Know what planting zone you're in

Weather is such a crucial factor in gardening -- and that's so obvious it even sounds silly to say it.

For instance, while most of  the lower 48 states are experiencing below-normal snowfall, Alaska is getting pounded. Last week we talked about plowing ground when it's wet in January and February but not after that. Soil temperature is vital for plant growth - and that's controlled by the amount of sun the ground gets, "warm rain" in the spring, the amount of daylight each day.

All related to weather.

Last week I ran a story in my newspaper about the various planting zones, beginning with Zone 1 in the deep south and proceeding northward. It's important to know what planting zone you're in because that dictates what can be planted when. Some of our northern most states have very short growing seasons so growing warm-weather crops like tomatoes is tricky since they, and every veggie, have an optimum soil temperature for producing.

There are those veggies that like cool weather like that in the spring and fall and the hot weather ones that won't do anything but sit there until the soil temperature gets to their liking.

In preparation for this year's planting season go to your favorite search engine and type in "growing zones." Lots of information will pop up that will help you grow what's best in your area.

Then, when you  buy plants or seed packets, check and for growing zone information, especially on the back of the packets. It will tell you when to plant your veggie and how many days to harvest. Factoring those to things will make for more productive  use of your ground.

Let me leave you with one example: Last summer a reader wrote to tell me she'd planted some pumpkin seeds in late July or early  August here in Kentucky. I told her she'd just wasted her time and seeds since there wasn't enough of our growing season left for them to reach harvest size.

Sure, the vines grew like gangbusters because we were in the depth of summer; they bloomed and even set fruit -- then it started getting cool and the days got sorter -- and the pumpkins stopped growing before reaching maturity because it takes 90-120 days, depending on variety, for pumpkins to go from seed to harvest -- and that would have put her experiment -- at the earliest at the first of November for harvest.

Check the zone, check the days to maturity and get yourself all comfortable with that if you're not already!