Important things to know and understand Part 1

When it comes to gardening it is very important that you know your first and last frost dates. It all depends on where you are. Every location has what is called a zone. Knowing what zone you are in is very important for many reasons.
Here is a typical map of the USA with the different zones on it.As you can see it isn't as simple as locate your state and you'll find your zone. Some states have up to 3 different zones in it. Some maps can also show for example zone 6, 6a, and 6b. Not to worry when looking at seeds you are zone 6.

Now for the reasons for the zones. Frost dates have a lot to do with how the zones are figured out....as is the topography of the area. Take Florida...most of that is zone 9 but there are a few spots that are 10 and 8. Some for their location on the globe and some also becasue of how the land it's self is. I have found that this site http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/climatenormals/climatenormals.pl?directive=prod_select2&prodtype=CLIM2001&subrnum%20to%20Freeze/Frost%20Data%20from%20the%20U.S.%20Climate%20Normals is pretty good at determining the zone you are. Pick your state from the drop down menu and then find your city....sometimes you have to chose the closest one too you. But it tells you a whole lot of information. Including the number of days in each period. For example I live in Hopewell Junction...a small town, so the closest location on the list for me was Poughkeepsie. The list tells me that on average I will have 116 frost free days a year. Some years more some less. Knowing this number and the first and last frost dates allows me to plan the garden. If a plant is going to take longer than 116 days from sow to harvest then I know to start them inside.

Some maps are very specific about the hardiness zone to include the a and b of most zones. Others are not. Some will tell you one number and another site may say another number. Most seed packets tell you a range of zones they grow well in. So that is very helpfull if you can't find a consistant zone. Again for my location I have seen 5b-7... but most say 6.

Knowing the dates is important but knowing the zone is a little more important. And honestly sometimes eaiser to deal with. You know what month winter starts and usually ends sometimes that is enough information to know when to start planting.

Another site I have found very helpfull for me is the Burpee site http://www.burpee.com/.
Not only can you order seeds but if you customize with your zip code there are articles and other tools that can be used. I found out that second season veggies should be planted now. Or at least started inside then planted. They are a great source of information on each seed they carry.

Until next time I wish you call a wonderful day. Remember the more you know the more you can grow.