As a general rule of thumb, I plant cold hardy veggies starting around St. Patrick's Day, depending on the weather. I plant onions, lettuce, spinach, peas and carrots. Of course, two years ago we had a blizzard the week of St. Patrick's Day so everything got pushed back. The plants I mentioned will tolerate a light frost.
A frost is any temperature below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
A hard freeze means it will get below 28 degrees for at least four hours.
Cool weather crops will easily tolerate a light frost, even some snow. However, a hard freeze means you should cover them up for the night.
Generally, I plant perennial flowers and herbs in April. However, I've planted dormant trees, strawberry roots and raspberry plants in February. Perennial plants are hardier than you might think.
However, usually when people ask when they can plant something, they mean tomatoes and peppers. These are warm weather plants as are squash, beans, and most annual flowers. The bottom line is this: if you plant a tomato and the temperature hits 32 degrees, the water in the plant cells will expand and destroy the cellular structure of your plant. There is no coming back from that. Yes, you can cover the plant for a night to protect it but most people aren't paying close enough attention to the weather to do that.
Here in the greater Harrisburg area, it is safe to plant your warm weather plants after Mother's Day. I start planting things at St. Patrick's Day (onions and such) and stop planting in mid-November (Spring bulbs).
Finally, I'm getting questions now about seed starting indoors. You should know I don't get into that myself as the equipment is expensive and we don't have a good area for that in my house. For more information on seed starting indoors, click here.
Do you have any questions about when to put out plants? Let me know in the comments below!
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