Getting your garden off to an early start is fun and rewarding. The fun part is helping your plants outmaneuver Mother Nature and grow better and faster with your help than they could on their own.

It's also rewarding to have fresh-from-your-garden vegetables days or even weeks before your neighbors. Planting early helps you avoid many insect and disease problems, too.

There's no doubt about it. An early garden can be highly rewarding. The bad news is that late spring frosts can wipe out young warm-season vegetables before you can say Jack Frost.

The good news is that keeping Jack Frost out of your spring garden isn't hard to do. It just requires some planning ahead of time.

The key to avoiding frost is knowing the average date of the last spring frost for your area. In the press this is usually called the spring average frost date.

The average frost date doesn't predict the exact date on which the last spring frost will occur. It's the average date of the last spring frost based on annual observations over many years.

How do you use the AFD to schedule planting of an early garden?

The actual frost date in any year is usually within two weeks of the AFD. So by delaying planting your garden until two weeks after the AFD, you can be all but certain that when Jack visits, your veggies won't be at home.

To effectively use the AFD to schedule planting your garden, you must know the AFD for YOUR area. The following table shows AFDs for a number of places in Georgia.

If your area isn't in the table, check with your county extension office (or call 1-800-ASK-UGA1) to find out the AFD for your area.

To enjoy the benefits of an early garden, plant early -- but not too early!