When to Plant Vegetables
Chip Phelan
If you’re planting a vegetable garden you’ll want to pay close attention to frost and freeze dates to determine when to plant. This article gives an overview of how to determine when to plant and offers links to additional online resources for determining your frost and freeze dates.
Planting times for vegetables and other annual plants vary from species to species. In much of the United States the prime consideration is the date of the last spring frost/freeze. Many vegetables can be planted up to four weeks before the last frost, while others need to wait until a couple of weeks after the frost.
Another consideration is the date of the first fall frost/freeze. In northern latitudes, where summers can be short, the length of time some vegetable species take to reach maturity (most notably tomatoes and peppers) make it necessary to plant vegetable seeds indoors and then transplant the seedlings outside at the appropriate time.
Other vegetables and fruits, such as winter squashes and some melon varieties, seem to do better when planted as seeds directly where they are going to stay. With maturation times up to twelve weeks, it may be critical to get vegetable seeds planted as early as it is safe to do. If you have a short growing season, and wish to grow these crops, choose vegetable varieties that will reach maturity within a safe time period for your area.
My personal observation has been that vegetable seed crops planted at their earliest safe date are less likely to fall victim to insects than later plantings. If you have a small vegetable garden it’s not too difficult to reseed if a surprise late frost damages a particular crop.
Many vegetable plants that are planted in the spring can be planted again towards the end of the season. Again it is important to know what date you can expect the first frost.
By understanding the times and length of frost free weather in your area you can have a better chance for success in your vegetable garden.
The National Climatic Data Center has a data sheet online that can be downloaded as a pdf file or viewed online. The data sheet contains frost/freeze information for over 3000 U.S. locations. The information is presented as a table, listed in alphabetical order by state and then selected towns within each state.
Be aware that this information is based on 29 years of data gathering from 1951 to 1980, and that they are statistical in nature and cannot unequivocally predict exact dates for any given locality in any given year.
Biodynamics and Phenology use astrological and natural occurrences to discern clues about the best time to plant and harvest vegetables. Native Americans and other earlier civilizations used similar techniques.
Most areas consist of microclimates that vary by elevation, exposure and proximity to large bodies of water. The Freeze/Frost Tables are a good reference point, but it makes sense to keep track of temperature and other factors in your particular vegetable garden location if you want to truly understand when it is actually the best time to plant vegetables.
To View or download The Frost Freeze tables; click on the link below. http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/documentlibrary/freezefrost/freezefro st.pdf
About the author: Chip Phelan, a contributing editor for Organic Gardening Review, is an organic gardener living in Rhode Island. Organic Gardening Review is a resource center for organic gardening enthusiast. Find us on the web: www.organic-gardening-review.com
Looking for a place to share organic gardening info? Visit our Organic Gardening Discussion Forum at: http://p097.ezboard.com/borganicgardeningforum
The latest information and news on Gardening:
Yahoo! News Search Results for gardening
Jeff Ball: Ergonomic hand tools are tops when gardening (Detroit News)
It occurred to me this past week, as we were putting our gardens to bed for the winter, that in the past year Nancy and I, unintentionally, set aside virtually all of the hand tools we had in the shed for the relatively new line of gardening tools put out by the Radius Co.
O'Neil: Castle tour in Scotland unearths common gardening bond (Times Herald)
Foulis Castle, in the Highlands of northern Scotland, gave me insight into Scotland's clan history and life today.
Sound Gardening: Put the garden to bed (Greenwich Time)
Time to end the gardening season: The leaves are finally down, so you can decide which ones should stay in your garden, which get mulched to turn into compost, and which -- already composted -- get put back on those beds and borders.
Gardening: Be proactive: Protect your trees this winter (The Star Press)
Do you have young trees planted in your yard or at your business? If so, beware of sunscalding or frost cracking injuries that can affect the health and aesthetics of the trunk of your tree.
Tropicalia: Edison & Ford Estates to host garden market (The News-Press)
If you've tried gardening in Southwest Florida after a lifetime of Northern training, you've probably learned that things are a little - well, a lot...
Spring blossoms for the holidays, thanks to a little gardening magic (New Orl...
For home gardeners, some techniques are well within reach
With These Activities, Gardening Need Not Take a Holiday (Washington Post)
Here are some upcoming holiday and horticultural events for November, December and January. They're free unless otherwise noted. Call ahead to see whether registration is needed.
Garden Notebook Nov. 15 (Journal Inquirer)
For a technophobe like me, it has been astonishing to discover how much I have come to rely on the Internet as a source of gardening information.
What's on Monday's WAVY News 10 Midday (WAVY 10)
-Gardening expert Dabney Morgan will live in our studios to take your questions about winterizing your yard. The phone lines open up at 12:30, and the number is 673-5420.
New varieties for food growers (Bangor Daily News)
According to All-America Selections, an organization devoted to promoting new flower and vegetable varieties with superior garden performance, there is a trend in gardening toward edibles. People are interested in growing their own food.