dannichase, as you can probably tell, most of the plants that you've mentioned prefer to have (or must have) the soil (not the air, but the soil) a bit warmer before sowing. The alyssum is the exception, as it is a member of a large family of cool season plants (Brassicaceae), along with broccoli, cabbage, etc.

Ricky, it means basically once the snow has melted, ground has thawed, and the soil surface has dried out. It's not ideal to work in wet soil if you can at all help it. A bit moist underneath is fine. If the seeds are recommended for direct sowing by a Northern-knowledgeable source then they will be fine with a few frosts or snowfalls after they have sprouted. This is the same principle as wintersowing. Direct sowing is good for some plants that don't like transplanting, and also reach maturity quickly therefore there is no great advantage to wintersowing. However, some things may be recommended for direct sowing that don't have time to reach maturity and bloom in our climate. Around here it is usually around early May that I direct sow stuff like Batchelor's Buttons and Love-in-a-Mist. If you have questions on specific seeds, just ask.

The cold rainy springs we get in the NW tend to stall out most early starts anyway until late May, so one may as well do some W/S, and seed heat lovers inside. It's OK to plant out some strawberries and hardy perennials, and direct sow cole crops, radishes, garlic, onions, potatoes, and peas now, up to Zone 8. I seeded out some Radishes a month ago and they are starting to look like they'll be ready within a couple weeks. More seed goes in as I harvest. I neglected W/S this year, so I still want to get lots of things going, next week. I do have some of Martin's Wisc 55 Tomatoes a couple inches high already, and will need to pot them on soon. I've noticed that Marigolds started early in the warm tend to bloom sooner, but my compost tomatoes tend to catch up to anything I start indoors by the end of July anyway, so no big deal. All do better once they are established in the ground - and warm days have begun, so the ground can stay over 50 degrees F. I've begun hardening off Pepper plants that I wintered over indoors...and am eager to get them in the ground soon. Some things you can do in May/early April: turn compost, dig weeds, mow, and _harvest_ all possible Slugs, if your area is prone to them. Last year Slugs ate almost everything that I set out to harden-off. It was devastating - as I was a indoor-seeding demon last year - and gave away a lot of starts before I knew I'd lose so much to hungry Slugs. So it goes.

Hi tomatozesty. Good job! I'm in NorCal too and this month I direct sowed (like you) radishes carrots (still had lettuce that didn't freeze, cilantro, parsley, thyme too) So, adding to what was already recommended, you could also try sowing these now: endive khokrabi cauliflower/broccoli leeks I also direct sowed some flowers... sweet peas (lots of different colors) peony poppies (also lots of different colors) CA poppies (every color except orange) lupine (lots of different types) alfalfa lacy phacelia blue flax Yummy. Leek soup is sounding good right now.