Take a gamble, plant a few thing way before you should

I think every gardener should be a garden gambler, plant early gardens and pray.

Don't be afraid to be a garden gambler and plant at least a small portion of your garden early if you have the space to play with. Plants like broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, cilantro, chives and parsley are just a few of the plants you can put out and take a chance on catching a cold night or two.

Farmers always say agriculture is a gamble. Like farmers, we gardeners don't control the weather. If you are a gambler and have a few more plants than you need, put a small number out well before the last freeze date for your area. Gamble, but don't be gambler with a problem – you succeed one year so the next you put everything out: Do that and you have a gambling addiction.

More than 50 percent of the time you will beat the odds and get the few plants you put out to grow. I was a real gambler this year. I put out a few plants when the NOAA weather chart said I had a 90 percent chance of still having a hard freeze. Still, despite the temps last night getting into the mid twenties, the only thing I lost were carrots I transplanted for bunching.

Unlike farmers who can't cover a huge field with newspaper for plastic tarps to protect plants from the cold, gardeners can. The simple act of covering plants will sometime save delicate ones that emerge before the last frost date. Often potatoes will come up early but will die if hit by a late frost.

If you plant early, you are a gambler, but don't cry if you lose your bets.