ANTICIPATING SPRING: AREA GARDENERS GET EARLY START ON PLANTING

Jonathan Blattel, 11, helped his grandfather, Flavian Lappe, plant potatoes Feb. 24.

Joe Kluesner planted white onions just deep enough to keep the birds from digging them up.

Joe Kluesner, right, and his son Dennis planted white onions.

Dortha Strack measured spinach seeds into packages at Sunny Hill Gardens & Florist.

The El Nino weather phenomenon and a late season cold snap may drive produce prices through the roof this spring, but some local gardeners don't worry about such things.

In fact, many local gardeners already have crops in the ground waiting for spring's warm weather. Others are getting ready.

Dortha Strack at Sunny Hill Gardens and Florist said the busiest time for gardeners starts on St. Patrick's Day and continues through April. People are buying seeds and plants, planning and planting.

"We have had a lot of people who have been in and getting seeds early this year," Strack said. "I think it was the warm weather we had earlier. We got our seed out earlier than usual."

The garden center even has tomato plants ready for eager gardeners. "We have had people buy tomato plants and put them in their windows already," Strack said. "They want to get an early start."

The cold snap last week might have frozen some new plants, but for the most part, it won't affect the local gardening season. "When the ground gets warm, things come up so fast anyway," she said.

Joe Kluesner of Cape Girardeau set out potatoes, radishes and lettuce nearly a month ago. "I really started too early," he said. "But the weather was so nice."

During the cold snap last week, Kluesner babied his tiny vegetable plants. He built a frame around the beds, covered it with a tarp and kept a light burning inside for warmth. When the temperature dipped down below 20, the plants were nice and toasty in their beds where the temperature was about 45 degrees.

"My wife says I'm wasting money on electricity," Kluesner said. "But I think I can save them."

Kluesner plants about a half acre in vegetables, including 40 to 50 tomato plants. Each year, he and his wife, Betty, can about 200 quarts of tomato juice.

"It's really a V-10," Kluesner said. "It's got tomatoes, garlic, celery, beets and just everything."

His garden includes ingredients for the juice, plus a lot more. He raises peanuts, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, green beans, spinach and cucumbers. "I really like those cold-pack cucumbers," he said.

Gardening takes lots of work. "You've got to take care of it or the weeds will take over," Kluesner said.

"I just like to do it," he said. "I give a lot of it away." His neighbors have started talking about the fresh vegetables they expect to receive, and Kluesner's seven children await the first harvest also.

Like the Kluesners, Flavian Lappe and his grandson, Jonathan Blattel, of Cape Girardeau are looking forward to the first harvest.

The two have been working their garden for weeks.

"We put in a couple rows of potatoes, onions, lettuce and spinach when it was warm," Lappe said. "Then the good Lord changed the weather."

The cold snap doesn't worry Lappe, a gardener for more than 50 years.

"I'll put in more potatoes and lettuce and some sweet potatoes, peppers, green beans, and cucumbers," he said. "Then we can it and eat it."

Very seldom do the Lappes purchase produce at the store. "The only time is when I buy green onions in the winter," he said. "I love green onions."

Lappe is retired from St. Mary Cathedral School where he was the janitor for 26 years. He spends much of the spring and summer tending his garden.

"What else do you want me to do," he asked. "I'm retired. This gives me something to do besides going fishing."

His wife, Pate, cans the vegetables and makes her own variety of tomato juice. And grandson Jonathan, a fifth-grader, works alongside his grandparents.

"He's planting some tomato seeds now, so we can raise some tomatoes," Lappe said. "And we've got a pan with some cucumber seeds started."

Gardening offers good lessons for his grandson. "There's nothing wrong with it," Lappe said. "It teaches kids how to do things."