Time to plant … or no?

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(WJBK) - With rain showers these last few days I've been kicking myself that I haven't planted grass seed yet. Free irrigation isn't something I like to pass up on.

But then I took a look at the 7 day forecast and saw those overnight lows in the 20s and one night (gulp) close to the teens. I began questioning whether it's even close at all to ideal conditions to plant seed. So, I did what I always do in situations like this: I called an expert.

A 10-minute conversation with an expert at English Gardens revealed the following - you can plant right now, but you're better off waiting.

In a climate like ours, seed grows best when the high temp reaches about 60 during the day. Cool nights are ok, but freezing nights aren't. It won't kill the seed or anything, but it will stunt the growth by not allowing it to germinate.

Essentially the seed will just sit there, and wait until better weather comes along. By itself that isn't bad, but it does allow birds and other animals to come along and eat the seed or otherwise damage it.

Therefore, your best bet is to wait until we see a warm-up. And when will that happen? Models are pointing to mid-April for that.