Last week, I mentioned that you can pick out your favorite seeds now. This week, I’ll discuss seeds you can start now.
Starting Cool Season Veggies
You can start cool-season veggies now. You can plant lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spinach, and Brussels sprout seeds indoors in February and transplant the seedlings outside at the end of March. An old saying suggests you plant peas outside on St. Patrick’s Day.
How About Warm Season Veggies?
You can start warm-season veggies like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, which have a long growing season, mid-to-late February, though you cannot move them outside just yet. Do not set them out until ALL danger of frost is past—usually the end of April.
What You Can’t Start Indoors
Remember not to start beans, cucumbers, squash, and melons indoors. They are fast growers and can’t stand transplanting. Directly sow those outdoors after all danger of frost. Also, you can plant cool-season veggies for fall harvesting in late summer (the end of August or the first of September). Check your seed packet’s back for recommended times for your specific varieties.
How to Start Seeds Indoors
You have several options for starting seeds indoors. There are pots made of compressed peat moss that you can start seeds in and plant the pot and all outside when it’s time. You can use some of your old plastic pots! Scrub them first and soak them in a bucket with a diluted bleach solution to sterilize—one part bleach to nine parts water. Use a finely milled, moisture-retentive, and sterile seed starter soil mix. There are also peat pellets—pellets of dried compressed peat you soak in water for a few minutes, plumping them up. For all of these methods, you’ll need a sunny window. Lacking that, you’ll need to grow lights.
Let’s Get Our Hands Dirty Now
If you’ve got the light, starting your seeds indoors can be a fun and productive way to get your hands dirty!