It's a bit early for most things, but potatoes can be planted anytime during the winter here....they just come up when it's time. Garlic is best planted in the fall. Onion sets and lettuce seed could be put out, but I plan to wait until after mid March to put out cabbage family plants. Hope you are covering the lettuce transplants tonight. If the plants have been outside enough to harden off, they can take a short spell of temps down to 28/29, but not much beyond that. I suspect it has to do with how short they are and how warm the soil is around them.

I gave up planting things so early that they have to be covered and messed with. Mostly they just sit there and wait until the soil and air temps are high enough for active growth anyway. I plant beans, corn, cukes, and summer squash around April 25th, and wait until May 5th for tomatoes and peppers. Later for Okra and field peas.

A lot depends on whether you are planting seed or plants. I have a neighbor who tosses her lettuce seed out on the snow in January...guess her birds aren't looking. ;O)

I got a chart from the county extension office that has planting broken down by each month. They will also have free pamplets about all sorts of things. They have a gardening calendar on their website but it's not the chart like I have for vegetables.

Arkansas Home & Garden

I just wanted to update this post. Any comments are welcome. The lettuce transplants that I put out look like they got killed by the frost. I think it was too early to put out transplants. I'm going to wait for a couple weeks before putting any more out.

I bought some seed potatoes that I'll be putting out this weekend. I also picked up some snow peas (seeds) that I'll be planting this weekend.

I plan to put out my carrot seeds, Blue Lake bush beans, and broccoli a couple weeks later (probably the weekend of 3/19).

Kathy,

I always forget about the County Extension Office. I'll stop by there this afternoon and pick up some information.

Thanks!
Jeff

I found my chart for anyone who cares! LOL!

YEAR-ROUND HOME GARDEN PLANTING GUIDE:

***JANUARY***
Cabbage(hot bed), Peas(garden)

***FEBRUARY***
Kale, Lettuce(leaf), Mustard
Peas(garden), Radish, Spinach
Turnips, Beets,*Broccoli
Brussels sprouts, *Cabbage
Carrots, *Cauliflower
*Collards, Onion, Potatoes(Irish)
Swiss Chard
Strawberries

***MARCH***
Kale, Lettuce(leaf), Mustard
Peas(garden), Radish, Spinach
Turnips, Beets, *Broccoli
*Brussels sprouts, *Cabbage
Carrots, *Cauliflower, *Collards
Corn(sweet), Endive
Onion, Potatoes(Irish)
Snap beans, Swiss Chard, Beans(pole)
Asparagus, Sweet Potatoes(in hot bed)

***APRIL***
Kale, Lettuce, Mustard, Peas(garden)
Radish, Spinach, Turnips
Beans(pole), Beets, *Cabbage
*Brussels sprouts, Carrot, *Collards
Corn(sweet), Endive
Sweet Chard
Snap beans, Tomatoes
Cantaloupe, Cucumber
Eggplant
Okra, Pepper, Popcorn, Sweet Potatoes
Pumpkin, Squash(summer), Watermelon

***MAY***
Radish, Swiss Chard, Collard
Snap Beans, Corn(sweet)
Beans(bush lima), Beans(pole)
Cantaloupe, Cucumber
Eggplant, Okra, Peppers
Popcorn, Pumpkin, Sweet Potatoes
Southern Peas, Squash(summer), Squash(winter)
Tomato, Watermelon

***JUNE***
Snap Beans, Beans(pole)
*Collards, sweet Corn
Beans(bush lima), Popcorn, sweet Potatoes
Sqush(winter), Southern Peas

***JULY***
summer sqush, Irish potatoes, southern peas
*tomatoes(plants), sweet corn, *collards
Squash(winter)

***AUGUST***
Southern peas, summer squash, carrots, *collards
*cabbage(plants), *cauliflower(plants), beets
*broccoli(plants), turnips, Chinese cabbage,
Swiss chard, beans(bush), Beans(lima), mustard
cucumbers, kale

***SEPTEMBER***
lettuce, radish, mustard
turnips, spinach
*collards, kale

***OCTOBER***
Winter peas(Austrian peas), turnips
*collards, kale, spinach, rape

***NOVEMBER***
Beets(in hot bed or winter box)
Lettuce protected by radish

***DECEMBER***
Cabbage(hot bed), garden peas

"The purpose of this Year-Round Home Garden Planting Guide is to show that you can garden year-round instead of only in the summer.

This planting guide was prepared primarily for residents of southeastern Arkansas but can be easily adapted to the rest of the state by adding two weeks to a month, depending on how far north one is located."

*To produce broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards or tomato plants for spring crops, sow seed about five (5) to six (6) weeks earlier than the date suggested for setting. To produce these crops for fall they should be sown about four (4) weeks earlier than the date suggested for setting.

Vegetables are in order of how they should be planted during the month. For example, in JULY, summer squash should be planted the first part of the month & winter squash the last part of the month.

This thread has some good info and a link for this time of year, thought i'd bump it up. I'm READY for spring.
vickie

Check with your state's Extension Service. Each county should have it's own Cooperative Extension Office which provides free publications and information for the asking. They will have valuable vegetable/gardening tables available specifically for your area determined by universities, and horticultural research scientists have collected data from growing those crops in your state.

See how detailed these examples are:

{{gwi:4005}}

Vegetable Planting and Planning Calendar for Missouri (download the pdf) complete with spring and fall planting dates (underneath the spring planting dates for appropriate crops), how much to plant per person, etc. They can also tell you the average last frost date for your area and ideal planting times for specific crops and varieties in your area.

Here is an excerpt:
{{gwi:9795}}

Kathy547,

Was your calendar specifically written for your area?

Kathy, thanks so much. That will be very helpful. I am thinking I'll probably need to add a couple weeks, as I'm in St. Louis, MO.

Awesome stuff.

KJ

"This planting guide was prepared primarily for residents of southeastern Arkansas but can be easily adapted to the rest of the state by adding two weeks to a month, depending on how far north one is located."

I am in southwestern Arkansas, zone 8, & use this guide. I guessing it could be for anyone depending on your zone & climate?

kathy547,

Each cooperative extension service and each state should have it's own vegetable planting calendar. It would be easier for me to go to my own state and download the calendar that's already written for my zone (and suggests varieties that were grown and tested to do well in my state) than it would be for me to use a different state's veg calendar.

Missouri covers zones 5a, 5b, 6a, & 6b

Arkansas covers zones 6b, 7a, 7b, & 8a

These can be large differences depending on a person's location and the plant they want to grow. Yes, it is possible to sit down and take the time to adjust dates, but sometimes doing that isn't accurate depending on the plant.
Your state offers an Arkansas Planting Guide in pdf form here. It seems to offer a few more varieties of vegetables per month, although the title is the same:

Here is a link that might be useful: Arkansas Year-Round Home Garden Planting Guide