Vegetable Seeding Dates
This is the everything you ever wanted to know about vegetable seeding dates post. I get asked for this info on a regular basis so here it is in one spot, in one column for you to cut out and pin somewhere.
Let’s break the plants down into different families with the same kinds of needs. The first and easiest are the cole crops. These would include Brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli, To get nice transplants, sow indoors between February 15 until March 15. Any time now is fine for an indoor sowing. You can also sow cauliflower outside at the end of May for a late season crop. Cabbage seed can be planted outside from the middle of May until the middle of June for late crops. Broccoli can be planted outside from the middle of May to the middle of June.
Tomatoes, eggplant and peppers should both be started indoors if you want to get maximum yields and the time to this is from the beginning of March through to the beginning of April. The rough rule of thumb is that you count back 8 to 10 weeks from the time you want to plant them in the ground and that’s when you sow the seed indoors. Seeds planted a week or two after April 1 are not going to have enough time to grow and produce a good harvest in our area. Outdoor seeding is not recommended in our region for these plants. If you plant these seeds too early, they’ll get long and leggy and will require special handling in the spring.
There are some seeds that thrive on early plantings; for example, as soon as you can work your garden soil you want to start planting peas. Plan on sowing peas in mid-April and then again on August 1 for a fall harvest. Don’t plant later than the end of April as the oncoming heat will reduce harvests. The plants will grow well, they just won’t give you many peas when compared to earlier plantings.
Beets are another seed that thrive on mid-April planting but in this case, you can plant every 10 days until July if you really like beets.
Spinach and Swiss chard are two other plants that really want the early plantings so plan on getting them in the ground at the same time and stopping by mid-May. Both plants do not do well in summer heat so later plantings will tend to bolt and go to seed.
Contrary to what many folks believe, lettuce is also an early spring planting and it too can go into the ground in mid-April. The trick with this plant though is to plant a few seeds every week right through to July when the heat gets too intense for lettuce production. Stop for July and start again in late August for the cooler fall season.
Finally, if you’re not tucking a few seeds of radish here and there among the rest of the seedlings, you’re missing out. Do not grow an entire row of radish as they tend to get bitter very quickly. Grow a few here and there and harvest them as early as you can. Keep on sowing these right through the summer. Just don’t let them mature and expect to enjoy them.
Onions are one of the cool season crops as well and if you purchase sets, these can be planted along with the other cool season crops above. If you’re starting from seed, the seed can either be started indoors in mid-February to early March or it can be sown outside in mid-April. Transplanted seedlings can go into the ground in late April or early May through to mid-June.
On the other hand, beans can be sown outdoors (never indoors) from the long weekend onwards. Sow a new crop every 10 days until the end of July for an ongoing harvest all summer long. Sweet corn can also be planted from mid-May onwards until mid to late June.
Plants that want warmer soils include the squash family and melon family along with the cucurbit family. Putting these outside too early is a sentence of death rather than a gardening wish. So your giant pumpkins get started in mid-April and so do the watermelons.
Sow cucumber seed indoors from the middle of April to the beginning of May. They are both very fast growers and only require 3 to 4 weeks in their own small pot before you put them outside in the garden. You can plant them directly into the garden but do not do that until early June to give the soil a chance to warm up.
When it comes to the other salad plants, corn salad goes outdoors from mid-April until the beginning of May.
Endive is planted in mid-April and then again the first week of July for a fall crop.
Turnips can be used as either greens or roots and they’re planted in late May.
Collards start on June first and are planted weekly until early August.
Mesclun, which is simply a mix of lettuce and other greens, can be planted in mid-April and should be resown weekly until early July.
The small specialty root crops such as celeriac and kohlrabi are started early outdoors and can be resown every week until the end of June. Parsnips are an early to mid-May outdoor started seed.
I understand there’s a lot of information compressed into a few short words, but I hope it helps you sort out when you can plant for maximum harvest. Give the plant what it wants and you’ll both be happier.
Blue-eyed daisy (Arctotis venusta) has been one of Mayo’s favorite annual plants in our summer container gardens. I’ve been looking at the growth habit...
Review iGarden iPhone App
OK – it’s time to enter the modern era and run a few trials on electronic garden aids. The first of these hit my ipod...
Heirloom Vegetable Seed Sources
Here are a few heirloom vegetable seed sources for you. I don’t think it’s all inclusive but there are enough garden seeds here to sink...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
About Doug
Thank you thank you. This will be my first season planting vegetables (or anything in years, for that matter) so this is exactly what I need to get started.
Wish me luck!
@Brian -
Good luck.
Thanks Doug, never thought of planting lettuce in the late summer again, but it certainly makes sense. More food for the bunnies!
Chriss last blog post..Growing Greens in the Cold
Isn’t it a wonderful time of the year, full of anticipation for what will come. Hope you have a good one.
soup_makers last blog post..One small step towards permaculture.
“…beans can be sown outdoors (never indoors) from the long weekend onwards.”
What timeframe does “the long weekend” refer to?
@Becka -
Mid-May is the normal planting area in a USDA zone 4/5
Awesome post, Doug! This is a great reference for me and I’ve tagged it in my Delicious account. Thanks!
Genevieves last blog post..Smaller Plants to Attract Birds – a Few Favorites
Great guide. I am getting ready for this upcoming growing season and you gave me a great idea on when to start planting and when I should transition them outdoors. Hopefully my garden yields great crops this year
This is an awesome post, Doug, and one I will point people to because it’s practical no matter where we live. Although if winter doesn’t soon lift, I’ll be planting Iceberg Lettuce, Snow Peas, and Col(d) crops only….
jodi DeLongs last blog post..Jodi’s Gotta-Have Plants, Pt. 2: Which Witch(hazel) is Which?
Radish. Very underrated. We grew lots last year and as you say when young and tender they are fantastic.
@jodi DeLong -
I do wonder how you control snow fleas and ice worms though?
Good stuff Doug. I’m a Master Gardener and write a weekly gardening column so I’m very familiar with most of what you’ve wrote about here. I was wondering if you have an idea of the level of gardening ability of your readers? I also noticed your blog isn’t set up at all like those I’m used to reading. For instance, most blogs I read have one easy to find post, usually on the first page, like what you see on my blog. You blog on a whole new level that I’m not at all familiar with. You don’t post daily thoughts or things of that nature, your blog is more like a virtual gardening book, and a thick one. ;~)
TC Conner`s last blog post..What have I done??
@TC Conner` -
TC – thanks for the kind words – your questions are complicated ones and don’t fit well into the context of this post. I’ll have to think about them and post something in my Internet category.
Hi Doug, I’ve just started reading your blog, most enjoyable.
I wanted to tell you and your readers about broad beans because I often find the instructions on seed packets are the same as for other beans, quite wrong. A. They don’t need staking. B. They need cool weather and are not bothered by frost. They can be seeded as soon as the ground can be worked – I usually get to it mid- to late April. They have lovely white and black flowers and will produce by mid-uly. You eat the seed inside the pod, it’s a little bigger than a lima bean, and quite delicious. They also freeze well.
@Kate -
Mayo’s always wanting to grow those as well.
i live in vermont. i always have an issue every season with my peppers and then bugs. i tried everything, from organic to other pesticides…but the insects get ‘em every time. what can i do or what am i doing wrong?
@lysa -
I’m not sure what you’re doing and what insects you’re having problems with so have no idea how to help you. There’s all kinds of vegetable gardening hints at Beginner Gardening and a growing number of articles at Doug Greens Garden on Organic Gardening techniques. They would be two good starting points.
Doug,
You have a nice website and a lot of good information. I was trying to figure out where you are located, because I am seeking information on whether rhubard can be successfully grown in the south. I am in southeast Oklahoma, and having worked for the Cooperative Extension Service here for 32 years, I can tell you without a doubt that planting turnips in May here is a recipe for disaster. So you might give a little disclaimer on your website on what regions of the country your planting dates are for, because most of them won’t work here. But any tips you have on growing rhubarb in this part of the country would be much appreciated. Clay Jones
@Clay Jones -
Hey Clay – no idea about Southern gardening info – I live down South in the winter but don’t garden there. And my “about” page is as clear as I can get where I live – so I don’t preface every article with the “where I am” info.
This was my first visit to your site, it was very informative for me. I am very new to gardening and found all your advice to be very helpful. Will definately be back!!!
@Sara McMillan -
Glad you enjoyed it
you have lots of good info – too bad I didn’t see it before I planted my garden:) I had no idea that vegetables should be started indoors. I spent the weekend digging and mixing a planting bed. Then of course we’ve had rain the last three days. I’m in Jersey and I planted peas, carrots, broccoli, string beans, beets, peppers and eggplant – all from seed. This is my first time gardening with vegetables – do you think anything will grow?
@Terry -
But it depends on how you planted them and whether it’s too cold there at this time of year.
Sure hope most of it will grow.
Hi Doug,
You have the best website for gardening matters out there.
Regards, Judith Martin
Billings, MT
gardening on the 4th of July
@Judith Martin -
Thanks for that! Always appreciate kind reviews.