Okay. You’ve decided what you’re going to plant. And you’ve decided where you’re going to plant it. So… where are all these plants coming from? And when do you have to get them?
Never fear. In this third and final installment of Planning Your Veggie Garden we will cover both of these topics. (I probably could’ve split this into two blog posts, but I didn’t.)
When do I need to do things?
I’m a planner. I like to know when I have to do things before I have to go out and do them. So let’s start with our growing calendar.
In much the same way that our current understanding of human history can be divided into BCE and CE eras with the turning point being 2016 years ago, your garden calendar can be divided into Weeks-Before-Last-Frost and Weeks-After-Last-Frost. In Pittsburgh our average last frost date is sometime around May 1st. I like to assume it’s May 1st because I’m an impatient gardener. Other, more reserved gardeners say around May 10th or Mother’s day, to be on the safe side.
For the sake of argument we’re going to say that May 1st is our last frost date, because it’s my blog and I say so.
Laying out your calendar is super easy. You can print out some pages from Google, or write them down on a piece of paper like I did in my journal. You’ll want to count back from the date of the last frost 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks, and 8 weeks. Then you’ll also want to mark the week/day of last frost, and 2 weeks after.
I also like to include a “Before Planting” to-do list with my garden calendar.
This is a quick and dirty list of generally what you need to do around those times. Your seed packet will tell you this information, or should. And if not it’s easily available online. Next week’s post is going to be about reading seed packets.
For a more comprehensive list I highly recommend the Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardeners Handbook, it’s a great resource where you can plug and play your own last-frost date to customize it to your needs. It’s filled with amazing info and very user friendly. (Find on Amazon here: LINK)
Before Planting: (You can do a lot of this stuff when it’s still absurdly cold out)
Wash and sanitize pots
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| This is what the inside of my garden journal looks like |
Procure Seeds and Germination mix
Clean and Prep tools
Plan Veggie garden
Fix anything that needs fixed around the garden
Order seeds
8 Weeks before Last Frost (3-15-16 in Pittsburgh)
Start tomato and eggplant seeds
Start very large gourd seeds*
6 weeks before Last Frost (3-29-16)
Start some pumpkin seeds *
Start marigold seeds
4 weeks before last Frost (4-13-16)
Sow Spinach
Sow Beets
Start Sunflowers *
Sow Cold-hardy crops
2 weeks before last Frost (4-27-16)
Sow Lettuce
Begin hardening off seedlings
Week of Last Frost (5-1-16)
Run around outside in your underwear
2 weeks after Last Frost (5-24-16)
Sow Green beans
Sow Zucchini/ Summer Squash
Sow Winter Squash
Sow Gourds
Plant transplants (Sometimes I do this earlier, if I’m feeling anxious, which I usually do, but not before the last frost)
(* Things marked with this are things that people disagree about whether you should start them inside or direct sow them. As a general rule if I can direct sow things into my garden I do, but I’m still experimenting to see what works better. If you're not sure try starting half your seeds indoors and direct sowing half of them and see what does better)
How and Where do I get these plants?
At this point people often wonder things like: Why do you sow some plants directly into your garden and start others indoors? Why do I start some plants myself? Can’t I just buy seedlings?
Why sow some directly and transplant others?
Starting seeds indoors is a way to extend your active growing season. In places where we don’t have a very long growing season (In Pittsburgh it’s about 171 days), we need as many growing days as we can get. You can do this through a number of different means, using cold frames, cold tunnels for your beds, and most simply, starting your seedlings indoors. Also it gives us gardeners something to do when it’s cold and grey outside.
Lots of seeds don’t need to be started inside Lettuces are an easy example. Don’t waste your money transplants, and don’t bother with all the work of starting seedlings indoors. Lettuces grow super well straight in the soil and actually hate being transplanted.
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| The best little greenhouse in Pittsburgh! (At least I think it is) |
Starting your seeds indoors does have it’s own issues. You need the space, you need a set up so that your seedlings get warmth and light. You need to remember to keep them watered and keep the humidity up (I’ll be writing another post all about the particulars of seed starting inside in the very near future).
Once your seedlings have sprouted and are wee baby plants, you’ll also need to harden them off, which is basically toughening them up. In your little green house your seedlings have a super comfortable life, they’re kind of sissies. So it’s important to slowly get them used to life on the outside. Take them out for a few hours a day, starting in part sun, then slowly into full sun (if you do it too fast you can give them sunburn, which I’ve done to my tomatoes, it won’t kill them, but it will stunt their growth for a little while). Slowly leaving them out for longer and longer periods of time until eventually they’re strong, tough little plants ready to take on the hazards of the garden.
If this all sounds like a bit more work than you really want to don’t panic. You can always go to a nursery, plant sale, or even a home-improvement store (spoiler alert: their plants tend to suck), and buy as many seedlings as you want for your garden. There are some plants (cucumbers and peppers specifically) that I seem to just be really bad at growing myself. I haven’t figured out why, I think it might be the light. Anyway, when I buy nice strong hearty seedlings from other growers they do much better. Sometimes I think that if I could afford it I would do this instead of starting my own.
But who am I kidding? I love seed starting!
Although, I also love plant shopping. I tend to end up with a great number of unexpected plant adoptions in the spring and have to find space for them in the garden and around the house. The Phipps Mother’s day weekend plant sale is particularly difficult for me to resist and I highly recommend it to any gardeners who want a chance to shop around from a variety of amazing local growers all in one place.
Next week: How to read your seed packets.
