Hi Calliope, I know what you mean, but those plants that can be planted before frost date usually can take frost easily. My nasturtiums, e.g. went through a few snow falls last year with their beautiful leaves and flowers before they finally yielded. I agree that one must know his area well and know how to estimate (though we cannot be 100% accurate). For some annuals, I wait 2 weeks after our formal frost dates, then check the forecast for the next 10 days, and if it looks good I can plant them. For tender annuals, I might wait a little longer or start indoor. For half-hardy or hardy annuals, I can start earlier.

Hi PC2, I don't knock myself out getting cole transplants out in my gardens early. It really depends on your climate. With cloudy, cool Springs - even cool-season crops won't grow much here until late May. Leggy root-bound broccoli and such, isn't so great to set out. They grow quickly indoors so with an April 21st last frost date and not much sun and warmth for a month after that, I'm starting them today. Something quick in the genre is dwarf bok choy. I've even moved transplants into the garden under plastic by now but that hasn't worked very well (plastic collapsed under snow and/or heavy frost damaged the plants thru the plastic). Bok choy will give us nice "cabbage" greens by the 1st of May with putting transplants under plastic in early April. My garden soil is so wet right now, I can't cultivate for another couple of weeks. That will certainly be early enuf to plant some spinach & lettuce. I'll let my soil thermometer be my guide. Heck, it takes more than 3 weeks for spinach to germinate at 41°F and more than a week longer for them to emerge. I may as well wait 3 weeks when it will take them only a week to pop up. Peas will go in about that time, or later. The seed from those nice sweet varieties I like to grow, has rotted in the ground rather than germinate with soil temps below 45°. . . . . just depends on your Spring climate & soil temperatures. Steve

I plant oats in mid Sept. for a cover because the seed is very cheap for me, it establishes quickly, it doesn't mind the heat at all and by or before killing frosts it has at least grown to the point I want it to (not quite set seed). For you, I'd broadcast and incorporate the seed heavily now to get a dense, young stand in weeks time, it may or may not get you what you want but give it a try and find out. It took me a few years to get the oat cover system worked out well for my system of planting and growing to full cover with minimal intervention, cost and effort. happy planting.

I have found that if you want to harvest veggies all winter long you have to start the seeds in the fall. There isn't enough light during the day to get much growth. You need longer days with stronger sunlight than what December brings. So, you could plant seeds for something like carrots that take a long time to sprout anyway and just let them do what they will or you could start some seeds indoors and then transplant them out in the cold frame after you harden them off a bit. It's always a crap shoot - if you start stuff too early and we have a mild fall you'll get too much growth and lettuce and stuff will bolt after one mild day (it seems) or you start them late and it stays cold and cloudy and nothing grows til Spring. If you have the empty space I say go ahead and plant something but don't expect a lot of winter growth.