Seeds seeds seeds

As you start to plan your garden there is always the question of when to start seeds. Many experienced gardeners have their schedule of when to start indoors. I have my own schedule here in Colorado and my green house allows me to start a little earlier than most.

To start off, I plant onions and leeks on February 1st. These are the first because they always seem to take a long time to grow to a point where they are strong enough to transplant. Alliums are followed by peppers around Valentin’s Day. Next come the brassicaceae or cruciferous vegetables in the first two weeks of March. Broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower all like cool weather and this gives them 4-6 weeks growth before going out in the garden in mid April. Tomatoes, Eggplant, and lettuces are seeded around St. Patrick’s Day. The remaining vegetables are directly planted in the ground. There may be a few flowers I start as well but my primary focus is vegetables.

The larger seeds I reserve for direct seeding; beans, corn, cucumbers and squashes. There are some gardeners that will seed these indoors because they need warm soil to germinate and they can supposedly get a jump start on the season. But the problem is they don’t transplant well. That’s not to say it can’t be done successfully. Last year I did an experiment out of curiosity. I started a few cucumber plants indoors and transplanted them into the garden. I also direct seeded a set of cucumber seeds in the same garden bed on the same day. What happened was amazing! The transplants sat there for a long time doing nothing. They looked ok but no new growth. By the time the planted cucumber seeds started to sprout, the transplants had started looking better and showed new growth. The direct seeded plants caught up to the transplants and eventually outgrew them. The direct seeded plants were healthier and produced more fruit than the transplants.

In the first 2 weeks of July I start another round of cruciferous vegetables indoors for a fall harvest. By mid August I start lettuces and peas. All these plants prefer cooler weather and thrive in the fall. The 1st of October I plant garlic and shallots for an early summer harvest.

If you haven’t ordered your seeds yet order them asap! It looks like a lot of varieties are already selling out. Gardening has become more than a hobby. People are wanting to growing some of their own food to gain greater food security for their families. So get out there and order your seeds and lets get to gardening!

Happy gardening from your Garden Sage!