The goal is to have loose, friable soil that can easily be worked; not heavy clay that clumps and cannot be worked.

I made raised beds out of 100% compost from our local county compost facility. I only till at the end of the season to till in mulched leaves.

I've already planted out onions and celery. Granted, the celery are covered in floating row covers - but the onions can survive frosts.

I've also planted about 340 Cascadia peas outside (two weeks ago) and just yesterday - I have 18 that have sprouted so far.

When planting outside this time of year, you need to ensure you provide protection for plants that cannot withstand frost. From my experience, leaf lettuce dies at a frost - so they need covered. Broccoli, Cauliflower, onions, and peas can tolerate frost fairly well to an extent.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden Blog

It really depends on how you want to prepare your soil. If you are using a no dig method then you should be covering your weed free soil with a layer of compost now. If you dig your soil then it is best to prepare the soil during the winter when there is a relatively mild spell. During April I will be planting out most of my vegetable seeds and seedlings. I start lettuce, onions, leeks, beans and peas in the greenhouse by sowing into seed trays. I have already sown parsnips and carrots seeds in the soil. I have put out my exhibition cordon sweet peas plants and they are not fully hardy. I will be planting potatoes and Oca tomorrow. The latest frosts for where I live is in May so I may have to protect some of the vegetables with cloches or fleece.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tony's allotment garden blog

Hi Tony - a lot of the guys on these forums can't garden in the winter like we can. So the concept of winter digging is not really one they get. The OP is in US zone 5 so unlikely to be out with a fork in January. They tend to have rather a concentrated splurge of activity in the spring whereas we can rev up gently.

Please stay around these forums - I've learned a lot about how differently things are done in more extreme climates (both hotter and colder) than ours. Some of the ideas I've adopted, like cardboard mulching. Some are just not applicable to us - like solarization. Even the concept of 'hardening' off is different. We get our plants used to the cold and rain. They get theirs used to the sun and heat.

First the ground has to be workable, which is confusing for me because that is about 11 months a year, here.
If it is too early, you can spread Black plastic over the bed. Black plastic holds the heat at night to ward off freezing, so you can turn the soil mid day. A trick for next year, prepare the soil in late Fall, as if you are going to plant it the next day. In the Spring All you have to do is turn it once to add amendment.
For now when you can push a pencil all the way into the soil it is ready to work, remove the Plastic & till.
As for planting seeds, you need the soil temperature, use a agriculture thermometer to check the temperature of the bed soil.
You can put transplants in a tunnel, to ward off any late frost.
When no more hard freezes are likely you can use "wall of water" to keep the chill down.

This was a problem up in NJ
In early spring (as the snow melted), the soil was too wet to work

The trick was to plant the early spring veggies,
then work their soil once it becomes too warm for them
-ExNJer

Hi Flora
I must admit that I forget that not everyone is working in a garden that has relatively cool summers and relatively mild winters, although this winter has been long and cold. We have a lot to thank the Gulf stream for. I have to remember that the UK is on the same latitude as Northern Canada and Siberia.

Here is a link that might be useful: Allotment Garden

"....this winter has been long and cold...." It's all relative, Tony, some people reading this will still have a few feet of snow on their plots. Our idea of a hard winter would make them chuckle.

Depending on your zone. I am in zone 7 and May is the Month to prepare the soil and get the plants from the green house in the Garden. My Garden now is wet and soaky how can I go in it with the tiller. My neighbor plants his in late june and every year he has better crops than mine.

My mom lives zone 5, just outside of Toronto. We plant her garden on May 15th and no sooner. I can't get up there this year so I have someone going to work on her soil and prep her containers before the end of April.

I tilled last fall and plan to plant radishes and lettuce sometime soon. Last year at this time, it was in the high 70's and my radishes never bulbed, my lettuce bolted right away, etc. We have lingered in the 40's this year. In my zone, it can vary that much. I am in Indiana, and from what I have read on this forum, most of us all the zone 5 areas face similar challenges.
I have heard of others in this area tilling in the fall instead of the spring, so that is what I am trying this year. Most around here do raised beds while I am still struggling with in ground gardening. I have only been doing this a few years and learning a lot the hard way. In the past, we have waited until the soil has drained well and then tilled. My cool crops have not done well. I still have a lot to learn, I guess.

Here in Indiana you want to sow early things like lettuce, spinach, carrots, and beets in early to mid April if the soil can be worked enough to plant and fertilize. To make the soil workable early, it helps to have raised beds.

For broccoli, cabbage, and potatoes, I like to set them out April 15th....weather permitting and it usually is permitting with loose raised beds.

For regular more clayey soil, it helps to ridge the soil in the fall where the rows are to be. This makes the clay dryer, and warmer in spring.

Battery: You can work the soil as soon as it is thawed and moist enough to work without being muddy. If too dry, you can't get your tillage tools in the ground. If two wet, it will leave a lot of clods.

Peas, lettuce, spinach, onions, carrots, radishes can all be planted shortly after the ground has thawed, although you can wait until later if you want. I have had volunteer lettuce come up as soon as the snow melted and barely after the ground thawed (and survived temps down to 20 or the high teens). When I plant, I don't plant any of these until May as I don't have water until then and they won't germinate without moisture--or will germinate and die. Plus slightly warmer soil will get them up faster.