As soon as people get a whiff of nice spring weather they get itchy to plant something. That's all well and good if the something they choose to plant is the right thing. Unfortunately the veggie most people get a hankering to plant is the tomato and therein lies the problem. Tomatoes are a warm season crop and unless you have a greenhouse, planting them too early can only bring heart ache. This year we started getting people at the nursery asking for tomatoes in early March. A mild winter will do that to folks, it gets them all antsy for summer. Problem is it isn't anywhere near summer. So how do you know when to plant what?

Air temperature is not a good indicator what really matters is the soil temperature, so take your soil's temperature. Any good gardening center will have soil thermometers for sale for about $10. You could probably use any thermometer that has a 6 inch probe. To take you soil's temperature go out to your garden area and stick the probe in about 3 or 4 inches wait a bit and note the temp. If you do this once in the late morning and once in the afternoon you get an average for the day. Do this several days in a row. The following chart will tell you at what temperature to plant certain veggies.

Minimum soil temperature for Germination
40 degrees- Arugula, fava beans, kale, lettuce, pac choi, parsnip, peas, radicchio and spinach
50 degrees- Chinese cabbage, leeks, onions, chard, turnips
60 degrees- beets, broccoli. Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, beans (with caution, beans won't survive even a hint of frost)
70 degrees- Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, squash, corn and melons

Now these are the minimum temperatures for getting the various seeds to germinate. Transplants can be planted at temperatures that are a bit cooler, say 5 or so degrees, than the germination temperature.

There are several ways to warm up your garden area, black plastic spread on the ground will absorb solar radiation and heat the soil. Raised beds also warm up faster than the regular ground. Walls of Water work well as do old fashioned cloches. These can be easily made by cutting out the bottom of plastic milk jugs and setting it around the plant. Take the cap off during the day for ventilation. Gallon apple juice bottles work too if you have a glass cutter. A tomato cage wrapped in saran wrap works like a mini- greenhouse and will help give you a jump on the season. Or you can just wait until your soil temperature is right to plant and not worry about all the fuss of getting a jump on the season. Patience is a virtue.