Typical conversations in the neighborhood speculate as to which day summer officially occurred this year. On the other hand, I have not seen a single alligator lurking among the zucchini in my forty-plus years as a cold climate gardener. Anyone who has left the car window rolled down on a beautiful summer night only to awaken to a coffee pot's worth of water in the driver's seat, will attest to the vagaries of Vermont weather. In order to barely intimate a normal growing season, we tend to tempt fate by planting as early as possible.
Cold frames are common in native gardens, but are limited by size.
The desire to plant the entire garden and gamble that this year the last killing frost will occur in April can be overwhelming to people house-bound by snow for the past six months. One way to hedge the bet is to plant peas. It grew, albeit tentatively, under a double layer of polyethylene and snowfall right through the winter and was waiting patiently for my attention in the spring. Kale has an acquired taste. It also has more nutrition than most green, leafy crops.