Ready, Set, Garden

Spring is in the air, but the ground may not be quite right for planting veggies yet says Rhonda Williams of the Billingsley Garden Center…

“You need to wait until at least the second week of April because of the frost, first week in May is actually better. Depending on where you live in the county, if you live east or south of Clayton, you can plant up to ten days earlier, but if you live north of Clayton, the frost and the cool weather at night, you probably need to wait until the first week of May.”

Williams says one in particular vegetable should already be in the ground…

“Potatoes. Go ahead and get potatoes in, you start in March, anytime through April. If you wait till the middle of May your crops late, so early is better. Takes them a couple of weeks to come up, and then if there’s danger of frost, you can take the dirt and kind of hill it back up over it so they won’t be burnt.”

She adds that there are a couple of other crops you can start to plant now…

“Beets you can plant early, peas, start any of those now in April. Carrots, parsley, anything like that, that’s a cool weather plant you can start those early.”

If you’re unsure on when to plant a specific crop, it’s a good idea to check with a local nursery like Billingsley before planting.