Shopping for plants in Sparks, Shannon Cole did not wait for today's weather to buy her plants. She always starts early. As she told us, "As soon as I see those temperatures reach about 60 to mid-70's, I start planting." But she's not too early this year. It was one bizarre winter, and now the Truckee Meadows is flush with moisture. Pawl Hollis of Rail City Garden Center told us, "Now things are blooming. I just love it when things bloom because you get revitalized and want to go out and plant!"
For him and all the other green thumbs in town, it's heaven. Nevada gardeners have seen their share of long winters, but this one beat all. You would think it hurt the gardening business, but Hollis says not at all. People couldn't wait to plant...he says they wanted to dig holes in the snow! "It's just that people had cabin fever. They want to get out! They've been locked in with all this snow."
And what we have now is a very unusual planting season…which brings us to that ages-old admonishment: don't plant your tomatoes until the snow is off Peavine Mountain. Well Peavine is still covered in snow and will be for some time from our record winter, so going by the old rule about not planting tomatoes until the snow is off Peavine, just won't work. Hollis says, “Don't wait. You won't be planting until July, so try and get in early. Try to get 100 days of growing in, so you can start planting right now." But this 20-year growing expert never thought much of that rule in the first place: “No. Why? Because it’s not true.”
He does recommend a precaution to tomato planters: as protection against any more frosty nights, he says you have to get the Wall of Water...a plastic sheet you fill up with a garden hose and wrap around your tomatoes. "It not only insulates it from the cold, it provides heat...warmth."
It also looks like a banner growing season in northern California, where we get most of our food from. Fallon farmers also know, with the sunlight and warm temperatures and enough water, plants want to grow! And that may even drop prices on fresh produce this year. Hollis told us, "We have the number one ingredient: water. So they're got an abundance of water. They're going to be able to water all season. Last year they could start the crops, but then we ran out of water."
In the meantime, rivers are raging and ponds have more than plenty. The wet, soggy spring also means sprinklers can take more of a break. "You should be reducing the amount of water...take them down to about 50% of what you would water in June…just turn your percent meter back."
And for backyard grower Shannon, there's nothing left to do but enjoy what comes out of the ground. Instead of waiting for what Peavine says, she talks to her plants. What does she tell them? "That's my own secret, I can't tell you!"
