by John Yazo
Knowing the hardness zone your are in is very important when wanting to start your garden. Planting to early can do more harm than good with most of the crops you grow in your home garden. Cool temperatures can set your crops back if not kill them.
The best time to plant varies from region to region. Whenever you look through a seed catalog you will notice what is known as a hardness zone for every type of plant. These zones are a guide to better help you what plant will grow where due to the climate in that region, certain plants can only handle a specific climate.
These zones are a part of climatic studies done in all regions and mapped by the United States Department Of Agriculture. This data that is mapped will give you the zone that you are planting in. It based on the average coldest temperature in your region. In North America there are 11 hardness zones, 1 being the coldest and 11 being the warmest. Other government agencies also have there own maps for there specific region like, Canada.
Using a hardness zone map is a safe way to judge the time you should be able to start the crops you want to plant safely. Not all crops have the same starting time in the garden. Along with using the information of the climate maps you will need to know the starting time for each specific crop you are planting. There are crops that can be started weeks before the last expected frost in your area is predicted for. Take advantage of these cool temperatures for the crops that like those conditions.
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