March is here and spring, my favorite season, is right around the corner. I have garden fever and am anxious to get my hands dirty again! I am starting to think about what I want to grow in my vegetable garden this year. I know the thought of gardening seems really far off to those of you still covered in snow, but you can actually start sowing seeds indoors for certain plants months before the last frost.
But how do you know which plants to start when? Or when you’ll be able to plant directly into the soil? If you’re like me, it’s a relatively new concept to actually plan these things and not just pick a random warm weekend to get started. Well, I found a great online Vegetable Garden Planting Calendar that takes the guess work out of planting. All you do is plug in the date of the last spring frost in your area and it gives you the start date for everything from onion and broccoli to tomatoes and corn.
So how do you know when the last frost is? You can get a good idea from this growing zone map on Burpee’s site which divides the country by average lowest winter temperature. These zones are used in many gardening guides and nurseries to let you know the right time for planting in your area. However, you need an actual date for your city to calculate your planting calendar, which I found here. Now all I have to do is decide what I’m going to grow and mark those date on my calendar. This y ear I want to try a few new things like cucumber and eggplant. What veggies are you going to grow in your garden this year?
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