Spring will be here before we know it! It is my absolute favorite time of year. But, while we wait for its arrival it’s time to start making plans for the garden.
For both cost effectiveness and variety I prefer to start all of my vegetables from seed vs buying started plants at a greenhouse or big box store.
And it gives me a reason to get my hands in the soil in the cold winter months.
GARDEN PLAN
Before I start sowing seeds into the plug trays, I like to draw out a basic layout of our main garden which is about 5,000 sq ft.
Then I make list of what I want to grow. Because of the size of our garden plot, I grow a wide variety of produce including:
-Tomatoes
-Peppers
-Onions
-Lettuce
-Kale
-Spinach
-Corn
-Beans
-Peas
-Potatoes
-Summer Squash
-Winter Squash
-Zucchini
-Cabbage
-Artichokes
Next, I look up spacing for each plant. Tomatoes need a lot of room, while onion can be planted rather close together. Then I can calculate how many of each plant I can put in each row.
Once I know how many of each variety, I like to write down when I need to start the seeds (a typical seed package will say how many weeks before your last frost), and when things can be transplanted into the garden soil (somethings are before the last frost, and some things are after it).
Things like corn, beans, peas, pumpkin, and squash will be direct sown when the risk of frost has passed. For us, that is usually the first weekend in May.
SOWING SEEDS
Once you have your plan laid out, its time to get your hands in the soil! Fill those seed trays with a good light weight soil.
Check your seed packet to see how deep each variety should be planted. Some things need 1/4″ to 1/2″ deep, while others just get pressed on top of the soil.
It’s also very important to keep those seeds wet once they are in the soil. I do this by spraying my trays using a one gallon pump sprayer we got at our local farm store.
Next, you need to put those seed trays under lights. Our set up is extremely basic. We have 3 shop lights hung from PVC piping over a garage sale find coffee table. We also bought a timer so that they turn off and on automatically after 12 hours.
That’s it! Now you just water and wait for those little seedlings to start sprouting!
PLANTING UP
Once they are about 3″ tall, I move them into solo cups and out to our greenhouse.
Prior to having a greenhouse, I would just continue to raise the lights over the plants. Once they outgrew that space, I took them out of the basement and placed them in the sunniest spots throughout our home.
HARDEN OFF
Don’t forget that your little seedlings will need to be hardened off before being planted in the ground outside.
This means that you should move them outside for a few hours each day, increasing the time outdoors day by day, for a couple of weeks prior to planting.
This is done so the plants can get acclimated and don’t go into shock and die.
TRANSPLANTING
Once your plants are hardened off and you have reached the correct temperatures for your location, its time to transplant your seedlings into your garden!
Planting instruction vary depending on variety so you’ll want to check your seed packet for instructions on spacing.
Before you know it you will be harvesting fresh produce that you grew start to finish from seed!
