Gardening and getting ready in 2021

Gardening is something you might be getting excited about after a recent spurt of warm weather in March. If looking through seed catalogs and running your hands through the black dirt gets your heart pumping, you’ve been bitten by the gardening bug. However, I talked to a gardening expert who says don’t jump the gun on planting your garden because it could lead to problems.

Gardening
Nancy Kreith is a horticulture expert with the University of Illinois Extension Service. (Photo from Illinois Extension website)

Nancy Kreith is an Extension Educator specializing in horticulture at the University of Illinois. She understands the excitement to get that garden growing but wants you to check your calendar first, specifically relating to the weather forecast and the final expected frost date. Most gardeners in the north are likely a couple of weeks away from working in the dirt.

“We could have as much as three weeks to go yet, depending on where you’re at,” Kreith said in a phone interview from her office in Matteson, Illinois. “You’ll want to find your local frost-free date, either through the National Weather Service or your local weather forecaster. That’s the last day they’re predicting frost.

“For example, the local frost-free date here in the Chicago area is on Mother’s Day, May 15,” she added. “For our cool-season crop varieties such as lettuce and root crops, you can plant those anywhere from four-to-six weeks before the frost-free date. We might be starting to plant in my area during the first week of April.”

 The crops built to handle the cold weather include broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, leek, onions, peas, rutabagas, spinach, and turnips. Those are the hardiest crops you can plant in a garden, so as soon as a gardener can get out and work the soil, they can go in the ground.

Gardening
Cabbage is one of the many hardy crops that can handle cold weather conditions. Nancy Kreith of the Illinois Extension Service says hardy crops can be planted 4-6 weeks before the final frost date in your area. (Photo from harvesttotable.com)

What makes these hardy plants so tough is good genetics. She’s seen ornamental kale planted in gardens during the fall for decoration, and the kale held up with snow sitting on top of it. The plant won’t be actively growing in that case, but rather it tolerates the cold and will sit in the garden until the weather perks up and the kale grows again.

What about the garden crops that don’t like frost?

“The best advice I can give you when planting the less-hardy crops in your garden is to give yourself a little wiggle room,” Kreith says. “I mentioned that the frost-free date in my area is May 15, but you never really know with the weather, so a little extra time doesn’t hurt.”  

Kreith says she tries to wait an extra week past that last frost date when planting the warmer weather garden crops like tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. Those kinds of garden crops are very tender and won’t tolerate any frost. Plus, waiting a week or two after that date will still leave you enough time in the growing season to get a good crop from your garden.

In between the hardy and the tender crops is what she calls the “half-hardy” garden crops. That includes a lot of root crops like beets, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, mustard greens, parsnip, Swiss Chard, and radishes.

“Those plants can go in the ground two or three weeks before that frost-free date,” she says.

Soil temperature is one of the most important factors in deciding when to plant your garden. (Photo from gardeningknowhow.com)

Gardening crops are like traditional commodities because you need to consider soil temperatures in deciding to plant your produce. “For example, the half-hardy vegetables will want soil temperatures above 40 degrees Fahrenheit,” she says. “Get an inexpensive soil thermometer, stick it in the ground, and document the soil temps for around five days in a row.

“That will give you an idea of how the seeds will germinate,” Kreith added.

While it’s still too early to plant, it’s more than all right to get out and do some work on the garden soil. General cleanup of the garden area after winter is a good place to begin.

“Go ahead and remove any debris from your vegetable garden,” Kreith said. “If you’re starting new, you want to kill off any existing vegetation where the garden is going to go. If grass and weeds are growing, I use a method that doesn’t require any chemicals to remove them.

“I use cardboard from shipping boxes,” she adds. “I remove the tape, but you don’t have to remove the label. Once I’m out gardening, I lay the cardboard down as a weed barrier, get it wet, and then put compost on top of the cardboard. I then allow it to decompose for one to two months.”

If she runs into areas of the garden that are hard to dig, Kreith cuts through the cardboard with a knife and then plants into that spot.  

It’s important to remember that cardboard is rich in carbon, so she recommends adding some nitrogen to balance that out in the soil. While the compost will add a little to the soil, it’s important to put down some nitrogen fertilizer. “As the cardboard breaks down, it robs some nitrogen from the soil,” Kreith said.

“If all the weeds and plant debris are removed from your garden bed, go ahead and spread about two inches of compost on it,” Kreith says. “That’s something I recommend you do every year in your garden to get it ready to go.”  

Seed Packages still coming into Minnesota

Seed packages that Minnesotans didn’t order are still coming into the state in steady numbers from China. Many of the seeds are non-invasive species. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t carry some kind of a pest or disease with them.

This is what a typical package of the mystery seeds with a Chinese postmark look like. (Photo from the MDA)

Reports are still coming into the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) that say citizens continue getting unsolicited seed packages in the mail. To date, over 700 Minnesotans found the seeds in their mailboxes and reported it to the MDA.

The packages contain a variety of seeds. Seed analysts at the MDA Laboratory say some of the seeds are cosmos, radish, mung bean, juniper, basil, cucurbit, and zinnia. Seeds like these are not invasive plants. However, they can carry disease and pests can hide in packaging. The unsolicited seeds likely haven’t gone through proper inspection channels to enter the country legally. The labels typically say something like jewelry is inside.

The MDA is working with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the issue. Minnesota is sending all the collected seeds to the USDA for additional identification and destruction. Federal officials are investigating the source of the seeds, and the USDA is currently referring to the situation as a “brushing scam.” In that type of scam, people get unsolicited items from a seller who then posts false customer reviews to boost sales. Their latest statement on the seed packages can be found here.

Those receiving the packages have indicated they either never made an online seed order or they purchased seeds online earlier in the year but never got them. Their order information indicates it is still unfulfilled.

Minnesotans should take the following steps to deal with unsolicited packages of seeds.

  • Save the seeds and the package they came in, including the mailing label.
  • Do not open the seed packets.
  • Do not plant any of the seeds.
  • In case the package is already open, place all materials (seeds and packaging) into a tightly-sealed plastic bag.
  • Contact the MDA through this form (mda.state.mn.us/unlabeledseeds).

If you have planted the seeds you received, please destroy any plants that have germinated. Plants and soil aren’t eligible for most trash collection. However, in this unusual situation, pull up the plants, double bag them and the surrounding soil, and dispose of everything in the trash. Do not compost the seeds, plants, or soil. Please notify the MDA if you have disposed of any seeds or plants through our contact form.

You should always buy seeds from a reputable source. Minnesota law says all seeds sold in the state need correct labels. People selling seeds need to have a permit from the MDA. You can look up seed permit holders on the MDA website. Never plant unlabeled or unknown seeds.

MDA Gathering Info on Potential Dicamba Damage

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The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is asking farmers to fill out an online survey as they investigate alleged soybean damage caused by dicamba drift. (Photo from agfaxweedsolutions.com)

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is again gathering information on plant damage that may have been caused by the use of the herbicide dicamba. The MDA is encouraging anyone with damage in the 2018 growing season to complete a survey or register a formal complaint. The survey will be open until September 15.

Last year, the MDA received 253 complaints related to the use of dicamba in Minnesota. The complaints centered on off-target movement that impacted non-dicamba tolerant soybeans, other sensitive crops, as well as non-crop plants. The University of Minnesota estimates the damaged area totaled 265,000 acres across the state.

In an effort to prevent off-target movement incidents this year, the MDA added additional restrictions to the herbicide’s application: a June 20 cutoff date and an 85 degree Fahrenheit temperature cutoff. As of July 23, 2018, the MDA had received 30 reports of alleged dicamba damage. Not all of those reports requested an investigation.

“It is important that we continue to monitor the situation this year and gather as much data as we can,” said Assistant Commissioner Susan Stokes. “Last year’s survey gave us very valuable information, and this year’s survey will help the department as we look ahead to the 2019 growing season.”

Dicamba is an herbicide used to control broadleaf weeds in dicamba tolerant soybeans, corn and a variety of other food and feed crops, as well as in residential areas. Dicamba belongs to a class of herbicides that are volatile, and can drift and/or volatilize from the intended application area if not used according to the label. Off-target movement may cause unintended impacts such as serious damage to non-targeted crops.

If you believe dicamba was used in violation of the label or law, and you wish to request an MDA investigation, you will also need to complete the pesticide misuse complaint form or call the Pesticide Misuse Complaint line at 651-201-6333.

You can find more information on dicamba at http://www.mda.state.mn.us/dicamba.

Here’s a refresher from the North Carolina Soybean Association on spotting different levels of dicamba damage: