I too have been putting seeds in the ground for many decades...7. I have seen enough springs to know by heart when I want to start seeds. From my observations things tend to even out a lot....warm early winter...probably late spring warming and drying out.

bi11me- I think alot of us probably share your frustration. We all know gardeners who plant their entire gardens on a convenient sunny warm weekend. Of course that enthusiasm wanes quickly. It's always easier to blame lack of success on the weather, bugs, etc than to plan, prepare, and try to learn from any mistakes by keeping records. Sometimes people just are going to do what their going to do. But thanks for providing the info for those who wish to learn and maybe think differently for a change

I think new gardeners suffer from a common illusion, which is that all vegetables grow at the same time; i.e., in the summer. And everywhere you look, last frost date (and its sister, hardiness zone) are mentioned. Since they are by definition not yet educated, who can blame them for not understanding? I should think that all new gardeners learn pretty fast that most everything is a guideline when you are dealing with weather conditions. And of course, I think topics like these help give them a heads up.

common illusion, which is that all vegetables grow at the same time

Good point. And the companion 'common illusion' that all should be planted at the same time.

The gardening space, be it a few containers or several acres, needs to be filled up gradually over several weeks time with the different crops and different varieties. And the changing weather from day to day is an excellent guide to that process.

Planting everything in one weekend or even one week guarantees failure just as much as assuming that all crops need the same soil prep and the same nutrients.

Dave

I make no claims to being free of illusions, and I apologize if this seems more of a rant than I intended. One of the things that makes forums like this, and the internet in general, so valuable is that it provides a place for the sharing of knowledge (and opinions) to which an enormous population can gain access. It can even, in some cases, evoke debate that increases understanding on all sides. My understanding is often more clear than my writing style (I hope), and the process of discussion, ideally, eventually, helps clarify concepts for everyone. There is great value in being able to pose a specific question about a particular variety - it happens here all the time. But there is an even greater benefit when broad concepts, applicable to the general population, get discussed and expounded upon by a variety of sources, and broadens and deepens the knowledge base for everyone, especially those who are just getting started. My frustration, if it even rises to that level, is that the sheer quantity of knowledge that is available is likely to lead to failure and frustration to others because it is assumed to be common knowledge, and to many people it is not (yet). What some might label as boring or irrelevant might in fact be enlightening to others. There are often replies to questions here that suggest searching the forums, querying the extension agent, or reading other sources, but very often those new to the subject don't have the basic knowledge or vocabulary to know how or what to ask. That is why, IMHO, it is important to clarify the difference between, for instance, "as soon as the ground can be worked" versus when it most profitably should be. Once you have a few years of experience, it is easy to toss out such common phrases without having to parse out the science behind them, but for newcomers to gardening it is important, and should be easy, to find out why as well as how.

I believe that I finally learned to background where I am coming from at the outset. To just blurt out an opinion or something often leaves the hearer or reader unable to understand very well just what you are saying. A good example of this is often seen in new posters who ask a question without revealing where they garden or anything else much.

In my younger days we had large gardens that were either fall or spring plowed and then disked to make them friable for planting...all in a big big hurry. Nearly everything was planted at one time. I finally quit disking up the whole thing and started much earlier planting the early crops and tilling rows for planting only as they were to be planted.

My dear departed Dad always planted almost everything on Good Friday unless it was too wet. As we all know, Good Friday can vary several weeks each year. But he always had a great garden!

In our area the last predicted frost date is March 30th so he was pretty safe. I do remember seeing tomato plants covered in snow one year when I was a child, but they recovered!

I do like these big, broad discussions. Now, I do like to point people to using the search function. But that's because they can find the same information discussed in multiple ways. I always search before asking, and that often allows me to ask a more specific question. Also, seeing how different people explain the same information can give a more thorough understanding. I also like to use the search function because it leads me down unexpected paths and I learn things I didn't set out to, but valuable nonetheless. So I tell others to look that way because I find it fun and useful. But again, we need to have these topics discussed for there to be anything to search!

So if I were to put the idea of the OP into my own words, "As Soon As The Ground Can Be Worked": it is time to start getting those cool weather loving crops in the ground, carrot, peas, potatoes, onions, cole crops. "Last Frost": time to get the heat lovers out, tomatoes, squash, beans, basil, corn. Same info., different way of saying it.

Plus, a stretched planting schedule is easy on you. Let us not forget repeated plantings of the same vegetable, such as bush beans and lettuce, every two weeks or so, though I tend to plant late and early varieties together for the same effect. Basically, here in MI one should plant at least twice a month, from April 1 until Aug. 15, in an average year.

Wayne - you make an excellent point, and it backs up one of mine. Many new gardeners don't realize that where they are is a very important piece of information if they hope to get an answer that is pertinent, but it's because they don't know it's important, because they're new gardeners. By the same token, as a professional grower my criteria in many things will differ from someone tending a small plot for providing household veggies or recreation. Regarding soil preparation itself, in conjunction with my rotation plan, my beds are in various stages - some were tilled and mulched in the fall, in order to be ready soonest for early seeding and transplants. Some have green manures planted that will be mown and tilled in late spring for summer planting. Some beds are planted to a cover crop that will die back - those beds are intended for late spring transplants, because the residue will keep the frost in the ground longer, and will remain as a mulch for the crops that get transplanted there. Other beds are already planted - sunchokes and parsnips to harvest as soon as the ground can be worked, garlic for summer, asparagus and berries as perennial crops. In effect, for some beds, ASATGCBW was the previous fall. This is a way, as glib points out, of spreading the workload, and maximizing the productive potential of all of the ground. I don't claim to have it perfected, nor expect ever to, but the complexity of the system is to me a part of the appeal.

As a beginning gardener, ASATGCBW buffaloed me completely.

You see I garden in a semi-arid part of Texas and winter is the driest season of the year. Even when we get rain or snow or an extended period of sub-freezing temperatures, the soil usually quickly dries out and warms up in the bright sunshine, brisk winds, and low humidity.

Then in the winter of 1972=1973, generous snows and rains and extended periods of sub-freezing temperatures kept the ground frozen and/or muddy until mid March.

I then realized what ASATGCBW meant and I planted my potatoes, peas, onions, lettuce, etc. just as all the instructions written for folks in wet, cold winter climates suggested.

So even today I associate March with ASATGCBW, even in a dry, mild winter like this one in which the minimum soil temperatures are in the 40s and I'm having to irrigate my winter vegetables--garlic, onions, and spinach.

plainsman, ASATGCBW is a major stumbling block in my area as well. Here in the mountains of NM, we can have some lovely spring weather, the ground can be worked but my average last frost date is May 15th. If I were to plant potatoes when the ground can often be worked in March,they will certainly be killed by a freeze sometime later. In fact, before I attempt planting potatoes again I will be talking with a local farmer who grows them successfully.

Good discussion! I used to garden in Massachusetts in sandy soil and everyone religiously planted tomatoes on Memorial Day. It was a ceremony. The soil was almost always workable, the temps might be. :)

Now I'm in GA and despite our last frost date varying from 3/20 - 4/10 - we had no frost in March in 2011. And the soil was quite workable. I took a chance and planted early and happily ate beans in May.

The harder one for me is the "plant everything on the same day". Besides the fact that every part of your body will hurt if you do that after no action all winter... I always wondered how on earth I could eat all that stuff when it came ready in the same few weeks... I always took the days to maturity as gospel and it's amazing to me what a range that really is! I had pole beans last year in under 50 days. And I've had cabbage that was 50 day cabbage take 80... :)

Planting so that we get a continual supply of fresh veggies is the ultimate challenge.

An ASATGCBW lesson.

I grow in Maine, where frost in the ground can be deep and last a long time. One of the crops I grow is sunchokes, and for a variety of reasons, I harvest them in spring. A few years ago, I made arrangements with a chef in Philadelphia to provide 100 lbs of sunchokes for a special dinner he was doing in April. I wasn't worried about the quantity - I grow several times that amount in a 30' x 75' bed - but the weather was a concern. We had been through a colder than average winter with a good amount of snow cover, but based on previous experience, I knew it was likely that I would spend a few hours digging in cold mud, another hour or two with a high-pressure sprayer cleaning them off, and then a trip to the FedEx counter at the local municipal airport.

Well, as you've already guessed, things didn't quite work out that way. I spent the first few hours of my day shoveling snow off the beds. Then, several more hours with a pick-axe breaking out huge icy clods, which I loaded on a toboggan and moved into my house to thaw. It commenced snowing, again. Several more hours kneeling by the bathtub, prying frozen knobby tubers from the grip of frozen clay. A harrowing drive on snowy roads, trying to get to the airport in time. Back home, still snowing, to remove the trap from under the bathtub to get all the crap out of the drain. A call from the chef - the flight was delayed, so he would have to do all the prep on the same day as the meal, and he wanted reassurance that they would need minimal cleaning.

I got the crop delivered. It wasn't a lot of money, but it put my product in one of the 17 true 5-star restaurants in the US. The date, according to my calender and records, was within range of when the ground could be worked - and it turned out it could - but it was a lot more work than I had planned on - including bringing all that mud back out to the garden the next day, picked clean of sunchokes.

What a story. But obviously those restaurants are a must have market. And to think that at my place (and at many other posters places) we eat just as well as in those 5-star restaurants.

I've been fortunate to have eaten at 4 of those "highest-end" restaurants, and many nearly as elite, and it is truly a dining experience. It is hard, though, to justify the prices that are charged, even when, as a purveyor, one realizes the degree of artistry and labor that go in to creating the final product. Having those chefs as clients does open other doors, though, and makes it easier to market my produce to more local clients. These places would not exist without the 1% we read about in the news, (and a lot of them truly are self-indulgent a$$holes, and clueless about how the rest of the world lives) - dinner these days at a 5-star is about $250 per person, and can exceed that by multiples with certain wines. One of the reasons that I take gardening so seriously is because I can serve that crowd - for serious money - and donate generously to the local soup kitchen, from the same crop.

I can not get excited about those plates where everything looks like a sculpture. It saves me money because I seldom go to them pretentious restaurants. I think one can not improve on, say, the frozen shelling beans I had tonight, sauteed with frozen parsley, some of the last garlic, and olive oil (on which I splurge).

And these are the frozen veggies from the garden. I had fresh collard and cardoon yesterday, and turnip-squash soup the day before. All this with our own meat and wine. And in summer, my food is fresher than what they have. Really, with a garden you live like a king, and it is great that even people of lesser means can live like kings.

It's often we of lesser means, and who grow and cook our own, who most appreciate it.