Find out your last frost date, then look at the seed packets. It will tell you when to plant in reference to your last frost date. For example, cucumbers packets sometimes say "Plant out starting 1-2 weeks after last frost" or "after soil has warmed to 68 degrees". Well, those two things don't necessarily happen at the same time. Just because you've had a last frost doesn't mean the soil is going to be 68 degrees 1-2 weeks later. That's why I also recommend using your local extension service and your local master gardeners. Your signature says you're in Illinois so you can start here: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/vegguide/ or here: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies. You might also consider going back to your local garden store and getting more information from them. I've found my local garden shop to be very helpful. There are often people there who've been gardening in your area for years and years and have seen it all. That said, I want to make a few comments about your specific questions. - I would recommend starting your cucumbers indoors now so they can start growing before you put them outside after it warms up. You can certainly start them outdoors in a few weeks, but then you lose some growth time. - You can plant the kale seeds directly outdoors now. I've found kale to be quite tolerant of cold and heat (unlike some other cole vegetables). But even if it doesn't have time to mature before it gets too warm, you can harvest smaller leaves (which are very tender and yummy). - For your potatoes (yay for Yukon Gold - great choice!), it depends on your soil. If you have a loose, well drained soil then you can plant them directly in the ground. Otherwise raised beds are good. I don't recommend containers or potato towers, as I've never gotten them to produce much. I'm a big believer in planting stuff directly into the ground, and I have 100% clay soil in my yard! You're in Illinois, so chances are your soil is a lot better than that.

More hilling does not mean more potatoes (as many people using potato boxes find when they dig a clump of tubers out of the bottom of their box). Popular commercial varieties (esp early and mid season) are more or less determinant and put out all of their tubers at the same time to ensure a harvest of similar sized tubers. Hilling about eight inches of soil over top of the original seed piece as soon as the plant is tall enough to handle it gives the tubers room to develop without encountering sunlight. A little grass clipping mulch over top of the hill will save any tubers that poke out of the dirt from developing poison and it also keeps rain from eroding the hills. Bigger plants that can get more sunlight will increase your production, so give the plants and roots room. Two eyes per foot of row, with about three feet between rows is standard spacing.

1. For all practical purposes it is too late for potatoes. Seed potatoes have been off the shelf for a couple of months now. You might get a few if you planted some store bought ones but it would be best IMO to pass on the potatoes for this year. In your zone potatoes are normally planted in early spring as soon as the ground can be worked - say late Feb. to early Mar. 2. Also too late for peas. They are an early spring crop and won't tolerate the heat but green beans (pole beans) can be planted on a trellis on one end of your tomato/pepper patch. Whether or not you can plant anything in with the tomatoes and peppers depends on the # of tomato and pepper plants you plant. Tomatoes and peppers get along fine but you don't want to alternate them as the tomatoes will shade the peppers. Using standard spacing in 25 feet you can do 8 or 9 plants (ie: 5 tomatoes and 4 peppers or 6 tomatoes and 3 peppers or 4 tomatoes, 4 peppers and one stand of pole beans, etc.). The pepper and tomato plants will shade out anything you plant in between them so only shade tolerant things would work. Low-growing herbs in front of them would work as long as you can still get to the plants to pick. 3. No way to know if they will get enough sun without seeing the area. Ideal is 8 hours of full sun. Quality and quantity decline as the number of hours of sun falls below 8 hours. Trim whatever you have to to get them as much sun as possible. New gardens are never ideal. Patience is required. They are always an experiment in progress. Problems will develop and you learn from them as you go along. The second and third year is always better and by year #4 you will be on a roll. :) Good luck. Dave

Thanks farmerdill. I will tell my uncle that RN and YG are earlier than IC. I'm pretty sure I don't have too much N in the soil, was trying to be careful about that but had no idea about timing of watering (other than I was supposed to water when I saw flower buds since that was when tubers were forming) and/or temps affecting size of potatoes. I thought conditions were good during June, we got just over 4" of rain but it mostly came 3/4" - 1" at a time and we did have a couple of 90+ degree days in a row end of May, then 60-70's again, then a couple more 90+ days in mid June, plus insect damage/stress. What I thought was LB in early June was probably drought stress. I really thought potatoes spread out, that's why I didn't find any a week ago, b/c I was trying not to get too close to the stems. I did mulch heavily enough to protect against greening, but would hilling with more dirt help produce more potatoes next year? As I understand, it's an old wives' tale that they produce UP the stem, they really only tend to be at the same depth (just above the seed piece?). I left a few marble-sized ones, and am going to water now since it will be 88 tomorrow. Maybe I'll get a few more. But I planted 4.3 lbs of RN, got about 12 lbs (on bathroom scale), 2.88 lbs of YG got about 8 lbs, 2.3 lbs of RP and so far only about 4.5 lbs but they are still blooming. Is that a decent yield for new potatoes, esp. under dry conditions and a first-year farmer? Unfortunately I couldn't produce enough for the wholesale customer who wanted them today, so I have 24 lbs to sell at market tomorrow. Thanks