Homegrown: Early spring

It's still February, but it wouldn't seem that our plants know it. I've been hearing from people concerned about their tulips, daffodils, strawberries and other plants that are popping out of the ground and have seen daylilies in my own garden that are already up.

“We're at least a month ahead of time,” Linn County Master Gardener Thea Cole said of the early growth.

My best advice - and that of the master gardeners -  is to mulch the plants with leaves or other natural material.

Snow usually acts as a blanket at this time of year, but snowfall has been noticeably absent this winter. Spring temperatures have dotted the month of February, but winter storms aren't out of the norm in Iowa, even into April.

Thea said there is no need to try to cover plants with sheets or blankets. “Those plants know what they're doing,” she said.

Unless temperatures dip extremely low – 20 below zero or so – the plants should survive, Thea said.  She added that the plant growth slows when it turns cold.