| Ezzirah, Technically, the dates given in the guide are correct and are based on many years of record-keeping and research. I have the utmost respect for all the data presented in the OSU fact sheets. However, Oklahoma is a state with a wide range of weather and everything we see in official publications is based on averages and probabilities. So, the dates given ought to work for the average gardener in the average year. As Randy pointed out, the planting dates are a range of dates and the earliest dates are for those in far southeastern OK and the latest dates are for those in far northwestern OK, and everyone in between chooses a date between those two depending on how far north, south, east or west they are. Having said all that, I do not consider this to be an average year. Because of the El Nino Southern Oscillation, we are experiencing weather that is colder than average and wetter than average in pretty much all parts of the state. Because of that, I think it would be wise to wait a couple more weeks before planting anything. If there is anyone who could be planting right now, it would be Diane and others in southeastern OK or possibly me down here in southcentral OK less than 10 miles north of the Red River or Melissia who is a county east or northeast of me. As far as I know, none of us have any plans to put anything in the ground this week because the ground itself is too wet and too cold and we have rain/snow in the forecast for at least a couple of days this week. If we do not get a lot of rain this week, I plan to plant my onion plants next week. They'll be in a raised bed above grade so they'll have better drainage and be less likely to rot or freeze in the cold, wet ground. If we get a lot of moisture this week, I'll be likely to postpone my onion-planting from approx. Feb. 15-16 to about Feb. 22-23. A lot depends on what this week's storms bring us and also what is in the forecast for the week after that. Potatoes need to go into the ground here shortly after that. If I had to guess right now, I'd say that my cool-season plantings are likely to go into the ground 2-4 weeks later than the first date given for each variety on the OSU guide and it is all because of the weather. I hope this info helps. If you have questions about specific veggies, ask and we'll try to answer. Some cool-season veggies can be started indoors in seed flats or paper cups and transplanted outside after the weather improves a tiny bit. Dorothy, for example, starts her peas inside (on her sunporch, I think) and translants them outside with they're a few weeks old. Many of us start our broccoli plants inside under lights and then harden them off and transplant them outside when they are 3-5 weeks old. I think this is probably the coldest, wettest winter we've had in our part of the state since our family moved here in 1999, and I am adjusting my planting dates accordingly. Finally, to give some perspective about how much planting dates can vary, I'll use tomatoes as an example. In our warmest and driest winter/early spring weather, I have transplanted tomato plants into the ground as early as March 7th or so and, by covering them up on maybe 5 or 6 'late' freezing nights, I didn't lose any of them and they produced just fine. In our coldest/wettest spring (2009) I had to postpone planting because of the weather and got some of the plants in the ground in early April but others were not transplanted until latest April or early May. (The 12.84" of rain that fell in one day last April put a sudden stop to all my planting and really disrupted my schedule.) The onions and potatoes that were planted during the OSU range of dates struggled both with excess moisture in April and late freezes. So, you have to be flexible here and make planting decisions based more on the weather than on the recommended dates. Dawn | 
