| Spring Color | Dates | Spring Color | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Group | January 4-10 | Yellow Group | March 1-7 |
| Pink Group | January 18-24 | Green Group | March 15-21 |
| Red Group | February 1-7 | Blue Group | March 29-April 4 |
| Orange Group | February 15-21 | Violet Group | April 12-18 |
To Do This Week
| Start Seeds Inside | Transplant Plants | Plant Seeds Outside |
|---|---|---|
| Broccoli Cabbage Cauliflower Hot Peppers* Onions (from seed) Parsley Swiss chard |
Onions (from sets)* Peas |
|
| *New plant! This was added since the previous week. | ||
If you haven’t been starting seeds indoors, chances are you haven’t been thinking about gardening yet. Now it’s time! The earliest vegetables can be planted as soon as you can work the soil, which should be happening soon. If you haven’t already done so, create a plan and prepare your garden beds.
Plan
- Decide what veggies you want to plant, and how much of each.
- Create a garden plan! Use the tool linked here, or draw out your garden on paper, mapping out where each type of plant will go.
Prepare
- Complete an inventory and create a list of items you need
for your garden.
- Purchase seeds
, onion sets, compost, and any other equipment you need
- Prepare soil by adding compost and/or other amendments, till or turn it.
- Set up trellises
and other supports
for spring vegetables.
Broccoli
Broccoli is a hardy vegetable that grows best in cool temperatures. In most areas there is not enough time to grow broccoli from seeds before the weather gets too hot. Start seeds indoors or purchase transplants in a few weeks.
Cabbage
Cabbage is a hardy vegetable that grows best in cool temperatures. In most areas there is not enough time to grow cabbage from seeds before the weather gets too hot. Start seeds indoors or purchase transplants in a few weeks.
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is a very temperamental vegetable to grow. It cannot tolerate extreme heat or cold. Start seeds indoors or purchase transplants in a few weeks.
Hot Peppers
Hot peppers are a tender vegetable that take a long time to grow. In most areas the growing season is too short to plant them as seeds outdoors. Start seeds indoors or purchase transplants in a few weeks.
Onions
Onions are a hardy vegetable that grow best in cool weather. When planting onions, you have 3 options–seeds, sets, and transplants.
You can start seeds indoors, but I suggest growing them from sets (see below) or transplants, which will be planted in several weeks.
Now is the time to plant onion sets. These look like dry mini-onions. Plant them pointy side up. The smallest sets can be planted every 4-6″ (4 or 9 per square foot) to grow into mature onions. Plant the bigger onion sets every 3″ (16 per square) to grow green onions.
Parsley
Parsley is very slow and difficult to germinate—you won’t have much luck if you just plant the seeds directly in the garden. The benefit of starting seeds indoors is that you have a really long harvesting-season for parsley! Parsley is a biennial (will grow for two years). However, it usually has to be replanted every year because it dies during the cold winter temperatures.
Peas
Peas are a hardy vegetable that grow best in cool weather. Peas do not transplant well. Plant peas directly in the garden as soon as the ground is no longer frozen and the soil can be worked.
Swiss chard
Swiss chard is a semi-hardy vegetable that grows well in many climates. Start seeds indoors or purchase transplants in a few weeks. You can also plant seeds directly in the garden at that time.
