When can soil be work?

[satterfield.ben]

So I stared getting my seeds together for this years garden and I noticed that on most of the packets its instruction for when to plant is.
"Plant seeds outdoors as soon as the soil can be worked."
I figure it is around my last frost date (May 15th), but I wanted to go ahead an ask you guys if you agree with my assumption.

Thanks

[Gnome]

satterfield.ben,

"Plant seeds outdoors as soon as the soil can be worked."

If your soil is still wet and you try to work it you aren't doing your soil any favors. Take a handful and squeeze it, then try to break it apart. Does it crumble or stay in a wet clump. If it crumbles your soil can be worked.

As far as when to plant specific crops you can always do a little quick research on each crop.

Norm

[opabinia51]

You can also start seeds inside before planting them out in your soil. I usually start my outdoor seed planting on May 1st but,have had snow on May 2nd before.


Though, I live on the West coast and we have that huge buffer for our temperatures called the Pacific Ocean.

May 15th should be okay, anybody from Virginia that can weigh in on the climate there?

[Newt]

I'm just north of Virginia in Maryland and there's still bits of snow and ice on the ground. Night temps still drop into the 20's.

Newt