I have a story in today's Chicago Tribune about how it's important not to plant too soon.You can tell that when I wrote it a week or 10 days ago, it was about 80.
Not 80 this weekend. Last night and the night before, with frost warnings about, I had to swathe in plastic my herb boxes on the 3rd floor, in which I had foolishly planted basil. I had to move lots of prematurely-purchased tender annuals to the basement.
And yesterday, it was biting cold standing in line for the Oak Park Conservatory Plant. (It's important to get a good spot in line because when they open the gate for people to choose plants, it's like the running of the bulls.)
I scored some good shade perennials in return for my wild ginger and herb seedlings, but I felt like I scored some frostbite too.
Doesn't sound like we had frost this close to the city, but they probably did in some places farther west. A useful warning about the dangers of planting too soon.
I also have two stories in the May/June issue of Chicagoland Gardening magazine, one about how I built my own self-watering containers and another about growing vegetables vertically. Stories on their Web site are only accessible to subscribers, but you can find the magazine on newsstands.
Got a garden question? I recommend you call or e-mail the Plant Clinic of The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, the Master Gardeners of the University of Illinois Extension or the Plant Information Service of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe .
All contents of this post are copyright Beth Botts. Feel free to link or share a brief excerpt with a link, but please do not reproduce photos or any other part of this blog without my express permission.
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