When should you start your garden in New York this year?

Susan Vela, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
·4 min read

Following Rochester's warmest winter on record and a relatively warm spring so far, gardeners are cleaning up their yards and visiting their favorite gardening centers, imagining the potential of this year's growing season.

Some local gardening experts confirmed that spring conditions for this time of year are about two weeks ahead of last year’s pace and confessed to already putting some cold crops in the ground.

Further proof of itchy green thumbs are the full parking lots outside local gardening centers, where customers walk back to their vehicles with plants and lawncare products on particularly sunny days.

Irondequoit partners Andrew Bucossi and Erin Keenan spent a recent Sunday visiting The Garden Factory on Buffalo Road to shop for flowering shrubs. They soon settled on a potted forsythia, blooming like the others about town.

Bucossi expects to reestablish the shrub in their yard within the next week or two to “take advantage of the rain before it gets too sunny and hot for the plants to get established.”

(Left to right) Erin Keenan and Andrew Bucossi hunt for the perfect forsythia for their backyard but may hold of planting for a week in case of late frost. Bucossi noted that Forsythias bring back memories of his native New Jersey.
(Left to right) Erin Keenan and Andrew Bucossi hunt for the perfect forsythia for their backyard but may hold of planting for a week in case of late frost. Bucossi noted that Forsythias bring back memories of his native New Jersey.

“From what little I know about planting, that seems like a wise thing,” he said.

In a city nicknamed the Flower City, there’s no surprise gardeners are back in their yards, considering each corner differently now that the snow and frost are gone.

From the National Weather Service in Buffalo, meteorologist Dan Kelly said March was Rochester’s eighth warmest March on record, registering an average temperature of 41.5 degrees. April so far has averaged a temperature of 48.4 degrees, about 5 degrees warmer than the usual, although Kelly predicted on Monday below-normal temperatures for the week.

“Oh, yeah, sure. It happens every year,” said Marci Muller, Monroe County’s horticulture program leader for the Cornell Cooperative Extension.  "The first warm spell...Everybody is, like, I should get going now.”

She encourages gardeners to “go ahead” and clean up their gardens and even pat into the ground their woody plants - shrubs and trees - and herbaceous perennials like hostas. And, of course, there are pansies.

Like other local experts, Muller said gardeners should probably defer to that period between Mother’s Day and Memorial Day – or May 12 and May 27 of this year – to plant green things considered more tender like tomatoes and flowers.

Bob Geiger, a seasoned gardening expert, advises against planting just yet. He recommends waiting a couple weeks to avoid the risk of losing plants to a potential freeze.
Bob Geiger, a seasoned gardening expert, advises against planting just yet. He recommends waiting a couple weeks to avoid the risk of losing plants to a potential freeze.

Muller, who already has planted peas and lettuce, reminds local gardeners that the weather is “infinitely local” and what may work in one community might not work in the next. Also, she advises against turning and seriously working soil until recent rains have drained away.

Samantha Kennard, customer service specialist at The Garden Factory on Buffalo Road has a succinct description for spring: “Crazy time!”

“It’s the best time of the year. It’s our Christmas basically,” she said.

The store is preparing for May, its busiest month, and she's likely to still find the time to plant cold crops like broccoli and cauliflower on her Spencerport property before Memorial Day's arrival.

“It’s always a gamble,” Kennard said "It could be too early, and I might have to do it again. We have people like that every year who put them in too early, everything dies and then they come back and rebuy everything.

"To be safe, we always say Memorial Day. But that’s the fun of gardening. It’s all an experiment."

With New York’s mild winter, many residence are debating starting their spring earlier than usual.
With New York’s mild winter, many residence are debating starting their spring earlier than usual.

For those inevitable frost nights, serious gardeners like Kennard advise early planters to cover plants with sheets, turned over buckets and other protective materials.

Kyle Van Putte, owner of Van Putt Gardens, 136 North Ave., offers no advice besides the obvious: “Remember, we live in Rochester, New York, so it’s not like you can go out there and plant your tomato plants and pepper plants in a couple of weeks, you know. You do need to wait until the threat of frost is over, which is likely after Mother’s Day."

Sue Lang, co-owner of Gallea’s Florist and Greenhouse in Pittsford, said this year’s spring is different because people eager to plant were calling by the end of March, “which is too soon.”

Her business tends to only stock plants ready to be placed in the ground.

"With certain things, you have to be really careful,” she said. “We try to let the customers know, if we do have things in and if you do get them, please keep them in the garage or put them out during the day, bring them in at night and just really watch the weather closely.

“Right now. it’s just way too soon. Temperatures are dropping. They can drop below 50 and easily drop into the 30s at night.”

She sees great potential in the 2024 growing season.

“I think it’s going to be a great season,” she said.  “I think things are going to be really lush. (With the temperatures), the greenhouses are just really exploding. That’s always a good thing.”

Maddie Sauers picked up butter lettuce for her garden and chose several flowers for her porch planters. She mentioned that the local deer and rabbits are so plentiful that keeping plants outside her home is a challenge.
Maddie Sauers picked up butter lettuce for her garden and chose several flowers for her porch planters. She mentioned that the local deer and rabbits are so plentiful that keeping plants outside her home is a challenge.

Rochester resident Maddie Sauers put some lettuce, pansies and violas in her basket while shopping Sunday at The Garden Factory. The lettuce is going into a protective lettuce house. The other plants will stay on her porch for now.

"It depends again what the weather is doing," she said. "If it's staying pretty consistent, then, yes, I’ll probably plant. If it's not staying consistent, like we’re still yoyoing, I might wait."

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Gardening tips and advice: When should you start your garden in NY?