Remember, this series treats May 15 as the conservative “last frost date”. After you’ve planted a few gardens you’ll get a feel for how ‘loosey goosey’ to play things. How gutsy are you? I usually plant my tomatoes on April 15 (tax day) just to put a little polish on an otherwise depressing day. (It helps to have a stash of hot-caps waiting at the ready in case I miss my guess about the weather.

Plant out of doors if a heavy frost (<28 deg. F) is unlikely. A service such as weatherunderground can help in making this forecast.

• Broccoli
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Onion

April 1 – April 15

Sow the following as seed directly into the ground as soon as soil can be worked to a depth of ~4-6 inches. Their sprouting time will take them past dangerous weather and they grow quite well when soil and air are still quite cool.

• Beet
• Carrot
• Collard
• Endive
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Leek
• Lettuce (leaf, loose head, firm head)
• Mustard
• Pak Choi
• Parsnip
• Pea
• Radish
• Roquette (Arugula)
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard

Do yourself and your garden a favor. Pull back any mulch left over from winter for a few days before planting and work most of it into the ground just prior to planting along with some blood meal, coffee grounds, cracked corn or other organic source of nitrogen. The added biological activity will warm the soil several degrees and that could make all the difference in the world as to when you can plant what.