Starting Indoors

Most start seeds are started indoors about 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost date of spring. But planting schedules will vary depending on your growing zone, your area’s frost date, and the types of seeds you’d like to grow.

Before you start planting, familiarize yourself with your last frost date and read your seed packets carefully. Seed packets often contain helpful details like planting instructions and “Days to Harvest” information that you can use to calculate when to start seeds in relation to your last frost date.

If your seed packets don’t contain planting instructions, here’s a general schedule for when you should start the most common flower, herb, and vegetable seeds.  Also see my planting guide for information  .

8 to 10 Weeks Before Last Frost

Celery, leeks, eggplants, peppers, tomatoes and flowers. Sowing these plants about 8 to 10 weeks before your last spring frost date will ensure they’re ready to transplant when spring arrives.

6 to 8 Weeks Before Last Frost

Most indoor sowing occurs about 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost date. This is when tomato seeds are often started inside, but it’s also the best time for planting tomatillos, ground cherries, basil, marigolds, and your spring brassica crop. If you’ve been cold stratifying flower seeds in your fridge, this is when you should transplant those stratified seeds into soil.

4 to 6 Weeks Before Last Frost

Now is the time to sow fast growing crops such as cucumbers, zuchinni, winter and summer squash and other fast growing annuals.

Summer

Many gardeners never think to start seeds indoors in summer since warm summer weather is ideal for growing seeds outside. However, cold weather crops don’t germinate well when they’re planted outdoors in hot weather. If you want to grow your fall garden with cold weather veggies, start your fall crop of brassicas and other cold tolerant vegetables indoors before the end of summer.  Use “Days to Harvest ” for a guideline to plan for the “First Frost Date”.

Most of the stuff descibed above I always start in small trays and transplant when the weather and plants are right.

Direct Seeding

Root crops such as carrots, radishes, turnips etc are always best direct seeded.  That means when the weather is appropiate for them to grow.  Many descibe that time as “Planting out time”.

Lettuce, cucumbers, onions, beans and plants with large taproots do well direct seeded.  But can be started and transplanted carefully.