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Guy J. Mussey is an agent in Virginia Cooperative Extension's Stafford County office, specializing in environmental horticulture. Phone 540/658-8000; fax 540/658-8006; e-mail
Email: gmussey@vt.edu.

FEW THINGS in life can surpass the simple pleasure of tasting that first vine-ripened tomato picked from the garden that you have planted, cultivated and nurtured. And nothing tastes better than fresh, sweet peas cooked to perfection in your favorite stir-fry, or recently harvested new red potatoes boiled in their skins and served with melted butter and fresh parsley.

I could go on and on describing the pleasure of eating fresh vegetables grown in your own garden, but that would only make people hungry for something they can't have--yet. Instead, I'll look at how to get a head start in planting your vegetable garden, and specific, properly sowing the seed that will reward you with a bountiful harvest.

Vegetable seeds can be started indoors to get an early start to your garden, or they can be sown directly into the garden soil. Of course, in either case it is important to know the last frost date in your area. That can be a little tricky in the greater Fredericksburg area.

According to the Planting Area Map published by Virginia Tech, Fredericksburg is squarely on the dividing line between the Mountain and the Piedmont areas. These two areas differ by as much as three weeks in their last frost dates. The average last killing frost in spring for the Mountain area is May 10 to May 15, while the date for the Piedmont area is April 20 to April 30.

Spotsylvania County is in the Mountain area, while Stafford County is in the Piedmont area, with Fredericksburg on the line between the two regions. With such a large difference in a relatively small area, common sense is key in determining the last frost date.