Starting Garden Plants Early

Another reason to start your garden early is to have something fun to do in the winter months.

Starting garden plants early.

Week 13 onions shallots and slow germinating perennials. Starting your garden early helps you make the most of the growing season and to extend it. Week 12 petunias profusion zinnias. As a general rule your plants will survive those late frosts without a hitch if you cover them with anything sheets buckets plastic mulch anything so be prepared with sufficient materials to do so and watch the weather reports.

It is effortless to grow. Week 15 gazania calibrachoa. Spinach prefers an area with morning sun and afternoon shade and is best planted in early spring while temperatures are still cool about 1 week after the last frost has passed. Remove flower stalks the first year to allow the plant to develop.

We want these plants to be blossoming by the end of may. Thin the sprouts when they are 1 to 2 inches tall to every 4 inches. You can plant them right in the garden and so avoid disturbing the young plant s roots. Starting early is a gamble and you must remain vigilant and prepared in case of cold weather frosts and overnight temps below freezing are a distinct possibility in april.

Week 11 impatiens more perennials. Once you get your bed established you can look forward to a rhubarb harvest every spring for decades. An alternative to using the kits is to purchase biodegradable pots that break down in the soil. Harvesting can begin in the second year after the plant is established.

Plant seeds inch deep every 2 inches in rows 12 to 18 inches apart. Burpee offers a variety of seed starting kits that include trays with cells expandable coir pellets a tray to set them on and a clear lid to hold in humidity during the early stages.