February 9, 2015

Western Kentucky Changing from Zone 6B to 7A

Well the USDA has gone and done it again. We are now officially zone 7A and our last frost date has been moved up to April 10th versus April 21st. Wow. Almost a 2 weeks difference, in a life of garden that is a big deal.

I usually plant my tomatoes out the last week of April, and the peppers and eggplants a week later. So this could potentially move up the tomato plantings to the first week of April. I usually seed the summer squash and zucchini about the same time the tomatoes are planted outside. That's a lot of moving up of the planting dates, which means the indoor seed starting will need to be done a month ahead.

And the onions have yet to be started. Ugh. So the planting schedule is already a month behind. That is not such a big deal because we have such a long growing season and I would rather have the onions ripen later in the season to lengthen winter keeping. But the peppers and tomatoes really need to be started soon.