Planting tips to get ready for spring

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Temperatures may be getting colder, but that doesn't mean it's too early to think about spring.

While you won't be able to enjoy the benefits immediately, it's the perfect time to plant bulbs before temperatures get too cold to do that.

Right now, bulbs are for sale at your local garden center. At 16 acres garden center in Springfield, bulbs are sold in these little packets. While they're little now, if you plant them soon, they'll be nice big flowers by March or April.

But there is a race against the clock when it comes to planting bulbs, you can't wait much longer.

"If there is a frost or if it's suddenly cold for a few days, it will only be not even an inch that would freeze, so there is still some time. However, you want to plant the bulb before it freezes so that the roots could actually mature," said Assistant Store Manager Nalini Benoit.

Once the ground freezes too deep, over 1 inch, then the ground will be too hard to plant bulbs. It's best to plant the bulbs in healthy garden soil or better yet, compost.
    
You only need to water them right after you've planted and the fall rain should take care of the rest. Normal first freezes in western Massachusetts happen in the middle of October.