Hold that trowel! It's not time to plant your Minnesota garden, yet
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Many Minnesotans are anxious to get their hands in the dirt and plant some seeds in the ground, but the warm weather can be a tad deceiving.
Soil temperature trumps frost-free dates and air temperature, Robin Trott with the University of Minnesota Extension in Douglas County, told Morning Edition.
“If the soil is cold, those seeds aren't going to do anything. And when we plant seeds, the most important part of that is the roots,” Trott said. “We need to get good healthy roots to have good healthy plants.”
Gardeners can buy their own soil thermometer, or rely on the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Six-Inch Soil Temperature Network for current temperature readings and weekly trends, she advised.
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“These are actual people on the ground taking those soil temperatures, mostly so the farmers know when they can plant, and that's the benefit of living in an agriculture state: We can watch what the farmers are doing so that we know what we can do,” Trott said.
Right now, the soil is still too cold for backyard gardeners to plant crops like tomatoes and onions outdoors, she said. They need soil temperatures between 50 to 60 degrees.
But “if the soils are like between 40 and 50, if it's not too deep into the freezing zone, we can plant things like peas, spinach, lettuce, radishes,” Trott explained. Those seeds “actually do better when it's cooler. So those seeds can adapt, or have adapted, to that cooler soil temperature.”
However, she advised gardeners to still wait until late April or early May, and to watch the weather.
