With the recent cold, rainy weather, planting might be far from the minds of area gardeners. However, local experts said there's plenty to be done, whether it be preparing for a garden or actually planting.
"There's been an explosion of gardening since the COVID thing," said Steve Stacey, who has helped and advised customers part time at Menards for the past five years. Now, he's in charge of growing the estimated 2,000 tomato plants that will be part of the Central Missouri Master Gardeners' spring plant sale.
The organization planted its first round of 400 tomato plants Friday, he said, and more will be planted soon.
For home gardeners, mid-March is the perfect time to plant seedlings for tomatoes and other warm-weather plants, he said.
About three weeks ago was the perfect time to start planting cole crops such as lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, onions and potatoes, he said.
But a word of warning for gardeners on this Ides of March: Don't be overly eager to get your plants in the ground outside, Stacey said. Home gardeners sometimes gamble with planting early, but the soil temperature needs to be at least 55 degrees.
Otherwise, your plants could die or at least stagnate. If you plant some plants too early and some plants later, the ones planted later will outgrow the ones planted earlier, he said.
Another problem home gardeners have when they plant by seed too early is ensuring the plants have proper lighting. A good lighting system can help to give your plants the full spectrum of light that plants need, Stacey said.
However, the biggest problem home gardeners have is getting the right soil, Stacey said.
"Your biggest success is understanding your soil," he said. "If you're new to gardening, get a soil test, then you can find out what your soil is missing and what it has too much of."
Soil testing kits can do this, but the local University Extension offers soil testing and will tell you more precisely what your soil needs.
"If you don't do that, you're kind of shooting in the dark," he said.
Monica Owens, on the customer service team at Longfellow's Garden Center, said gardeners can be doing six steps to get their gardens ready for the spring: Cut back grasses, prune roses and other summer flowering shrubs, remove winter protection, apply preen and corn gluten, apply miloganite to lawns (which helps with growth and fertilizes), and start planting early vegetables and pansies.
Longfellows has been purchased by All-n-One Outdoor Solutions, and now offers many more services, she said.
Stacey suggested home gardeners consider joining the Master Gardeners organization.
"The key to Master Gardeners is we not only learn from experience and book work, but by rubbing shoulders with each other," he said. "That's what makes gardening fun."