It's that time of the year! The document I'm linking is helpful for everyone, but some people here probably know it pretty much by heart and, if you're one of the folks who can recite the document from memory, y'all can ignore this thread if you want. This info will be most helpful for folks who either are new to gardening in general or new to gardening in Oklahoma, or who have moved from one part of OK to another.

The Oklahoma State University fact sheet "Oklahoma Garden Planning Guide", which I've linked below, is filled with useful info, including recommended planting dates, row spacing, spacing within rows, etc.

If you are new to gardening in Oklahoma or new to using this document, please note that for each listed vegetable, there is a range of dates. The earliest date given is for folks in far southeastern OK. The latest date given is for folks in far northwestern OK. The rest of us get to choose a logical date in between the two based on our location within the state.

Also, if you are new to this document or new to gardening in general, please note that there are some crops you plant from seeds, and others you plant from transplants. Keep that in mind when you look at the dates. For example, the recommended planting dates for tomatoes in OK are April 10-30. That is for transplants, and the best age for transplants is 6-8 weeks. So, if you wanted to grow your own tomato transplants, you'd pick your target planting date between April 10-30, count back 6 to 8 weeks, and sow your seeds indoors in flats to raise your own seedlings. You wouldn't want to sow tomato seeds directly in the ground between April 10-30 because your plants would be 6-8 weeks late and likely wouldn't give you much of a harvest until fall. The problem with direct-sowing seeds of tomato plants between April 10-30 is that by the time the seeds sprouted and the plants were large enough to flower and set fruit, it would be June.....and June is when the weather generally arrives that is hot enough to impede pollination and prevent good fruitset on slicing and beefsteak tomatoes.(Bite-sized tomatoes are not affected as much by hot temperatures as the other types of tomatoes are.)

Keep in mind that these dates are recommendations based on the type of weather we have (most specifically soil temperatures and air temperatures) in a typical year. When the weather is either abnormally warm or abnormally cold in a given year, each of us should feel free to adjust our planting dates accordingly.

Also take into account your microclimate. If you know that you are in a microclimate that warms up more quickly than the surrounding area, you might feel justified in planting earlier or, conversely, if your microclimate is colder than the surrounding area, you might feel better planting slightly later than recommended.

I'm eager for spring to get here so we all can get busy planting, but I'm not feeling like we'll be blessed with an early spring, and maybe not even with one that arrives around the average time, so I haven't started any seeds yet. My motto for myself, my garden and my plants for this year is "Later is better". That's just me and my garden. I encourage everyone to go with whatever planting dates feel right for them. Some people are more willing to take bigger risks at planting time than I am.

Just click on the link below to see the planting guide.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Oklahoma Garden Planning Guide