MISSOULA — Even though Missoula is still facing freezing temperatures, gardening is possible if you take extra care of your plants.
“I am absolutely delighted to get back outside and dig in the dirt," Nancy Teggeman, a Polson area resident, said.
While spring planting can be difficult this time of year, it is not impossible.
Bill Caras, owner of Caras Nursery, said for now anything that’s stored inside the greenhouse requires more time before it can go outside.
“Because it's been protected inside the greenhouse, you put it out, the first night if we get a hard frost, it'll knock it back pretty good," Caras said.
However, there are plants that can survive in the snow and those are the ones that customer, Margie Grinnell, was shopping for. She has been gardening for over 60 years.
"I'm so happy they have a great selection of pansies," Grinnell said. "Pansies are even okay with snow."
Bill Caras said that water is the most important thing to remember if you are gardening for the first time this spring.
"We water our stuff every day, sometimes twice a day," Caras said.
He explained that once plants get rooted in the soil, they become less high maintenance and require less water.
"The last thing you want to do is plant in the soil and then not water and let it go for a week or two, because these plants don't have that kind of resilience until they've rooted into the soil," Caras said.
Another pro-tip is that when you do water, make sure you cover the entire root zone.
For Bill Caras, it's not one's green thumb that determines the health of the plant as 90% of plant care comes from how attentive the owner is to their flowers.
You don’t have to look after your garden alone either. Nancy Teggeman and her husband work on their garden together.
"He's the labor guy," Teggeman said. “I’m planting a new garden with black-eyed Susans."
If you're considering planting this weekend, you can view our STORMTracker Weather forecast here.
