Closer to home

The general rule in the Chattanooga area is to plant a spring garden no earlier than mid-April, but you’ll still have to pay attention to the weather, especially in higher elevations, where temperatures can be markedly cooler than in the valley.

“Generally, the second week of April is fine — maybe later on the mountaintops,” says Hamilton County Extension agent Tom Stebbins.

By way of caution, he recalls the Easter weekend freeze of 2007 that brought three nights of temperatures in the teens in the Chattanooga area. After unseasonably warm weather in March, an Arctic cold wave swept through the central Plains, Midwest and Southeast April 3-10. More than 1,500 weather stations across 20 states broke or matched record low temperatures, according to a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

News reports noted not just a loss of garden crops and landscaping plants but of fruits in the broader sense, such as acorns and dogwood berries.

Stebbins says local gardeners should be mindful of their particular microclimate during questionable weather. The hardiness of plants can be affected by many variables, such as how “low” you live and whether particular plants are pointing toward the sun.

Dee Clark, an Extension program assistant, says she considers April 15 a good rule of thumb for planting, but understands the temptation to dig sooner when those first warm days of spring beckon.

“It’s hard when you go to the gardening places and see all those plants [early in the season],” she said. “If you don’t buy them, other people will, and then they’re gone. The later you wait, the harder it gets to find stuff.”