my care2
make a difference
healthy & green living: more than 5,000 ways to enhance your life

customize your free newsletter

Customize your Healthy & Green Living newsletter now


When to Start Seedlings

posted by Annie B. Bond Apr 21, 1999 7:43 pm
When to Start Seedlings
4 comments

Adapted from Straight-Ahead Organic,by Shepherd Ogden.

One of the biggest mistakes gardeners make is starting seedlings too soon.

I know gardeners in Los Angeles who harvest tomatoes in January, but north of USDA Zone 6 you shouldn’t even think of starting tomatoes until February.

In USDA Zone 4 we start ours in two batches: A few in mid-March, and a larger group around the first of April. If the weather breaks early, the March planting is worth it; but if spring is sow, the early seedlings just get tossed out, as they are too big when planting season arrives.

That’s why it’s a good idea to make two sowings of seed, a week or two apart. If something happens to one set, you’ve got the backup. With two plantings, a week before and a week after the theoretically ideal planting date, you’re ready either way.

TIMING CHART FOR STARTING SEEDLINGS

Group 1
Start 10 to 12 weeks before the frost-free date.

Eggplants
Peppers
Parsley
Onions
Leeks
Perennial Herbs
Celeriac

Group 2
Start 6 to 8 weeks before the frost-free date.

Tomatoes
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Basil
Lettuce
Endive

Group 3
Start 2 to 4 weeks before the frost-free date.

Dill
Melons
Beans
Brussels Sprouts
Squash
Lettuce
Annual Herbs

More on Lawns & Gardens (136 articles available)
More from Annie B. Bond (3247 articles available)

4 comments

Go to the Source

Straight-Ahead Organic, by Shepherd Ogden

This is a new and revised edition of Shepherd Ogden's Step-by-Step Organic Vegetable Gardening, a book that introduced thousands of gardeners to the benefits and techniques of organic processes. Although the author is by any definition a Master Grower, this book intended for the amateur enthusiast who is poised to make the leap to organics.buy now

4 comments

add your comment »
4 comments add your comment
Nanna Brenda

Thanks for sharing that. Many times I am guilty online for assuming that everyone is in the same climate time as we are. Yet, In the same note...I think about it and know that they are not.

If I have confused you, sorry. It is just the interent brings people together. The other day a lady was speaking about eating from her garden, yet I just placed our last seeds in the groud. First thing I thought of was wow, you started those out inside to be able to be eating from the plants.

Hope I explained myself.

http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/Homestead_nanna

http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/recipemomma
We do not have all food recipes...it includes other recipes

Kristie Allenspach

What about us folks in zone 3?

Cherry Acker

Be nice to have some info about non-USA zones, please you folks!

Jane Smith

In part, I think this is what happened to our spindley seedlings this past year. This year, we had a hint of spring early and then a return of colder weather; not quite frosts but far cooler than the package directions of 70 degree weather. We would have been better off transplanting our seedlings to the garden, despite the weather, and and taking our chances with the cooler temps rather than trying to hold them in the house.

Please enter your comment.
Or, log in with your
Facebook account:
1500 characters remaining

who's talking about this story?

Adapted from Straight-Ahead Organic,by Shepherd Ogden. Copyright (c)1992, 1999 by Shepherd Ogden. Reprinted by permission of Chelsea Green Publishing Company.

Disclaimer: Care2.com does not warrant and shall have no liability for information provided in this newsletter or on Care2.com. Each individual person, fabric, or material may react differently to a particular suggested use. It is recommended that before you begin to use any formula, you read the directions carefully and test it first. Should you have any health care-related questions or concerns, please call or see your physician or other health care provider.

147

Copyright © 2009 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved