Everything from the weather to the wildlife in your garden takes on a new meaning. You'll take more notice of things such as insect predation. Weather is a huge big deal, especially since the lovely days of Spring can quickly turn into a storm strong enough to destroy all you've worked to accomplish.

And yet, we must plant our garden in order to harvest the food from it. So how do we decide when the time comes to plant our precious seedlings outside and let Nature take its course? I'll discuss that in this article. 

Four big factors go into this decision: last frost date, soil temperature, seedling readiness, and, yes, the immediate weather forecast.

Are your seedlings ready?

Readiness of seedlings is very easy. How old are the seedlings, and have they been properly hardened out? You'll want your seedlings in the 8-12 week old range. If you've purchased them, then they're likely of proper age and ready to face the weather. For newer gardeners, hardening out is the process of getting your seedlings ready to deal with the great outdoors