Do you watch mother nature for indications it's time to plant?

This is already a strange year. I live in N California zone 9B, and we have been having record breaking high temps, and very little rain.   Lots of people here have already planted there summer gardens.  I try to wait until the night time temps are appropriate for what I want to plant. I did plant a few tomatoes. most of the night time temps have been in the 50s, dipping into the high 40's a couple times this week and next. I mulched heavy and cover the tomato with a black nursery pot at night, and remove it once it's warmed up.
I really want to jump in and plant all the plants that are happy in the night time 50 range ( I do grow in raised beds, so the soil temps are probably a bit warmer. I have been waiting because of the little dips we are having. Meanwhile I have volunteer pumpkins growing in the ground like crazy. I also have volunteer yard long beans coming up.
So what do you think follow mother nature's cue, and plant, or wait until there's no more nights under 50?

I am trying to learn planting by what nature is growing. Here is a thread on the subject, phenology.

The problem is, not all regions have the same order of sprouting, blooming, growing. Here, I have found that I can plant frost tender seeds, transplants when perilla's second set of true leaves arrive.

Where I live its planting time with you see the mesquite trees bud out which is rather late.

I used to use Easter as a tool.

By the Happy Easter!

Here in Pennsylvania, we had an extremely cold winter, and I plainly notice that animals are going through their springtime behaviors much later than normal. The native plants are sprouting much later. As a tradition, farmers around here plant their tomato starts (indoors) after St. Patrick"s day, but I just didn't feel it "in my bones" so to speak.So even with indoor starts I'm running about two weeks later than normal.  I have been laboring with my body on the homestead for so many years that  I do think that since it is organic life, my body is tuned into the same sensitivities that the soil, fauna, and flora have. It's good to have a basic sense of schedule, but it's equally important (especially in an age of climate change) to feel your way in the garden and to be flexible and adaptive. Also, I am a big believer in experimenting. I try different things all the time knowing that some crops will thrive and others won't.

This year, my yard is giving me conflicting information. My established  Apios americana is 9 inches tall before perilla tells me it's time to plant. I had to SEARCH to find this single perilla this age. Both photos from today. (And for some reason I look at my post again to find a second perilla in the pic!)

I can only HOPE my perilla is so bashful, this year.

Once the paddocks get the first flush of green, then planting time is pretty close.  That also depends if we get what the farmers call "Opening Rains" - when they hope to have the cropping seeds planted.  This morning I discovered small lettuce seedlings growing in the paths - so some attention needed to transplant.  We are in Autumn at the present, and still needing to water the gardens.

Same here in the UK, everything is confused this year. My plum flowered about two weeks early and the blackcurrants are already leafing out. I used to go by when the soil felt warm enough to hold your hand on comfortably but honestly this spring has been so up and down I just went for it and planted anyway. Worst case I cover things if we get a late frost.

Séamus Ó Ceallaigh wrote:Here in Pennsylvania, we had an extremely cold winter, and I plainly notice that animals are going through their springtime behaviors much later than normal. The native plants are sprouting much later. As a tradition, farmers around here plant their tomato starts (indoors) after St. Patrick"s day, but I just didn't feel it "in my bones" so to speak.So even with indoor starts I'm running about two weeks later than normal.  

My mother lives in Eastern PA, I just talked to her and she said they got a good freeze this morning and tonight is supposed to be down to 29F.
You bet the first thing I thought of was "that smart guy in PA who said it didn't feel right and held off planting". A good call!

In the northern Plains of the US, it's probably prudent to view Mother Nature through a lens that spans years to decades of possibilities, hence the value of last and first average frost dates.  For about 1-1/2 weeks in March this year, it seemed worth considering planting some colder tolerate garden items.  The garlic was already sprouting, many yard plants were greening up, and the temperatures were swinging from 50s (F) by day to 30s at night. Then the early spring storms arrived, dropping not only 10" of heavy wet snow, but following that with several days where highs were around 30 and the low morning temperature yesterday was 3F.  In this regard, Mother Nature is like the 'Trickster' of Native American lore....looking to trip you up for your hubris.  So an 'annualized' Mother Nature is what we take into account for making planting decisions.