Its pretty easy without a calculator... arrange your seed packets (or a 3x5 index card with plant information written on it), with the days to germination highlighted or written on the front with a "sharpie" bold marker... arrange with the longest germination package on top. Our 'scheduled' last frost is April 4th. I count back from April 14th to be safe. So if germination is 30 days = plant March 14th. If germination time is less... plant later. Its a fun way to do it. Even simpler is to take a photocopy of a calendar page from march and april and write in what you want to plant, simply counting backward from April 14th. There's always swing room and there is always the difference on what part of the state you're in.

I usually do just count backwards, I wanted the calculator for a friend who's never gardened before, but does not live in this area. She's very antsy about messing up and planting the wrong thing at the wrong time. She comes from a family who hasn't gardened as long as I've known them, which is most of my life. My friend moved to another area after marrying and wanted to learn to garden. So, I figured that having the calculator might give her a little more confidence in what she's sowing and when. :) My seeds have already been started and are thriving. The area she moved to is completely unknown to me, so I thought that having the calculator would be a good idea for her. Then I went to find it to email to her, having bookmarked it for her, and it wasn't there!

Thanks for the advice though :) Every time I point out to her that it's not difficult to figure out, she gets overwhelmed with the things she's wanting to grow. I've suggested she join the GW site for her area, but she doesn't want to appear "dumb" though I've told her no one will think that.

Kathy

Kathy,

I googled and am pretty sure I found the calculator you're searching for. I've linked it below.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: GrowGuide Calculator

Dawn, you are wonderful!!!!!!! I searched and searches and could NOT find it! That is exactly the one I was wanting!! Thank you so much! I know this will be a great help to calming my friend's worries about "messing up" her sowing!

Kathy

Kathy,

You're welcome. And, as you might have noticed when you googled, if you ask for a seed calcuator, you get all sorts of garden calculators....and none of them was the "right one". I don't remember what I had to ask for in order to get that thing to pop up, but it took me a while to use the right words....and I had seen it before too, but couldn't think of the name of it to save my life.

Dawn

I am confused... I worked through it and it tells me I need to plant my melons, cukes, and squash this week?

There's also this one. you can click on the yellow box to indicate your area, but I find it to be about one zone too warm. I use Independence, KS as my area instead of the one I'm in and I get what I think is pretty close to right.

Here is a link that might be useful: Farmer's Almanac

Mitch,

Well, if it tells you that, I wouldn't do it. You might try the one Ilene linked and see if it gives you a more realistic date. On that one, though, I put in my zip code and still thought it said to plant too early, although I could safely plant about 2 weeks later in the spring than it says for the latest date in its planting ranges and I'd feel OK.

I don't use these calculators. I don't even use last "average" last freeze dates because we've been here 10 years--just started our 11th year in Feb.--and our real last freeze date has been later than our "average" last freeze date 9 out of those 10 years, and I bet this year it will be later than the average last date again. It is very frustrating. Average last freeze dates are 30-year-averages, but the 10 years we've been here haven't even come close to the averages, which makes me think my low-lying microclimate here in the bend of the Red River is always going to be colder than weather data indicates it "should" be.

I consider the week after Easter of most years to be the first "safe" week to plant warm-season crops without fear of a late frost and that works about 80 to 85% of the time. So, for transplants, I'll sow melon, cuke and squash seed inside about a week-and-a-half to two weeks before Easter, and transplant them outside as soon after Easter as I can. If the weather is cooperative, I'll carry them outside every day from the moment they sprout and carry them inside at night to keep them warm. That way, they are hardened off and ready to go into the ground at any time that I "decide" the cold nights have ended and it is OK to plant.

Honestly, I prefer to plant by soil temperature, and I'll put melons, squash and cukes in the ground when the soil temp is at/has been at 65 to 70 degrees for 3 consecutive days. Even soil temps can be misleading. We're going to be in the mid-80s for a couple of days later in the week here in Marietta, and I bet my soil temps will get pretty warm--but that doesn't mean I could plant warm-season crops yet. And, I use my own thermometer to take the temps of my raised beds......I don't just look at the Mesonet and take their word for it. I do, however, keep an eye on Mesonet soil temps because they allow me to see how much the soil is heating up daily over a longer period of time.

If you can't protect your plants at night if the temps are dropping into the upper 30s, then I wouldn't plant until the first week in May.

For me, the first week in May is usually the time that I consider a "late freeze" to be totally and completely out of the question. Using that date has always worked here for me, until last year when we had a freeze on May 4th. I'm assuming that's a 1-in-10-year occurrence here though, so it shouldn't happen again for a long time.

None of us has a crystal ball and we just have to look at "averages" and "recommended dates" and soil temperature readings (real-time, or historical records on the internet) and then we have to "guess" at what seems logical to us and plant and hope for the best.

One of my old farmer neighbors here ALWAYS attempts to plant corn, beans, and other warm-season crops the last week in March, and gives me a hard time because mine aren't in the ground then. He's lived here his entire life and says that week is the "safe" date. Well, he loses those early plantings to cold weather 60-70% of the time, so I wait until he's planted, then wait 2 to 3 more weeks (or more if it is staying really cold) and then I plant. His "early" planted crops, by the way, do not produce any earlier than the ones I plant later. Often, mine produce first. Some of the difference is that I am probably choosing earlier maturing varieties and some of it is that he often has to replant after a freeze so ends up planting later (the second time) than I do. I suspect these dates worked for him 15-20-30-40 years ago, but our climate has been changing with later and later last freeze dates in the 1990s-2000s.

Dawn

Mitch, did you change the garden type? I know it has an option of spring garden and fall garden. And I'm using April 15 as my last frost date and November 17 as my first frost date. It gives me the correct things, based both on my own experience and the experience of those in this forum. It didn't mention cukes, etc for me. I'm like Dawn and use Easter week as my rule of thumb. So, as she's doing, about 2 weeks before Easter, I'll start melons, cukes and squash inside for transplanting. We also bring trays outside once they've sprouted, depending on weather, and bring them in at night. They deal with less transplant shock that way since they're hardening off as soon as they sprout.

Kathy

I used April 7th and Nov 20th (just guessing) and Spring garden... dont knowI am just going with OSU and Dawn...

I used April 7th and Nov 20th (just guessing) and Spring garden... dont knowI am just going with OSU and Dawn...