Determine Your Frost Dates So You Can Pick Your Planting PlanKnowing your frost dates is the other important part of planting a successful garden. These dates will give a deadline on when you will need to plant your vegetables. This date is very important and it’s different for everybody depending on where you live. You can ask local nurseries or look up the date on the internet. However, the best way I’ve found to get your frost-free date is to contact your local extension office. 
Also, be aware that the dates for your area are an estimation of when the last frost will be. For example my frost-free date is May 15th and my first year attempting a Square Foot Garden we had 25 days of rain in June, normally we average about 5-7 days of rain in June. The cold weather threw off all our long growing summer fruits and veggies and they didn’t do well, (our peppers only got as big a large marble).
The point is that changes in weather patterns can affect the last frost dates. If you’re having an unusually warm spring, it could mean that your cold weather veggies might not do as well. On the other hand, it could be an indicator that you’ll have an early first frost. If you’ve never paid, much attention to weather patterns in your area you can ask the local extension office for advice. Even if there is bad weather one year or you just live in an area where it's too hot or too cold there are many ways to protect your crops. Several of those methods are discussed in other pages on this site. In some areas where it’s always too cold or too warm you might have to use some of these protection methods to grow all the fruits and veggies you want.
Know your frost dates? Now pick your plan.
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