AURORA, Colo. — Experts say it’s safe to start planting certain flowers and vegetables but Coloradans on the front range need to wait at least another week before putting more vulnerable plants in the ground.
“I’ve had many years where I’ve had to replant my vegetable garden with my kids because it frosted them and I had to replace them because we were so excited about warm spring,” Collette Haskell said.
Haskell is a Colorado Certified Nursery Professional at Nick’s Garden Center and Farm Market in Aurora.
Even though April has been warm and dry, she cautions gardeners from getting too eager to get plants in the ground.
“Mother’s day is a general rule of planting,” she said. “Colorado is unpredictable and we never know, we can get a storm that’s going to come in and bring snow still. It’s maybe not likely and I’m not asking for it for sure. But I’m at least, I’m cautious.”
Haskell said that tender vegetable plants like tomatoes, peppers, squash and eggplant can not handle frost. They should be planted after the threat of freezing temperatures has diminished, which typically happens in mid-May.
“Well, not to be misleading, I have many veggies in my garden right now, but they’re cool-season veggies. I have spinach and radishes and peas growing right now and all kinds of things but peppers, eggplant, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers are all tender so if they all got frosted hard under 20 degrees they’re probably not coming back,” she said.
However, many plants can be safely planted right now.
“There’s a lot of things that are ready to go: trees, shrubs, perennials,” she said. “So you can plant the pansies or the snapdragons or the alyssum now and it’s totally fine.”
If you have already planted and frost is in the forecast, Haskell suggests putting lawn chairs, buckets or yard stakes around the plants and covering them with a sheet or large cloth. Plastic coverings make plants colder, she said.