A Spring Planting Calendar - a predicament? What do you do?

[David Bach]

If you care to add a personalized planting calendar to your tool bucket you can check out Your Spring Planting Calendar. Also, there is one reproduced here on the Trellis website and available online at the Uprising Organics website.

However, you may have noticed that the recommended time either to direct sow a number of plants is when conditions are too cool, too cloudy and too wet to support growth. And that current soil conditions suggest that starting seeds inside will likely result in plants that are getting root bound while soil conditions are still unfavorable.

For those of us who want to have longer-season plants (which reach close to their bearing potential), this is a predicament.

One solution is not to attempt to grow these longer-season plants, and limit our production to those that can thrive in a June through mid-August growing season.

Another is to convert more of our garden space to low tents or hoop houses that help retain heat in the soil.

Another is to risk losing seeds and seedlings to unfavorable conditions by "following the planning calendar" when conditions are questionable.

What are your strategies?

[Jessaiah Zure]

I am new to this area, and so dont have strategies yet... definitely been thinking of greenhouses of course, but the hoop house sounds like the better option....

Are there any books about growing in THIS particular area? 

When is the next time everyone is meeting up?