Anxious to Get Your Vegetable Garden Planted?

I know a perfect weather day like we had here in Branford on Saturday makes me think of tomatoes and basil, but as I worked away in the garden I started to wonder about people who don't grow their own vegetables.  I've read that more vegetable seeds have been sold each year for the past 3 years to a new all time high.  Surely some of those seeds are being purchased by people who've never gardened before.

Are you a brand new vegetable gardener and have no idea where to start?  Kathy of Skippy's Vegetable Garden wrote a great post a few years ago detailing how to start a new garden.  She also created an on-line vegetable garden planting calendar.  All you have to do is enter the date of your last frost and it will generate a list of dates and instructions for when to start your seeds and specifies indoors or outdoors. 

In my garden in southern Branford it's the perfect time to get my tomato and pepper starts into the soil.  My vegetable garden is less than a mile from the Sound, pretty sheltered from the wind, and in raised beds and containers.  This is my fifth season gardening in this spot and though I'm not an expert, I do have a pretty good idea of when I can plant safely.  You may want to wait another week in your area. 

Sunday is Mother's Day and after a hearty breakfast out, my family is planning to help me put together a new raised bed and then plant all our tomatoes and peppers.  I can't imagine a nicer way to spend the day.  Are you a new veggie gardener or an old hand?  Will gardening be a part of your Mother's Day activities?