GREENVILLE – Spring has definitely sprung, as the folks at Richland Gardens, Inc. are hard at work preparing their greenhouse for the 2024 summer season.
Richland Gardens offers a wide variety of products, such as onion sets, seed potatoes, and garden seeds available for sale. They also offer a good variety of vegetable and flower plants.
Choosing your plants or seeds for the season is crucial, however, a common issue gardeners face is when to plant.
Planting vegetable seeds or transplants at the correct time is important to get the most out of your garden.
Richland Gardens owner Edward Flora said knowing the last frost date will help you make good decisions about when the right time is to plant seeds and vegetable plants in your garden. Most plants grow and thrive when the soil has had sufficient time to become warm.
The large box stores put merchandise on the shelf as soon as they can, which is often quite a bit too soon to plant in your garden.
“The chances of getting these early plants frosted off are very good,” Flora said.
While some publications may state the frost-free date for this area as being mid to late April, Flora recommends watching temperature predictions until early to mid-May to be safe.
“The average frost-free date for this area has generally been considered to be around May 7,” he added. “This doesn’t mean that each spring season in Ohio will be the same from one year to the next.”
In addition to waiting until the frost-free date, Flora warned against buying your plants early and storing them in the garage.
“My question for the customer is, Why buy before you’re ready to plant? Keeping those plants in your garage or house has hazards,” he said. “too much or not enough water along with not enough sunlight can stress or kill your plants and stressed plants have a harder time getting established in your garden than those that have not been stressed, I like to see everyone have a wonderful gardening experience where their plants thrive.”
Richland Gardens was started by Hollis and Charlotte Flora in the early 1960’s. And is currently owned and operated by their son Edward Flora and his wife Karen. The greenhouse is located at 6914 US Route 36, Greenville. Call 937-548-1577 for more information, or check out their Facebook Page.
