Get Ready To Direct Sow Your Cool-Weather Loving Crops!

Good tips from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds on spring planting of cool weather crops.


Get Ready To Direct Sow Your Cool-Weather Loving Crops!

As the spring thaw approaches, it is time to consider direct seeding cool-weather crops. Crops like peas, carrots, lettuce, kale and spinach can be sown before the last frost date. These crops should be sowed early, especially in regions with short, hot springs and scorching summer temperatures.
 
Peas —  How can a crop that is so rugged and cold hardy taste so sweet and delicate? One of the most cold hardy seeds, peas can be sown as soon as the soil can be worked in late winter or early spring.
 
Carrots —  Carrots are one of the most rewarding crops, nothing is more satisfying than pulling those long crisp roots from the soil! Carrots can be sown around 3 weeks before last expected frost and every 2 weeks after that. Remember that carrots that mature during the heat of summer will have a more bitter taste, so the earlier, the better!
 
Lettuce —  Lettuce is a very easy-to-grow beginner’s crop.  It is very hardy and adaptable with one big condition: lettuce hates heat! For spring planting, sow seeds 2-4 weeks before the last frost. You can seed densely for loose-leaf varieties and thin to 4 inches per plant; for heading types, space plants about 8-12 inches apart.
 
Spinach —  Spinach is a leafy green vegetable that grows best in cool weather. True spinach is very cold tolerant, one of the first crops planted at winter’s end. Plant about 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost in the spring. Space plants 12 inches apart; this gives leaves room to reach full size.
 
Kale — Kale is cold-tolerant, easy to grow and highly nutritious. In the spring, sow seeds 8-10 weeks before last fall frost. This cabbage relative is considered a perfect beginner gardener’s crop; they require very little care to thrive. It can tolerate an impressive amount of cool weather. Set plants out or thin to 12- 18 inches apart.
 
Be sure to plan your early season crops so you can grow your most nutritious and successful early spring garden!

Very interesting. However, I am not sure some of those planting dates will work where I am.  For example, sow Kale 8 to 10 weeks before last frost. I will probably still have snow and frozen MM at that time. The frost goes down several feet here and it takes a long time for the ground to warm up. Perhaps I could speed things along with a plastic tent over the growing bed.

You are probably right, TD.  I remember that kind of problem when I lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, too.  Fortunately, here in the Ohio Valley we can get those early starts on the cold weather crops.  Our last frost date is 15 May, but we can put out the Kale, Spinach, Onions, etc., in early April.  But, we dare not put out the tender plants such a peppers and tomatoes until after Mother's Day. I start the Spinach & Kale indoors the 1st of March, and transplant them outdoors in early to mid-April. Then after those plants are outdoors and the shelves are empty, I start the Peppers & Tomatoes indoors so they will be ready to be transplanted into the gardens in mid-May.

trolleydriver wrote:The frost goes down several feet here and it takes a long time for the ground to warm up. Perhaps I could speed things along with a plastic tent over the growing bed.

TD - that is what I did this spring to get the ground warm enough to plant potatoes that will sprout before they rot.  The soil was 40*F before I set  up my row cover.  After 1 week, the temp had climbed 10*F to 50*F (which is about the minimum temp that potatoes need to sprout quickly).  Of course my outdoor temperatures are vastly warmer than yours, but yours would still warm up some with a plastic row cover.

I forgot about black plastic covers over the beds.  I need to start thinking along those lines.  Do they still work if they are covered by 3" of snow.  

CapeCoddess, here we grow snow for the nitrogen, poor man's fertilizer source. I am now wondering if snow is in the legume family. The good news is you don't need 10 hours of sunlight to grow snow and I don't like to brag but I have been known to grow snow in the dark.

OhioGardener and TD, here is a pdf from the University of Nebraska Extension with a few soil temperatures while direct seeding of specific crops needed for germination. Need to note these are minimum temperatures. I am going to use the calendar as to the approximate when but soil temperature as to the specific day to sow.

 http://extensionpublications.unl.edu/assets/pdf/g2122.pdf

Dan,

You provided my first laugh of the day!

I wish we could grow more snow nitrogen here in Central Oregon this winter.

I'm growing snow and lots of ice dirt right now.  It's so cold!. 

Compost pile is like stone.
CC

I can't even get to my SFG right now.  I tried this afternoon but gave up because of the deep snow.

 Cold....

I do not sow any cool weather veggies outside.  They take too long to sprout in the colder weather and our spring is too short for them to grow to maturity if direct seeded.  SO, I pre-sprouted peas, kohlrabi, broccoli, bunching onions, and spinach.  I have planted all of these transplants in the garden and am waiting to see if they make it past this next weeks freezing temps.

yolos wrote:I do not sow any cool weather veggies outside.  They take too long to sprout in the colder weather and our spring is too short for them to grow to maturity if direct seeded.  

Yes, it is hard to grow things like lettuce to maturity before it gets too hot in the South.  Here is what I do.  I plant lettuce and harvest them way before maturity.  And I plant the lettuce much denser than the typical 4 per square foot.  Try planting them at 9 per square foot, and harvest them early.