Well Sahira, you've now waited over 24 hours for our internet savvy gardeners and no one has posted a reply. Let me tell you what I came up with:

The University of Nebraska at one time had a www.plantguide.com. The WayBackMachine indicates that it was pulled off the net in 2005. That site had something the called a "Planting Date Calculator" and, apparently from what I can read, it was fairly sophisticated and not just some rudimentary list of dates. During the few years it was out there, I guess I missed it completely . . .

I checked some ag sites which list farm resources for ALL KINDS of calculators. There was nothing really on planting dates.

Something that happens with these university resources is that they are funded by grants. When the grant money runs out . . . if they aren't actually pulled, they become dated and fall into obsolescence.

It would be nice if 2008 planting information was specific to the 2008 growing season. Since weather is forto me, at least) to have a hard-and-fast date for much of anything. Oh yes, I know that some folks just CANNOT get a garden in until Memorial Day weekend when they've finally got time to do it. It makes sense for them to have a date specific.

Personally, I'm becoming more and more inclined to use soil temperature as a guide for when a seed should go in. But, thatÂs me.

A Weather Service website that I came across not too long ago gives ongoing growing degree days information thru every growing season. If the gardener wanted to use air temperature as a guide, one could set some benchmarks based on personal experience or, I'm sure, internet research. But just for the sake of some examples, let's say that I found that 100 growing degree days should accumulate before I put cool-weather vegetable seed in the ground. And, 400 degree days should occur before planting warm-weather vegetables.

That website is updated weekly by the Weather Service for some US locations. It would be a fairly easy process to keep track of the Spring weather. Being ready to grab the seed packets and race out the backdoor at the right moment may be another thing.

Steve

Here ya go! I knew what you were talking about and I didn't have it bookmarked on my new pooter, but I had posted it elsewhere. Found it. Good luck! :)

Digit, give this place a gander. It is really quite handy. ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: Weekend Gardener

Cool! Thanks. Fun to play with to see recommendations for planting. Wonder how cloches will help some plants as far as transplanting them a wee bit sooner.... Heck...maybe try warming the soil up in advance with a cloche too!

hmmm

Wow, that's quick! Good for planning, Jali . . .

Still, that site reminds me a little of my DW . . . She just asked me what I'd like for dinner tonight. I said, "Well, I can make my carrot casserole!" She says, "I want to make beef curry with carrots & potatoes. But, I'll LET you make that casserole, too."

Great, so now I can make a casserole with ground beef, carrots, and onions which will be served over a large baked potato. This can sit beside a curry made with beef, carrots, onions, and potatoes. I think not.

Zengeos, better keep that cloche out of the garden . . . it looks too much like a casserole dish!

Seriously tho', a plastic tunnel can also be quickly set up using plastic film, pvc pipe, and short pieces of re-bar to hold the plastic pipe in an arc. Bricks or just soil can hold the film down and it can be gathered and tied to stakes at each end. The gathered film can be lifted on the stakes to allow for ventilation if a sunny, Spring day threatens to turn the tunnel into an oven. Ventilation isn't necessary if you are using it to warm the soil (before you plant your carrots, onions, and potatoes ;o).

A slight lifting of the film (just as you may lift the cloche) during the day allows heat to escape without greatly reducing a comfortable warmth of the inside air after the seedlings begin to make their appearance. So, really, there's little risk to leaving thru the day IF you've taken that one precaution.

digitS'

digit, thanks for your research. I know that calendar date is probably not the very *best* way to go, but as a beginning gardener I definitely find it the *easiest* logical way to go.

jaliranchr, thanks for the link. That isn't actually the exact site I was looking for, the one I was thinking of is much simpler, it just creates a table that you can save to your computer.

Anyway, I guess I can just re-use the data I have--the *average* frost dates for my location shouldn't change much year-to-year.

Thanks,
Sahira

So Sahira, you may have thought that your question was beyond the GardenWeb folks' capabilities to answer . . .

Maybe, this is the one you are thinking of.

Steve's digits

It occurred to me that you may need the frost-free dates for your part of the world.

Because all regions are different and all years are different, I find it is best to let Mother Nature tell you when to plant.

When crocuses are in bloom: plant broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, onions, peas, potatoes, radish, rutabaga, shallots, spinach and turnip.

When tulips, daffodils and maple trees are in bloom: plant beets and chard

When apple trees, lilacs and late tulips are in bloom: plant beans, corn, pumpkin and squash

When tall bearded iris are in bloom and apple blossoms fall off the tree, plant pole beans and lima beans, cantaloupe, cucumber, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes.

"Phenology is the study of the annual cycles of plants and animals and how they respond to seasonal changes . . ."