This year's early warm weather brings both celebration and concern for central Missouri gardeners.
"Everything seems to be three to four weeks ahead of schedule," said Alice Longfellow of Longfellow's Garden Center in Centertown. "It's like somebody speeded up the clock."
"A lot of people started gardening earlier than they normally would," said James Quinn, who oversees the University of Missouri Extension Center's Central Missouri Master Gardeners program. Accelerating planting with the weather can go very well or very badly, according to Longfellow and Quinn.