Well the sunflower seeds that fall from my birdfeeder have been growing since about the end of April.

Great! I don't have sunflower seeds in my bird feed, so I haven't had such a handy guide. Are you saying I can plant in everything? I keep hearing the "wait til memorial day" rule from friends and some family members who garden, and it just seems to be so warm, and I hate waiting that long.

I have been moving around my perennials like crazy, but I still feel a little uncertain about seedlings and direct seeding.

The best way to learn about gardening is to just do it - experience is always the best teacher! I seeded lettuce, spinach, radishes, peas, onion, brocolli plants, and kolhrabi outside on March 26 - took most of them to our 1st farmer's market yesterday. I also seeded sweet peas then, too - there up about 6". I didn't this year, but have in the past seeded poppies, johnny jump-ups and larksur in early April. The snaps & sunnies can go in then, too. I am seeding beans today but would have planted a week ago if it had stopped raining! I am also setting out tomatoes today, but will wait on the basil, peppers, eggplants and squash/cuke/melon stuff until the 29th.

You should be aware that there are cool weather veggies/plants and warm weather veggies/plants. In the first, they thrive in cool weather and either bolt or stop growing or producing entirely when warmer weather arrives. These are things you can plant very early in the spring (lettuce, peas, broccoli - stuff lodean has listed). Warm weather plants will not thrive in the cool air and ground temps of spring. They need a warm environment (air and ground) to grow/produce. If you put out peppers before the ground has warmed up they will not only fail to thrive they may rot. There's also the issue of 'last frost' and if the plants can tolerate the frost.

Thanks everyone - I feel more confident about seeding everything today.

I had put in peas and kale already, but the plants and seeds that say "wait til after the last frost" had me concerned about timing. I wasn't sure if we were past that magic date or not. Books and sorces vary for the last frost date, and I figured you all would be a better resource - and you were!

It's a beautiful day to be in the garden . . .

Probably the only things that I wouldn't seed in until around Memorial Day in the Twin Cities area are corn, peppers and squash. Basil seems to need really hot soil to get going very well too. May 15 is the last frost date in this area, IIRC.

The Minnesota State Horticultural Society puts out a wonderful book that you will find invaluable when learning and continuing to garden. It is: "Month-By-Month Gardening in Minnesota" by Melinda Myers. Just about all book stores have it.

Have Fun.

I've put all of my stuff in the garden, but I think I did it too early. Tomatoes, peppers and basil went in as hardened off plants on the week of the 8th. Pole Bean seeds went into the ground at the same time. Corn seedlings went out at the end of last week and I seeded in the rest of the corn over the weekend.

Although I put potatoes in the ground back in late April, they're only now coming up. I put radishes and lettuce in at the same time. The radish tops are about three inches tall now and the lettuce is about 2 inches tall. They seem to be growing very slowly, even though they're supposed to like the cool weather. I put out onion sets at the same time and they've nearly doubled in size.

My beans nearly all sprouted over the weekend.

Of course, you should take advice from me with a huge block of salt, as I've killed more than half of what I've tried to raise in the last three years. On the other hand, the kill rate has halved about every year. Maybe next year I'll be able to rein in my impatience and wait a bit before planting the warmer weather stuff.