If you keep them in their pots too long, you’re going to be disturbing lots of roots when you finally plant them.

Optimal Planting Times for Squash, Melons, and Cukes

If you plan to buy starts early, look for smaller vibrant squash that have room to grow in their pot before you plant them out. If you can restrain yourself, wait till June to plant squash, cucumbers, and melons in the ground.

4. You can use season extenders to make earlier plantings more viable

So, what if you just can’t wait for warmer temps and need spring and gardening season to really be here? Well, you can use a variety of season extenders to get your plants in the ground earlier. One of the easiest ones to use is called a wall-o-water. This is a personal-sized greenhouse for an individual plant. Here is a picture of the ones we used last year for some of the tomatoes and peppers.

Wall-o-waters used as a season extender - What you need to know about spring planting dates

These wall-o-waters worked great to protect our peppers from stunting in cold temps. They also helped some of the tomatoes grow faster despite cool temperatures. They are a bit expensive, but worth it if you have a small garden and want to get a jump on the growing season. I still wouldn’t recommend planting anything before the last frost date. But, if you want to get tomatoes or peppers in the ground on Mother’s Day, these are a great option.

5. One more plant that hates cold weather

One plant that might rival Peppers in their dislike for cool temperatures is Basil. Basil can be rather finicky about when you get it planted outside. If you want a good basil crop, I recommend waiting till June to plant outside. Basil thrives when temperatures remain above 50 at night. Cool temps, in the 40s or below, can cause basil to wilt or even die. Keep your basil inside longer than most other starts and it will thank you later.

6. Plants that LOVE cool weather

Now, if you’re really anxious to get gardening, there are quite a few plants that enjoy, and even relish cool temperatures. Here are a few crops to plant early: Peas, Cabbage, Carrots, Beets, Spinach, Cauliflower, Radishes, Potatoes, Broccoli, Lettuce, and Swiss Chard. Most of these crops can be planted even before the last frost date. Cabbage will only produce a head in cool weather so that one is a must for early plantings. Beets, Carrots, Spinach, and Lettuce germinate best in cool weather. So, be sure to direct sow all of those in late April/early May.

What You Need to Know about Spring Planting Summed Up

  1. Peppers, squash, cucumbers, melons, and basil hate cold weather
  2. Tomatoes tolerate the cold but do best in warmer temperatures
  3. Season extenders are great when you want to get crops in early
  4. There are a lot of crops that like cool weather: peas, cabbage, carrots, beets, spinach and more

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