Well, the pansies will be fine and probably the lobelia and sweet william will be ok. I might hold off planting the geranium, unless its in a pot you can bring in on sub-40 nights.

tj

I'll start buying plants the 1st weekend in May, but I won't plant them until the 2nd week...if the weather is good. I know some annuals can take the cold nights well, but I buy a lot that don't like it below 40-45, at least when they're young. I spend too much money on my annuals to take chances with the cold nights. :)

Kat

I agree. I would not plant anything but the pansys at this point. I usually wait until the middle of May before I put in any annual. I live in the Milwaukee area. You can start moving perenials and thinning out your daylillies and such. I wouldn't plant any seeds out doors yet either. Wait until the middle of May so that you are sure they will survive. I bought some seeds this weekend...Sunflowers and Zinnias and Morning Glories...I was amazed at how expensive the seeds were. I hate to think how expensive the annuals are going to be. :(

I say take a chance. The worst that can happen is you have to go buy more plants. One of the biggest joys of gardening for me is experimenting and risk-taking. It's a thrill, LOL!

Well, I read all the instructions on the seed packets.
All say wait until heavy frost danger is past.
So, o.k. I think it is past.

Now I will chance it and stick some of the hardier seeds in the ground.

As for my few little plants, well, I have them snugged up next to the garage, and sheltered by a nice evergreen. So far, so good. I know nighttime temps are what is all important. Once they stay in the high 40 to 50s, its a safe bet to plant.

Tomorrow I want to plant the tiny plugs of lobelia. I know they fade out in the heat, so I am thinking they will survive in the cold.

This will be a fun experiment. Pondy

Um, I would check your 10 day forecast before planting anything outside. At least where I am (near Green Bay) we have temps in the 30's and snow forecasted for early next week. I wouldn't chance it yet.

We've got the same forecast in Milw. cty. I sure hope it doesn't last. I wanted to start buying my plants on May 4th. Now I'll have to wait and see. :(

Kat

I put a canna in the ground. It's ridiculous, but I couldn't help myself (I have tons of canna, so it's ok if it doesn't work)! I put a wall of water around it for the first few days and so far it's looking good. I also put a few marigold seedlings into the garden. They've been doing well and are happy in the rain. I also have one nasturtium out in the garden and sowed some nasturtium seed too. I think it's fun to experiment and really, there's not much to lose.

I've been debating on sowing zinnia seeds, but will probably wait until after this coming cold spell is passed. Then it's fair game! Our planing date here is generally May 1st, so it's really not far off now.

Pondy,

One on the reasons I don't push the envelope is because of the nasty winds we get around here right around the same time my Daffs are in full bloom. Happens every year! I get to enjoy their beautiful display for a few days, then we get a day or two of horrendous winds. Today, for instance, wind speed is 21 MPH, gusting to 37MPH. Those winds can rip anything out of the ground that was recently planted shallowly. (I'm not speaking of seeds, of course.)

We live on a hill, and the winds are even greater than in the surrounding areas.

I hope all of you that plant early have a protected area if you've already planted annuals!

Julie

Same thing here, Julie, the winds right now and last night are too much for many plants. They just get battered. The daffs just opened a few days ago and they are out there getting all beat up. Not fair, but predictable.

I like to grow veggies as well and I do have snow peas and some greens growing outside, but they can take the returns to freezing nights in stride.

With warm season plants like tomatos and peppers I found pushing the envelope just sets the plants back. I would get the same, if not better, results waiting another week or two to put them in the ground.

About the only time I do push the envelope any more is with containerized plants that I can move indoors when the nice weather predictibly becomes not so nice. I spose if I had a greenhouse I might push things more, but I don't have one.

Well, so far my experiment hasn't happened. Actually meant to plant the cheapie lobelia on Thurs, but the wind kept blowing my hair into my eyes; so I put on a baseball cap, which promptly blew away. I thought 'this is dumb!'
Yesterday it stormed and blew some more and tornado watches, etc. Ended up with the new plants in the
garage.

Pushing the envelope is a clear demonstration in frustration and a good lesson for patience. You mailers are all correct in your advice. Pondy

You're right, my canna got shredded! I potted it back up and brought it back into the greenhouse and it's bouncing back. My marigolds are doing ok though, I have them protected with a wall o water, which shields them from wind too. The nasturtium looks really good surprisingly, better than the one I have inside.

turquoise,

What is a "wall o water"?

Julie

call me daring or s***id, but i planted a few things today....my yard is completely fenced in, full southern exposure, i also am doing all containers this year. I planted one tomato, giant cucumber and squash seeds.
we put radish in last week( in a long planter box)
I will not worry to much if they cannot tolerate the conditions this early( i have more plants waiting for it to get a little bit warmer.)
what fun is gardening if i cannot experiment and see how early i can get my veggies going? - Last
year i planted everything ( all tomatos, squash, peppers and beans)may 15th...all plants were just fine and i enjoyed my first tomato a few weeks before my friends.
(2 weeks earlier this year.)

time will tell.....calling for 40's and 50's the next week or so.

4 Tomatoe plants in the ground and survived the snow. No lie. We covered them in plastic and they are next to the greenhouse and full sun. We had extras and wanted to try. I planted out per. today from the gh. I was tired of looking at them and need to plant other seeds. Try wintersowing. Tons of seedlings up planted in january in milkjugs. Spring has sprung..... Barb

Julie, a wall o water is a plastic cylinder that you fill with water and set up around your plant. It creates a mini greenhouse which warms up the plant and soil. Apparently even if the water freezes it still keeps the plant warm, because the freezing releases warmth (still trying to wrap my head around that one). Here's a link...

Here is a link that might be useful: Wall O Water

Thanks for that info, turquoise.

Julie

I'm in western Racine County and I've already planted seeds: sunflowers, cosmos, larkspur, love-in-a-mist. These are in raised beds. I've got volunteer sunflowers, sorghum, amaranth, morning glory, and prince's feather popping up all over the place already.
I'm waiting until 15 May to plant seeds of zinnia. My salad veggies are all up and doing great.
The only perennials I've plunked in are munstead lavender. I had to replace a few of the rooted cuttings I put in last fall. The ones that made it were greening up nicely by the time I put the store-bought ones in. I bought them from the OUTSIDE area at Steins and they're in a very sheltered spot, so they should be fine.