PLANTING CALENDAR for Zone 5
Note: The seeds that are started indoors are allowed to germinate indoors and
 then moved to the cold frame.
Mid to late February:
- Put together cold frame and place it onto an area of the garden where
 warm weather crops will be grown.

This will allow time for all seedlings to fully mature in the cold frame before removal.
Last week in February or first week in March:
- Start seeds of lettuce indoors. Exact date will vary depending on the weather.
- When weather permits, empty both compost bins and place about a 1 to 2 inch layer
 of compost over all
garden beds.

First or second week of March:
- Start seeds of celery, cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts indoors.

Third week in March:
- Start seeds of peppers, and tomatoes indoors.

First week in April:
- Onion seedlings/slips arrive via mail and are planted directly out into the garden.
- Transplant lettuce seedlings out into the garden under hoop house if the seedlings
 are big enough. They are
usually big enough when they just start to get their second set of true leaves.

Second week in April:

- Continue to transplant lettuce seedlings out into the garden under the hoop when 
they get big enough.
- Plant pea seeds directly out into the garden

Third week in April:
- Transplant broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprout seedlings out into the garden.
- Start seeds of cucumbers in cold frame.
- Plant certified seed potatoes out into the garden.

Fourth week in April:
- Transplant tomato and pepper seedlings into bigger pots.
- Start more heat tolerant lettuce seeds indoors like butter head and romaine varieties.

First Week in May:
- Start harvesting a few of the small leaves on your early planted lettuce.
- Start harvesting green onions, if large enough. Harvest about half of the topsetting 
onions for green onions
before the plants get too big.
- Start a few more heat tolerant lettuce seed varieties outside on the covered back porch.
- Transplant celery seedlings out into the garden
- Plant corn seeds directly out into the garde

Second week in May:
- Take apart cold frame and put away until next spring.
- Transplant pepper, tomato, and cucumber seedlings out into the garden.
- Plant seeds of bush green beans and pole lima beans directly out into the garden.

Third or fourth week in June:
- Pull up the garden peas and replant with bush green beans.

First week in July:
- Start seeds of fall broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower on covered back porch.

Second week in July:
- Pull up cucumber vines. By this time the cucumbers are finished producing, for the
 most part. This seems
to help out the pepper plants that are growing in close proximately.

Third week in July:
- If the majority of the onion plant tops have fallen over, pull them up and clip
 the tops off and let them
dry/cure for about 10 days on screens over the garden plot where they were grown.
- Pull up walking/egyptian top setting onions and clip tops and/or bottom bulbs
 and allow to dry until
October.

First week in August:
- Plant bush green beans seeds directly into the garden where the spring planted onions grew.
- Transplant out into the garden the broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower seedlings.
 Make sure to keep these
seedlings well watered!!
- Plant carrot seeds directly out into the garden. Keep seed bed shaded, if possible,
 and well watered.

Second or third week in August:
- Plant bush green bean seeds into corn plot when corn is finished.
- Start seeds of fall lettuce on the covered back porch

First or second week in September:
- Transplant lettuce seedlings out into the garden. Make sure to keep these seedlings
 well watered!!

Month of October:
- Keep a row cover handy to keep frost off of late planted beans.
- Keep the carrot and lettuce plots covered with hoops to keep them growing throughout
 the fall. Harvest the
lettuce as needed.
- As heavy frost approaches, cover broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower plants.
 This keeps the plants actively
growing until harvest.
- Around the third or fourth week in October, pull up the pepper plants and replant the 
area with topsetting
onion tops that have been drying since late July. New green growth should be visible
 from these onions in
about 2 to 3 weeks.

Month of November:
- Cover all unused garden areas with 2 to 3 inches of shredded tree leaves.
- After first hard freeze, cover topsetting onions with a thin layer of shredded tree leaves.
- Start harvesting carrots when they mature. Mulch the carrot bed with a 1-inch layer
 of shredded tree leaves.

Month of December:
- Finish harvesting lettuce. If the weather stays relatively warm, expect to harvest 
lettuce nearly all the way
through December.
- Finish harvesting the carrots. In past years, I have harvested carrots into early January.