Free Garden Catalogs

When should I plant my vegetable garden?

There's a bit of disagreement in our household. Hoping ya'll can help. Hubby and I are planting our first vegetable garden this year. My dad and husband both say that we should plant our seeds in late April. I say mid to late May because of where we live it can frost in May. We live just under 2,000 feet in elevation in West Virginia.

Public Comments

1. late april. cover with tarp if too cool on the few days
2. may would be better
3. Get a Farmers Almanac. It's like a gardeners bible and you can get it at any big book store like Barnes and Noble or Books a Million. You can also just read the back of the seed packs, they say right on there when to plant in your area.
4. It depends completely on the type of seed you're planting. Look at your seed packets, which will give you the zone you live in. They will tell you also how long before or after your last expected freeze date (not frost) you can plant. Here in Indiana, it's about May 1, so we could plant some things, like lettuce, turnips (for an early summer crop), carrots, or other root crops now. Other plants, like tomatoes, should wait until at least 1 week after the frost date.
5. Depends on the crops. Suspect you can be planting potatoes, peas, lettuce, onions, radishes,....now. Warm weather plants like tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons, beans,...in May. All you're doing is gambling with planting early in order to get earlier harvests. Try a small planting early, followed by later plantings to spread the risk should you have a late frost. Many seed packets have suggested planting times for your climate zone.
6. You need to find the zone that your in. You can do this buy checking on the internet or ask at a local garden center. You also need to find out your frost free date. This is the approximate date that your area could have it's last hard frost. We live in central Indiana and have planted our early crops such as potatoes, peas, carrots and such. We will not plant tomatoes, squash, beans and the rest until mid May. At your elevation, your dates could run two to three weeks past us because of the colder temp's at night. You could also contact your local co-op agent for more advice. Good luck.