It’s time to start planning and planting that spring garden. Most gardeners in climates with last frost dates in March can start seeds indoors now. If you live in a warmer, frost-free zone, you can still start seeds indoors, but you’ll soon be able to plant out in the ground next month.
A question came in from a new garden about what to plant now. Here’s our helpful spring planting guide:
Beans, squash, orach spinach, and herbs. Start these and more now.
Cool Weather stuff:
- Asparagus – plant crowns and slowly cover with soil over several months
- Brassicas – (cool climates only) broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, etc.
- Greens – lettuces, arugula, mustard greens, spinach, collards, kale and chard
- Herbs – basil, cilantro, chives, dill, parsley, oregano, thyme and rosemary to name a few
- Root Crops – carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips, and radishes
- Peas – grow them up trellises for garden snacking
Strawberries, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes
Warm Weather stuff:
- Beans – favas, pole and bush varieties (dry or fresh)
- Corn – plant at least three rows to ensure polination via the wind
- Cucumbers – start indoors or directly in the garden soil. Trellis them for more room.
- Eggplant – start seeds indoors (see below for details)
- Melons – watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew – start seeds indoors
- Peppers – sweet and hot varieties, start indoors
- Squash – both summer and winter varieties grow in warm weather – the name simply indicates how long they store (i.e. zucchini is a summer squash and has to be consumed during the summer, pumpkins are winter squashes and keeps through winter)
- Tomatoes – try some heirloom varieties for some great color and diversity, start indoors
Plant cool weather crops now if your climate doesn’t heat up until summer. If you live in warm-winter climates, stick to the warm weather list above (though you can get away with a short round of lettuces and herbs before the heat sets in).
Still need help? If you live in Los Angeles, sign up for one of two Spring Garden Planning Workshops at Gardenerd headquarters, Saturday, March 23 or Sunday, April 14 from 9-11 a.m. Register here.
Hi Christy! Great post. Can you recommend any seed catalogues or local places to purchase seeds for vegetables, herbs and flowers? Thanks much.
Hi Jill,
We list many of our favorite seed catalog companies on our Links page. Locally, many nurseries carry Botanical Interests seeds, which is a small family-run company that offers untreated seeds, including some organic and heirloom varieties.
Southern exposure
Hi Bibi,
That’s a great challenge. When we did out Mother’s Day brunch, we based the menu on what we had growing in the garden, instead of the other way around. Too much pressure to succeed otherwise. 🙂
I suggest planting potatoes, chard, herbs and lettuces to get started now. Green onions and peas will also make great additions. Seed packets will tell you how many days to maturity, so you can plan backwards from there.
I hope this helps!
Thanks for this post. It’s just what I wanted!
I’ve dared myself to accept the challenge of growing the produces for Mother’s Day organic feast for a super large extended family. I’d love to see a blog post that helps me work backwards… so I know when to plant what in order to harvest mid-May.
Suggestions?