KATHY'S HOME & GARDEN TIPS - THOUGHTS AND OTHER MUSINGS ON THE SPRING SEASON
As we know from living in the
Chicagoland area, spring can be an elusive thing. Either we jump from winter directly into summer or warmer temps never seem to come. Last year it went right into summer with temps exceeding 70 most days. This year is a different story. Although we have had a few warm, almost hot, days we've mostly seen temps below 60 and copious amounts of rain. If you, like me, have your garden in early, you might be a little disappointed in the progress so far. While the rain has been sufficient for the lawn and other established plants the temps have not been high enough to warm the soil. We need a soil temp of at least 70 degrees to promote growth in vegetables and flowers. While it is true many veggies and flowers do well in cooler temperatures, you still need a little warmer soil.
This is also true for grass seed. We tried a new brand of grass seed this spring to fill in some bare spots and re-seed where we had gotten rid of some invasive crab grass. My husband was saying this weekend, "This new seed is worthless! We spent extra and it's hardly even germinating." I told him it's not been warm enough. Of course he comes back with grass grows better in cooler weather. Again I tell him the soil temp matters as much as watering. So the truth is seed will take longer to germinate when the soil is cooler. Keep on watering though. New seed needs to be kept moist every day until it sprouts. You don't have to drown it just a good moistening. Even with all the rain we've been having, new plantings of any kind must be watered regularly until they are established.
In my opinion, hot weather can take it's time in coming. If it never got above 80 I would be a happy camper. We know living in and around Chicago it will be hot eventually. Try to be patient, I think this is going to be a great garden year!!!
KATHLEEN WEAVER-ZECH & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
