when to plant

there is always a question as to when to plant things,
and that usually is set by what kind weather your particular plant needs, and what your weather is,

there are plants that can deal with frost
and plants that can't take frost at all
some need cool weather to grow and some need hot weather

so you calculate how long it's ideal weather will be for,
check how many days it takes to grow,
then see where you can fit it in,
but usually you want to plant things as soon as  you can because most things will give you more production if it gets a longer time to grow in.
remember if you just looked up one variety of a plant, there might be others that are faster or deal with harsher conditions.

I will just go over some popular ones in the order I planting them this year
sunflowers can take frost but need it to not be in the cold of winter, so plant them as soon as it warms up after winter, usually the 3rd month of the year around here.

peas need cool weather to growand die off when summer hits full on,
so they get planted first or second month of the year here and grow in the cool but often not to cold before summer hits.

radishes will take some frost or at least lots of cool weather,
and are fast, so you can plant the fancy ones (french breakfast) almost any time in spring,
and the hot weather ones (cherry bell) anytime in summer or almost any time in fall,

potatoes will resprout if they get frosted on and it takes them a bit to come up, so about 2 weeks before the last frost date works well with them

corn usually can't take frost,
and the number of days listed on the package is often wrong with the "new weather"
so me people have gone to using "growing degree days" but still will likely not find anything you are growing listed that way, but perfect for just your own use,
here is a calculator for it
http://www.weather.com/outdoors/agriculture/growing-degree-days/
if you are using the standard days to harvest, it is listed to dry on field corn kinds, and at fresh eating stage for sweet corn.
with corn you also have to deal with rain messing up the pollen or the grain while drying
so make sure to keep in mind when and how much rain you get at harvest time,
flint corn does better at having it rain when it is drying, flour corn does the worst with late rain, but also makes the best corn meal.

squash, cucumbers, melons, tomatoes, and most other vegetables just needs planted after the last frost date

turnips and beets need to be planted when it is still warm out, but need to finish growing when it cools off,
so plant when you have 2 to 3 weeks of warmish weater left
8th month of the year is about right for most of california,
but many places have a wide window for them to be planted in.

parsnips can grow through the summer or winter, but need cool and wet  come up
so you can do 2 plantings a year, one set gets planted aug/sept and another early spring

greens like spinach and lettuce are good as long as it is not to hot and can take frost,
so fall and spring work the best

peppers usually need a longer growing season than you have,
so start them in pots inside in dec. and transplant outside after the frost is gone.
 same if you want early tomatoes, but plant them about one to two months before last frost date.

there are many many others
and I am sure you get the idea by now.

here is what the sunflowers looked like when the corn was only 5 inches tall

and that would be about time to plant the beans so they can crawl up the corn
the official time to plant the beans is when the corn leaves touch the ground...
read more of that sort of thing from bird buffalo woman
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html
it is a very good read.


now time to go plant a taro root I was given