— Photo courtesy of Metro Creative. Retired ISU Extension Horticulturalist Yvonne McCormick stresses patience when it comes to spring gardening.

By LORI BERGLUND

Rakes, hoes, gloves, all make for wonderful tools for any intrepid gardener, but there is one more thing gardeners should bring to the springtime season, according to Yvonne McCormick, retired ISU Extension Horticulturist, and that might be harder to find than all the rest — “patience,” she said.

Don’t rush the season. Cold, wet soil is not a friend to garden plants, and McCormick noted that gardeners can save time, money, and plenty of frustration, by simply respecting the seasons.

“It’s easy to be too anxious,” McCormick said, especially when everyone is eager to shrug off the cabin fever blues that were so prevalent in a harsh winter. “I think everyone is tired of the cold.”

A little patience at the beginning of the season can pay off in a more productive garden.

“Most plants just don’t grow in the cold ground,” she explained. “They will sit there and they can even rot before the soil warms enough for them to start growing.”

McCormick urges gardeners to check the soil temperature website provided by Extension at https://www.mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/agclimate/soilt.php.

The site provides three-day average soil temperatures by county, as well as two-week forecasts.

“Checking the soil temperature website is a really good thing to do, and it’s all by county so it’s very helpful,” McCormick said.

For many plants, 50 degrees is the sought-after soil temperature for healthy germination. But it’s important to remember that soil temps can dip quickly, even after reaching 50 degrees.

“There’s still a 10 percent chance of having a late frost,” McCormick said. “May 10th to May 15th is when we say the last frost for our area might come.”

Of course, there are many garden plants that are cold hardy and can go into the ground in April.

“May 10 applies to plants that are not frost-hardy,” she said. “Tomatoes, a lot of plants that you start inside, are very susceptible to the cold. Whereas other plants; potatoes, onions, they can take more cold. ”

Carrots, kale, cabbage, cauliflower, and beats also tolerate the cold and can be planted early. With carrots, especially, McCormick said patience is needed because they take awhile to come up.

“Asparagus can also be planted early, but it’s three years before you can harvest it. You can maybe take a few spears off some of the new hybrids, but mostly you want to wait three years for the plant to get established.”

Some of the garden favorites that need to wait until warmer temperatures in mid-May include tomatoes, watermelon, cucumber and muskmelon.

Gardeners can use this wait time to inventory tools, shop for needed replacements, and plan a rotation system for the garden plot.

“For people in town who don’t have much room, it can be hard to do a rotation system,” she said. “We want to remember to rotate our crops the best we can, even with a small lot.”

As the weather finally warms, tomatoes will be the first crop going in for many gardeners.

“You have to have tomatoes, that’s number one,” McCormick said. “I think anyone starting out gardening is going to want to have tomatoes.”

Variety, she noted, can make for a successful and plentiful crop. She enjoys both heirloom and hybrid tomatoes.

“Heirlooms will typically mature a little later, and they will be bigger, but you don’t get as many tomatoes per plant as you will with some of our newer hybrids,” she explained.

Early-season tomatoes are popular with those anxious to have a taste of summertime, but variety is still a good policy. Early season varieties are often smaller, and no one wants to run out of tomatoes when summer is still going strong.

“Planting a mixture, I believe, is the best route,” McCormick added.

Gardeners also need to consider their plans for all those tomatoes. Those who want to can tomatoes or make salsa will need to purchase determinate plants that offer their bounty all at once. For those who want a long season of tomatoes, choose indeterminate varieties that keep on producing. McCormick has a handy memory tool to keep the choices straight.

“How I remember it is, if it’s a determinate plant, they’re determined when they are going to stop growing. And if it’s indeterminate, they’re just going to keep on growing,” she said with a smile.

Her recommendation is not to necessarily choose one or another, but again, to favor variety.

“Plant both types, so that you have some for your salads and hamburgers all summer, and then some for your salsa,” she said.

Patience is another important trait to foster when it comes to weather. Rushing out to work wet ground can have negative impacts all season long.

“We always have to remind people not to work in wet soil,” McCormick said. “You’ll be compacting the soil and it will be as hard as clay. Remember as little kids making mud pies, those hard bricks will be what you will get. You’ll be dealing with clods all summer long.”

Use those weather downtimes to get to know fellow gardeners in your community. McCormick encourages people to join a local garden club.

“Garden clubs are a great place to meet people who have experience with local growing conditions,” she said. “They might even have a trick up their sleeve as to how to make things work that normally wouldn’t.”

For fun, fellowship, exercise, and healthy foods, ‘Get Gardening,’ is McCormick’s go-to piece of advice. Just don’t be in a hurry. Patience makes a lovely garden.