Last Frost Date: When To Plant A Garden In Ridgewood + Glen Rock

RIDGEWOOD-GLEN ROCK, NJ — Inflation, the rising cost of food and the nutritional benefits of homegrown produce have cultivated a new crop of home gardeners in Ridgewood and Glen Rock.

Whether you’re a first-time or experienced gardener, one of the most important dates you need to know as you think about your garden this spring is:

When does the danger of frost pass in Ridgewood and Glen Rock? It’s Earth Day — Friday, April 22, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which offers a ZIP code tool to help gardeners figure out when to plant what.

The growing season is 176 days long in Ridgewood and Glen Rock. Looking ahead to fall, the first frost usually occurs around Oct. 16.

According to the publication, there’s a 30 percent probability of a frost occurring after April 22, as the date is determined using National Oceanic and Atmospheric historical data from 1981-2010, and is not “set in stone,” The Old Farmer’s Almanac said.

April 22 represents the average date of the final “light freeze,” which occurs when the temperature dips between 29 and 32 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, tender plants can be killed.

A “moderate freeze,” between 25 and 28 degrees, is destructive to most plants; and a “severe freeze,” at anything under 24 degrees, can do heavy damage to most garden plants, according to the almanac.

As the pandemic’s third gardening season gets underway in Ridgewood and Glen Rock, The Old Farmer's Almanac has another tool to help gardeners decide when to plant which crops.

In Ridgewood and Glen Rock, it’s usually best to start planting corn from April 22 to May 6, potatoes from April 15 to May 6 and spinach from March 10 to April 1, based on frost dates.

Here’s a look at some other crops, and when the Old Farmer’s Almanac says to begin planting them this spring in YOUR PATCH TOWN.

• Carrots: March 18-April 1
• Green beans: April 29-May 30
• Okra: May 6-20
• Peas: March 10-April 1
• Spinach: March 10-April 1

Even before the pandemic, mental health experts pointed to gardening as a way to deal with stress.

Gardening provides physical exercise and promotes healthier eating, but it can also reduce worry among people who consider themselves perfectionists, psychologist Seth Gillihan said.

“Given the lack of control we have, gardening can be a good antidote for perfectionism,” Gillihan wrote in a 2019 Psychology Today blog. “No matter how carefully you plan and execute your garden, there are countless factors you can't predict — invasions by bugs, inclement weather, hungry rodents.”

With so many things out of their control, perfectionism is a waste of time, he said, so gardeners may ask themselves “why bother” trying to be perfect.