CHICAGO — WGN’s Plant Daddy Tim Joyce talks about the last frost dates for Chicagoland, a cool website to track the migration of hummingbirds and different ways to handle compost piles.
Chicagoland frost dates
The last frost dates for Chicagoland on average happen in the last week of April. But in the 150 years of data, we see them in May about 15% of the time.
Our record for latest frost in May happened in 1992 on May 25, right about Memorial Day.
How to track hummingbird migration
journeynorth.org is a website where you can track the northern migration of hummingbirds.
They say not only can you check in about what kind of hummingbirds are in the area, but you can also document them if you see one.
How to handle compost piles
In general, decomposing material in a hot compost pile or bin will be hot enough to kill weed seeds — the rule of thumb is that the compost pile get up to around 135 degrees Fahrenheit for a week to be truly effective in killing off weed seeds.Â
Many home composting efforts can fall short of this key component.Â
For commercial manufactures of garden soil or compost– they will often pasteurize their products before it leaves their facility to specifically avoid the problem you encountered.Â
I would still consider trying a different place and try again with dressing the beds with about 2 or 3 inches of mushroom compost.Â
Secondly, mushroom compost is a considered a great fertilizer with mild nitrogen content that delivers a slow release for long term fertility and soil structure benefits.Â
So, weeds which typically grow faster than regular veggie garden type plants would get a huge head start on the other things you were growing and really spread in the beds.Â
