Knowing when your last and first frost dates are is important to your garden planning. Make the most of the time you have! – Photo by J&J
Yes, I am well aware that it is Summer for those of us in North America, and those in other areas are already in Winter. However, I did promise I would mention this information during one of the last Homestead Help episode (Click here for that).
Why it Matters
For those of us sowing seed directly into the soil, we need to be sure that we are not planting seeds when there is a risk of the seedling being frozen over.
Rest assured, a temperature drop will easily nip a seeding and it will likely not recover. This is also important for those who grow their seedlings indoors first, as they want to be sure that their transplanting can be done at the right time – before the plant is too large and is traumatized by the transfer.
But it is not just the early planting, but the late plantings that matter as well. As we start planing long-growing crops, we must be careful about just how late we plant them.
The last thing we want to do is plant a winter squash and two weeks before it is ready to harvest a freeze comes, possibly ruining all of our eager waiting.
The best Information
The best information can be found from local growers in your area. They know the up’s and down’s and have great rules-of-thumb to help guide you on how to get the most growing time possible out of your location.
If you don’t know that “old timer” in your area who has all the secrets, then head on down to the Farmers Market and strike up a conversation. A simple “I would love to try this at my house, when do you think is a great time time plant these?” can spark a conversation to find all the juicy details.
However, rules, even rules-of-thumb, are meant to be broken.
The back-up Plan
Now that you know the local traditions it will not hurt to check in to the hard data. You must understand that the rules-of-thumb are there because each week, month, season and year are different than the last, but if you look at enough data, or use a website to give you the bottom-line like we do, you can see how those traditions line up with the data.
Continue Reading for Page 2: The National Weather Service
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