What's Mother Nature's sign to start planting

[Chuck]

In my area of Texas it is when the mesquite and pecan trees put on their leaves. The mesquites have but the pecans haven't. Usually a sign of a few days. Do you believe in these types of signs. Usually they are correct. I always do research into the long range weather patterns. I look for patterns in Siberia and Northern Canada. Right now I don't see anything too cold on the horizon for Texas, so as soon as the first pecan leaf shows itself I am planting a bunch of bean seeds.

 

[Meadowlark]

For me its an old reliable Pecan tree outside my door. Only failed one time in half a century of forecasting and that was last year when a frost hit after the pecan had budded.

Other than the desire to plant something, most warm weather veggies in my garden don't need to be rushed ( in fact shouldn't be rushed) except for tomatoes which need the early start to beat the coming heat. Beans and corn, for example, are better off waiting until the soils warm more . I've done experiments on various veggies and overwhelmingly production is better in the plants that don't get super cooled vs the plants that do ( by super cooled I mean temps down in the upper thirties without a frost...very common here until early April). As a result, except for tomatoes, I'll wait until even after the first Pecan bud to plant those. Production will be better overall that way.

 

[Chuck]

For me its an old reliable Pecan tree outside my door. Only failed one time in half a century of forecasting and that was last year when a frost hit after the pecan had budded.

Other than the desire to plant something, most warm weather veggies in my garden don't need to be rushed ( in fact shouldn't be rushed) except for tomatoes which need the early start to beat the coming heat. Beans and corn, for example, are better off waiting until the soils warm more . I've done experiments on various veggies and overwhelmingly production is better in the plants that don't get super cooled vs the plants that do ( by super cooled I mean temps down in the upper thirties without a frost...very common here until early April). As a result, except for tomatoes, I'll wait until even after the first Pecan bud to plant those. Production will be better overall that way.

I agree. I started my tomatoes and peppers a month ago and will wait until the soil temp is above 70F to plant them out. With the beans it is still a little early. I'll wait until the pecans have budded out. before planting. Here there are a lot of mesquites and pecans. Most years they bud within 2 weeks of each other. This year some of the mesquites have started to bud while none of the pecans have even swelled very much. This non-swelling of the pecans has me a little confused. It is almost like the pecans are going to be a month late this year.

 

[Meadowlark]

There used to be a guy who wrote for the Houston Chronicle...great story teller...Leon Hale. He swore by the mesquites and would make a journey every spring to find the first mesquite budded out and proclaimed that as SPRING. Lol, in my experience an old pecan tree is a much better indicator for garden planting. The crazy year about 6 years ago it snowed here on April 15...and the Pecan strangely had not budded out by then...so I trust the Pecan.

 

[Chuck]

Between the two I also tend to go with the pecan because I have seen in the past mesquites get knocked back by a late frost. I think mesquites are telling us to get ready for spring, not that you can start planting.

 

[Bethanyo721]

I always wait for pecan leaves, this is the most accurate and effective indicator for planting. Nature is amazing.

 

[posiepurrs]

Here in New England I wait for the forsythia to bloom, then I plant my peas, potatoes and onions.