If you’re like me and stressing out about planting at exactly the right time, too impatient to wait until next week to start planting, too anxious to plant right. now., and too lazy to stick a thermometer in the ground and do math, go to the Soil Temperature and Pan Evaporation Tables by the Minnesota Climatology Working Group. Other states should have similar data available through an extension office. Every week they post the new soil temperature average for the past week for a variety of areas.
This table from the UMN Extension Service shows optimum germination temperatures for some veggies. I pulled out the temperatures leading to the shortest germination times for my own interest:
| Asparagus | 77 |
| Lima Bean | 77-86 |
| Snap Bean | 86-95 |
| Beet | 77-95 |
| Cabbage | 86 |
| Carrot | 86 |
| Cauliflower | 68 |
| Celery | 68 |
| Sweet Corn | 95 |
| Cucumber | 86-95 |
| Eggplant | 86 |
| Lettuce | 77 |
| Muskmelon | 86 |
| Okra | 95 |
| Onion | 77-86 |
| Parsley | 86 |
| Parsnip | 68 |
| Pea | 77-86 |
| Pepper | 77-86 |
| Radish | 86 |
| Spinach | 77 |
| Tomato | 77-86 |
| Turnip | 77-95 |
| Watermelon | 95 |
