I’ll be the first to admit that I am a novice gardener in most areas – in our house I leave the heavy lifting of garden planning to my wife. I enjoy what our yard looks like in the peak of summer and the food we get to eat or make into gifts when the holidays come around. It’s no surprise to anyone that the last few years in the Midwest have made for challenging growing seasons. While the ground is still white and frozen, it is a great time to consider the coming warmer months. By taking the time to plan for plants that look great and are more resilient with dramatic swings in temperature in moisture, you’ll get more enjoyment in your outdoor spaces and ideally spend less time and money enjoying them. I’ll generally cover the following in this piece; vegetable gardens, perennial plantings, and water saving ideas. Consider this an introduction, and let me know what you would like to learn more about in future posts. I will also include some links to places and resources we have found useful in our yard.
Vegetable Gardens – Planning for Summer Enjoyment
Late-January to Mid-February are ideal time for planning a spring garden. If you’ve never planted before, you can start small with a seed starting kit and some packets of seeds. All you really need is a window with good daytime sun and a little bit of attention to start your own garden. If you have children, you will find they take pride in watching “their” plant grow and it can even spark a love for a favorite vegetable! Our daughter still thinks every cucumber that comes from our garden is hers.
Seeds from a packet become tiny plants in a couple weeks and are fun to watch grow in the cold months while waiting for warm weather.
If seed starting is new to you, start with no more than three favorite and/or reliable growing plants. As you develop confidence you can add more and try new things. We keep a general rule that we will try something new each year and give it two seasons before we give it up. Some things just don’t grow great in our climate but changing growing zones means others may be an option. We have developed this setup over the years so now our seed starting is enough to share with friends and takes up a couple of shelves in the laundry room (complete with grow lights and heat mats)! If starting seeds seems overwhelming, know that you can take it slow, and there’s no harm in going to your local garden center or farmer’s market to buy plant seedlings some time in May for outdoor planting.
If you do start seeds indoors, plan to place them in the ground after the last frost date (in the Twin Cities metro this is safe by early May usually). It also helps to start bringing your plants outside 1-2 weeks before planting to “harden off.” This means allowing them outdoor time during the day when frost is not likely, and bringing them indoors when temps will drop to a level that stresses plants. While you’re planning, you can draw out your garden using the suggested spacing for each plant you have planted from seed. One good resource for planting in smaller spaces is an organization called Square Foot Gardening that uses less space to get more produce. This is a great way to dip your toes in gardening without feeling burdened by your goals.
One product we have really loved are metal raised planters such as those by Forever Garden Beds – they are easy to build, look great, and provide many growing and harvesting benefits compared to planting directly in the ground. That being said, building a raised bed out of cedar 2x lumber and corner braces looks great and works very well too. Raised beds have brought us some of the best harvests – they are especially good for plants like peppers, tomatoes, and herbs.
One final winter planting option is “winter sowing” seeds which are “planted” in growing medium and placed in milk or juice jugs. These amount to little greenhouses where you can plant certain vegetables and herbs but is especially good for native perennials (more on that in the next section). It’s a great reminder that even in the darkest, coldest days of winter, things can grow!
Perennial Plantings
One of the biggest concerns I hear from clients as we look at homes is that gardens and plantings are a lot of work. This is true if you are familiar with the traditional style of gardening that relies heavily on annual plants [plants that don’t survive from one year to the next]. The plants people are often most familiar with are the showy types of plants that wither at the first sign of frost – this includes plants like petunias, begonias, or coleus. These plants look great and have a place in your gardening, but may be too finicky for novice gardeners. Instead look to perennials, and especially native perennials, for a garden that is low maintenance and attractive. As more natural areas are threatened by development you can bring back natives to your own yard that attract pollinators such as butterflies, birds, and bees. These pollinators can also be a benefit to any vegetables and fruit trees in your yard as well. Minnesota and Wisconsin have great resources and businesses for planting and growing natives that are just as showy as their non-native counterparts. One great place to start is the University of Minnesota Extension Service; you’ll find their Master Gardeners at many events around the metro and you can ask them questions specific to your yard and needs. Whether using an online guide or talking to an expert, you can be confident to find something that matches your needs.
We are also fortunate to have some excellent native nurseries and growers in the area that make planting native perennials as easy as can be. Some of our favorites are listed below:
Prairie Moon Nursery (Catalog and web based) – Winona, MN
Prairie Restorations – Princeton, MN based nursery specializing in prairie seed mixes and more
Outback Nursery – Hastings, MN based nursery and landscaper specializing in MN native plants and trees.
Kinnikinnic Natives – River Falls, WI based nursery with a great selection of native plants
Many of the sources listed above have kits for starting your own journey in native plants. While some of these are certainly an investment, the long term benefit is savings in the form of less or no expenses for plants that need annual re-planting to look nice. Our yard is a mix of native (and some non-native) perennials along with a few annuals we enjoy looking at and don’t mind the extra work of. There are no hard and fast rules here!
You don’t have to have lots of space to make native plantings work. Whether you live in the city and have less than 2000 square feet of yard space, or you have an acre or more out your back door, you can enjoy easy, low maintenance natives that will stop your neighbors in their tracks! Local programs such as the Minnesota “Lawns to Legumes” grants or local rainwater grants through cities including Apple Valley, Northfield, and Burnsville, or county programs such as those offered by Hennepin County can help reduce or even eliminate the costs of native based, and water-saving garden projects. With that in mind, let’s move on to water saving…
Water Saving Ideas
In the upper Midwest we have experienced some weather whiplash these past few years. Lawns and gardens can go from drowning to scorched in less than a month it seems, and this puts stress on our wallets while stretching the water resources we do have needlessly. Grant programs like those above aim to reduce water use and are a great place to start if you have a project in mind. Native plants are adept at using less water and stabilizing the soil which makes them more resilient to the whims of weather throughout the season. One of our bigger projects at our home involved scraping a section of lawn next to the driveway that always got messy or icy depending on the season. With a rented excavator we made a rain garden and retaining wall to match what was already there. The day we finished it, we received over 1.5 inches of rain in a short amount of time. As a result of this project, that rain stayed in our yard. We seldom water the garden shown below, and it requires only minor seasonal maintenance.
A rain garden project we completed roughly ten months before this photo was taken. Plants are maturing here and beginning to fill in. Dog tax included!
May and June of 2024 were among the wettest on record in Minnesota, but by August most of the state was back into dry conditions. It’s impossible to ignore the impacts of a glut of rain followed by weeks of dry periods when you’re regularly watering the lawn. As a homeowner you have several options. If you have a smart irrigation system (or plans to install one) your city may well offer rebates or incentives, but a better long term solution would be to replace key sections of turf grass with natives like those above, and through other means such as planting shade trees to protect your lawn. There are a lot of solutions and in the mind of our school aged daughter, keeping some grass is great for playing on, but even the fescues and bluegrass varieties people are accustomed to can be swapped for more tolerant types as well as alternative lawns such as clover.
For maintaining the grass you’ve already got, you can read more in detail on an article I previously wrote HERE, and if you prefer to keep your grass turf you can lower your costs by doing the following things:
- Water early or late in the day – when the sun is high you lose more to evaporation which means you pay more but get less benefit.
- Minimize the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers – proper timing of application is critical to getting the most of anything you put on your lawn (and protecting our waterways) The University of Minnesota Extension has good resources on this as well.
- Leave it long – a clean shave on turf looks super cool (I get it) but stresses the plant making the grass less resilient. Set your lawnmower to 3″ or higher, and never cut more than 1/3 of the leaf/blade at a time to avoid stressing it.
- Mulch the clippings and leave them on the lawn – when you remove the clippings, you are taking away nutrients. I was told by a turf specialist that mulching your grass on leaving it on the lawn is approximately equal to an additional fertilizer application. That points to a better looking lawn with less cost!
Sowing the Seeds for a Great Summer
A little planning now will not only help give you something to look forward to, but can also mean less work for you in the long run. As a real estate professional, I can also tell you that beautiful plantings add curb appeal and value to your home when it comes time to sell. I hope that in a few months time you find yourself outside, enjoying the sounds of the warm outdoors. Maybe with a piece of fruit or favorite vegetable in your hand and a bit more money in your wallet. Maybe even some fresh mint plucked from the garden and mixed with club soda and a squeeze of lime (add a little vodka for happy hour if you prefer) enjoyed over ice as you sit in the shade. In the meantime, I hope that vision keeps you warm. If you want to talk gardens or plants, you know where to find me!