Google for a USDA zone map or go to the arbor day website they have one. It will give the average day of last killing frost and avg day of first expected fall frost.

Joshua,

Usually the third week of March or so as far as I understand, but the last several years have had a few late freezes into late April and even one instance of the first week of May. Most people generally put them out in late March I think, then just cover them up for the few nights that are going to drop below freezing. You can use anything to cover them up--old shower curtains, sheets, blankets, etc. Or you can buy covers at Lowes and such that are made for that purpose. Just remove the covers when it warms up and so your plants can get sunlight. If they're in planters some people just pull those into the garage at night and put them back out the next day.

I believe you can put snow peas out in late Feb...they do okay with the cooler weather.

I live just NE of Tulsa and I'm starting most of my seeds on Valentines Day. I stagger sowing in my flats so my plants end up maturing at different times so I'm not totally overrun with produce all at once.

Remember too, some seeds prefer to sow directly into the ground and don't do well started inside. Carrots are the worst offender I know of for this but there are others.

Some things should be able to go in the ground now like onions and garlic (someone correct me if I'm wrong!). Though garlic can go in now it's best planted in the fall rather than spring. I planted mine in November. When planted in spring they just don't get so big a bulb, I think.

Potatoes can go in at the normal time but if there's a lot of rain predicted it's best to wait for most of it to pass so they don't drown and rot.

What kinds of things are you hoping to plant?

Mandy

If you search the forum for okiedawn you'll find Dawn's posts on plantings, etc. She also often refers people to the OSU website for their planting guidelines. The guidelines list a range date the earliest of which is better for southern OK the latest for northern OK...lean toward the later dates and you should do fine.

There's a lot of knowledgable people on this forum and they're all really great folks. You should be able to find many answers here :-)

Welcome to the group!

Mandy

Mandy,
Yes you are right in that most plant their garlic in the fall. And there are those who say you have too and then the man who I've learned to grow garlic from and the most knowledgeable gardener I know overall says he feels the main reason to plant in the fall is the ground makes a good place to store it. I will know as I planted all of mine late and just planted the last 23rd of this month. You will grow a good root system when planted in the fall. But I planted in March for several years and raised nice garlic. I feel I'll still grow a nice root system getting it in now. And hopefully have good sized bulbs. Jay

Joshua,

In the Tulsa area, the last frost generally occurs sometime between March 30th and mid-April. I've linked your county's climatology page from the Oklahoma Climatological Website. On it you'll find a chart that shows 'last freeze date' info for spring as well as 'first freeze date' info for fall.

I can't say exactly when y'all can start planting cool-season crops up there, but I can tell you when we plant them down here, and then you can figure that y'all would plant at least 2 weeks later up there than we do down here.

I plant garlic in the fall, but you'll still get a pretty good yield this summer from garlic planted in January or February. I can start planting onions here in mid-February, potatoes a week or two later, and peas, cabbage, lettuce, radishes, cauliflower, turnips, spinach, etc. usually around the same time although I tend to wait until March for broccoli and carrots. I probably could plant most cool-season crops in mid-February but I often wait a couple of weeks later to avoid very cold nights.

Anything that is considered a cool-season crop can be planted in March or in the last two weeks of February if the weather is behaving in a typical manner. Unfortunately, in recent years, the cold has hung on later than usual.

If you just keep watching this forum, you'll see gardeners from all parts of the state announcing things like "I planted my onions today". So, all you have to do is watch and see what other gardeners in NE OK are doing, and follow their cue.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Tulsa County Climatology Page

I usually use April 15th as a last frost date and have only a couple times had to cover my plants.
And okiedawn the Tulsa county Climatology page does in deed have great info. Thanks for the share.

Tulsacityfarmer,

I think April 15th is a pretty safe date for you most years, assuming you're not in a cold microclimate.

I'm glad you found the OCS Tulsa climate page helpful. Between the websites of the OCS, the OK Mesonet and the NWS, I can find just about any data I need to use for 'decision-making'. Of course, we still have to watch the actual weather and judge whether we think it is going to conform to the 'averages' but at least we know what the averages are! LOL

Y'all OK there tonight? Got ice? Snow? We're fine here but it is due to hit after midnight and every school in our county and the surrounding ones have cancelled classes in advance of the ice. If by some miracle the ice doesn't fall, I suppose everyone will feel silly tomorrow. Having said that, I've watched the radar and I believe the ice will hit us overnight.

Dawn