Time to wake up the garden!

Every year the arrival of St. Patrick’s Day reminds me of a few significant things, it’s my sister Patty’s birthday, I have to wear green to work, and it’s time to plant my first crop of peas for the season!

Depending on the nature of the winter season, I am usually in various states of preparedness for the beginning of the vegetable gardening season. Last year, of course we still had snow in the garden so the peas had to wait a while. This year though, I thought I might miss my chance to plant peas altogether, since the temps have been in the upper 70s and peas prefer cool weather. Don’t be fooled by the unseasonably warm weather though, because one cold snap like the one that is coming up this week and a lot of time and money can be wasted on plants that were put in the ground too early.

Many of the vegetables we grow in New England can’t be planted until what’s referred to as the “last frost date”. This is the average date, as determined by NOAA, of the last date the weather was cold enough to generate frost on plants for a series of past years. There is also a "first frost date" calculated for the fall, although that is less of an issue for most vegetable gardeners. These dates can be variable within a state like Connecticut, just like the daily high and low temperatures can vary.

For example, the last frost date for Hartford is May 12^th and the first frost date is September 23^rd. If you live closer to the shoreline, that gap widens a bit so that in Norwalk the dates are May 8^th and October 2^nd. Move further north of Hartford and the gap will narrow, for example to June 4^th and September 13^th in Thompson and other northern towns.  Remember that these dates are just averages, meaning that invariably we will get a late or early frost that will have you out there covering your more delicate plants.

This doesn’t mean you have to wait until May to get your hands dirty though. In addition to peas (both snow/snap and shell varieties), other things that can be planted right now are onions (I planted 45 onion sets over the weekend), cabbage, radishes, turnips, spinach, and kale. These are all cold-hardy plants, and most actually prefer growing in cooler temperatures. And remember, the sooner you plant them, the sooner you'll be eating them.  Now, get out there and plant some veggies!