When Is It Time To Plant A Garden In The Cleveland Area?

CLEVELAND, OH — Many Ohio gardeners can't wait to get out in the sunshine and cultivate new crops, and some are already doing so, depending on what needs planting. 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 the Cleveland area? It’s in mid-April, 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 206 days long in the Cleveland area. Looking ahead to fall, the first frost usually occurs in early November.

According to the publication, there’s a 30 percent probability of a frost occurring after April 14, 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 14 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 the Cleveland area, The Old Farmer's Almanac has another tool to help gardeners decide when to plant which crops.

In the Cleveland area, it’s usually best to start planting corn between April 14 and April 28, potatoes April 7 to April 28 and green beans between April 21 and May 12.

If you're buying potted herbs or vegetables, here are the best times to plant them:

• Basil: April 14 to May 5
• Bell peppers: April 21 to May 5
• Cucumbers: April 28 to May 12
• Lettuce: March 31 to April 28
• Oregano: April 14 to May 5
• Pumpkins: April 28 to May 12
• Thyme: April 14 to May 5
• Tomatoes: April 21 to May 5

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.