Soil Temperature

by Sandy Hollingsworth  In talking with other Master Gardeners, I’ve found some faithfully rely on soil temperature when planting while others take their chances. I know I’ve been guilty of impatience planting root vegetable seeds, then later tomato and pepper seedlings, too early, then watching them sit doing nothing and never catching up to the ones I waited to plant at a happier, warmer time. The warm sun can make the top of the soil feel warm enough, but down several inches it’s another story. This year I decided to invest in a thermometer to poke into my containers, prepped soil and raised beds to check before planting. I found a 5-inch-long metal stem pocket thermometer, with a probe sheath for storage. It happens to be in centigrade but that is okay as it is easy enough to figure out the conversion to Fahrenheit. When reading up on recommended planting temperatures I found this summary: “Soil temperature is the best indicator of when to plant each type of vegetable, no matter wh