Hi. I'm in Southeast WI (Sheboygan). I still have 6-12 inches of snow over my garden. Usually I start my cool weather veggies like spinach and potatoes around April 1st. The description on the seed packages say "As soon as the soil can be worked", but I like to hedge my bets a bit. We do sometimes get snow after that, but it's not going to stick around for too long. Also I don't use anything to keep my garden artificially warm, like Wall o' Waters. And I'm usually harvesting all of my spinach by the middle of June to make space for warmer weather veggies, but the potatoes take a bit longer.

Mike

The key phrase is "when the soil can be worked". It is not good to play in the soil if it is too wet as it destroys the soil structure. If you have sandy soil, it should be workable pretty early. If you have clay, its best to wait. Rule of thumb is if you roll a ball of soil in your hand, it should break apart when you poke it with your finger.

tj