yearofplenty

Gardening Advice - Should I plant seeds or starts in the garden?

 

When I installed a greenhouse five years ago, for the first time I had to ability to start a large number of plants early. I was so excited I started everything early in the greenhouse with the idea that it is always best to get a head start on the natural limits of cold weather and soil temperature. I've learned that this isn't true for every plant in the garden. Even if you don't have a greenhouse you will soon be faced with store shelves and farmers' market tables loaded with lush green plant starts that are hard to resist. The immediate satisfaction of a real plant is certainly more fun to buy than a pack of seeds but like most things in life, delayed gratification is one of the key lessons of gardening.

 

There are a couple things that are helpful to know when buying plant starts. Biggers is not always better. There is not a big advantage to buying a two-foot-tall tomato plant that is already flowering vs. the less expensive eight-inch start. In my experience the smaller plant usually catches up to the big one when they are planted in the garden and they end up bearing the same amount of fruit with similar timing. The problem with the large plants that sometimes already have tomatoes on them is that once they are out of the climate-controlled environment of the greenhouse and in the cool soil of early summer they slow down and their growth stalls out. When the temperatures heat up they get going again but by that time the other smaller plant has caught up with the bigger plant and it's a wash.

 

Another good example of this is pumpkin plants. I have always worked with the assumption that the best way to grow giant pumpkins is to start the seeds really early. It made intuitive sense to me that the earlier I started the seeds the bigger the pumpkins will get, but it turns out this isn't true. I spoke with the winner of the giant pumpkin contest at last summer's Spokane County Fair and asked him about his timing for starting seeds. He explained that he starts the seeds at the beginning of April and plants them in the garden at the beginning of May under plastic. I don't know the science behind it but in retrospect I understand why this works. I've learned that once squash plants start growing they like to keep growing and don't respond well to having their growth disrupted by transplanting or the shock of moving from the friendly confines of the greenhouse as a large plant to outside in the garden. When I have started squash plants really early and planted them as large plants they tend to sit in the garden for a long time without growing. When the plants are smaller they tend to make that transition more smoothly. 

 

One other consideration when buying plant starts is the issue of sustainability. Bigger plants means that more energy has gone into defying the local climate. In the past I've noticed that Home Depot is packed with plants from Texas. Smaller plants grown locally are generally more sustainable. Farmers' Markets are the best place to buy starts. The big plants are also expensive to buy.

While you don't necessarily need giant plants to grow a successful harvest of vegetables there are certain plants that are best planted in the garden as small plants instead of seeds.

I recommend buying and growing plant starts for:

 

Tomatoes

Peppers

Eggplant

Tomatillos

Winter Squash (pumpkins, butternut, spaghetti,etc.)

Summer Squash (zucchini, scallop, crookneck)

Cucumbers

Onions

Basil

Cabbage/Kohl Rabi/Kale

Broccoli 

Marigolds (these are great companion plants for a vegetable garden and I always start some early but also direct seed them)

 

Summer squash, like zucchini, and cucumbers can be successfully planted as seeds but I have problems with birds that love to nip at the young plants. They leave the bigger ones alone so, if I have time, I plant these as starts. If I don't get around to starting them early I plant the seeds in the garden but plant twice as many seeds as I need, anticipating that the birds will kill many of them. The one advantage of starting squash plants from seed in the garden is that they don't like to have their roots disturbed so this method avoids the shock of transplanting them. Take note that it's beneficial to loosen the roots of most transplants before putting them in the garden, but squash plants are the big exception to the rule. I always plant winter squash as plants because they usually take around 100 days to mature and I like to get a little head start.

 

Plants that are best planted as seeds in the garden:

 

Cilantro

Dill

Parsley

Corn (don't bother growing in a backyard garden)

Beans

Peas

Bunching Onions

Carrots, Beets, Parsnips, and other roots crops

Lettuce & other greens

Chard

Cucumbers (if birds aren't an issue)

Sunflowers (I start these a couple weeks early but it's not really necessary)

Potatoes (buy seed potatoes and plant directly in the garden)

 

I know I'm forgetting some so let me know if you've got a question about a plant not mentioned.

Gardeners start your engines - Seed starting schedule for a vegetable garden

Here is the schedule I follow in Spokane based on a May 15 last freeze date. I have a greenhouse which makes managing larger plants easier. You might want to push it back 2 weeks if you're putting them by a south facing window.

March 1 - 11 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Clean up greenhouse and get heater set up
• Map out this year's garden plan
  • rotate crops to limit disease (for example tomato, potato, eggplant varieties should not be planted in the same place from one year to the next.)
  • Be aware of plants that like each other and plants that don't. Go here or here for an overview.
• Start seeds for peppers, eggplant and onions.
• Plant parsnip seeds in the garden

March 15 - 9 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Start seeds for tomatoes, perennials and some flowers (I'm experimenting with wildflower seeds I collected last year so I'll probably plant some trays of those for the fun of it.)
• I'll either start pea plants in the greenhouse or more likely just plant the seeds in the garden. It's so mild this year you could probably get away with it.
• Six weeks is probably more than adequate for starting most tomatoes but I like to make the most of the greenhouse. The bigger they are the more fun it is to give them to friends and neighbors.

March 29 - 7 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Start seeds for squash, lettuce, kohl rabi and other "cole" crops like cabbage. I might start the cole crops earlier. Every year I swear off growing cabbage, kale etc. because we don't eat them. But the chickens sure do like it.
• I'll probably start a another tragic saga of the giant pumpkin somewhere in here too.

April 26 - 3 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Go cry on the shoulder of Bruce Metzger from GEM Garden and Greenhouse and ask him why my plants are dying.
• Start seeds for cucumbers.
• Buy some of his starts from his greenhouse and put them in my greenhouse and feel a lot better about the green in my greenhouse.
• Plant pea and lettuce starts being sure to cover them at night if it freezes.

May 15 - historic last freeze date

• Empty the greenhouse and get it all planted except the tomatoes and peppers that really like it warm. June 1 is the usual date to plant out tomatoes and peppers around these parts.
• Beans really do best by direct seeding them into the garden so now is the time to do that. I don't bother with corn anymore. It takes up a lot of space, hogs water and fertilizer and generally disappoints come harvest time.

May 22 - one week before I told everyone on the blog to plant out their tomatoes and peppers

• Plant out tomatoes and peppers because I just can't stand taking care of them in the greenhouse anymore.

The best way to learn is to try and try again.

 

Vegetable Garden Seed Starting Schedule

Here is a re-post from last February regarding a vegetable garden seed-starting schedule. It's a little early but I can tell from Google search links that people are starting to think about this.

Here in the Spokane area May 15 is the traditional last freeze date, so short of using a hoop house over the soil you want to plan your seed starting around that date. I recommend Irish Eyes Seeds, a locally owned seed company in Ellensberg, WA. They source a lot of their organic seeds from the Inland Northwest. Just like most commodities veggie seeds regardless of brand are likely from the same source of "who knows where." I like the local connection and local sourcing efforts of Irish Eyes. I noticed Seeds of Change Seeds at NW Seed for the first time. They are also a good choice.

Below is my game plan for the garden. I have a greenhouse which makes managing larger plants easier. You might want to push it back 2 weeks if you're putting them by a south facing window.

March 1 - 11 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Clean up greenhouse and get heater set up
• Map out this year's garden plan
  • rotate crops to limit disease (for example tomato, potato, eggplant varieties should not be planted in the same place from one year to the next.)
  • Be aware of plants that like each other and plants that don't. Gohere or here for an overview.
• Start seeds for peppers, eggplant and onions.
• Plant parsnip seeds in the garden

March 15 - 9 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Start seeds for tomatoes, perennials and some flowers (I'm experimenting with wildflower seeds I collected last year so I'll probably plant some trays of those for the fun of it.)
• I'll either start pea plants in the greenhouse or more likely just plant the seeds in the garden. It's so mild this year you could probably get away with it.
• Six weeks is probably more than adequate for starting most tomatoes but I like to make the most of the greenhouse. The bigger they are the more fun it is to give them to friends and neighbors.

March 29 - 7 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Start seeds for squash, lettuce, kohl rabi and other "cole" crops like cabbage. I might start the cole crops earlier. Every year I swear off growing cabbage, kale etc. because we don't eat them. But the chickens sure do like it.
• I'll probably start a another tragic saga of the giant pumpkin somewhere in here too.

April 26 - 3 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Go cry on the shoulder of Bruce Metzger from GEM Garden and Greenhouse and ask him why my plants are dying.
• Start seeds for cucumbers.
• Buy some of his starts from his greenhouse and put them in my greenhouse and feel a lot better about the green in my greenhouse.
• Plant pea and lettuce starts being sure to cover them at night if it freezes.

May 15 - historic last freeze date

• Empty the greenhouse and get it all planted except the tomatoes and peppers that really like it warm. June 1 is the usual date to plant out tomatoes and peppers around these parts.
• Beans really do best by direct seeding them into the garden so now is the time to do that. I don't bother with corn anymore. It takes up a lot of space, hogs water and fertilizer and generally disappoints come harvest time.

May 22 - one week before I told everyone on the blog to plant out their tomatoes and peppers

• Plant out tomatoes and peppers because I just can't stand taking care of them in the greenhouse anymore.

The best way to learn is to try and try again.

 

Favorite New Flower: Prairie Coneflower

I started these Prairie Coneflower (Ratibida columnifera) from seed in the greenhouse this year and they are beautiful. Of course the Purple Coneflower remains my all time favorite.

Planning Your Garden Plot (Companion Planting, Rotation & Location)

If you've been following along here in prepping for this year's garden you have some seeds starting to pop up. If you were a little overeager you probably have some plants that are getting quite large and the roots are overgrowing their little cubicle.

If they are getting too big, and it's too early to plant them out (at least it is here in Spokane), you'll want to transplant them into a larger pot so they don't become root bound. Note that squash type plants (pumpkins, etc.) have sensitive roots so when/if you transplant them don't disrupt the roots. Most other starts you'll want to tussle up the roots a little before transplanting. (Note: If you come home on a sunny day and your starts are all droopy like a Salvador Dali painting, don't lose all hope. Often with generous watering they will resurrect themselves.)

If you haven't been able to get any seeds into the ground it's not too late to get them going but it's getting close to that point where you might want to just plan on buying plant starts from a local greenhouse. I recommend GEM Garden and Greenhouse, Northwest Seed & Pet and the Herb Garden & Greenhouse if you live in the Spokane area. Farmers' Markets are also a good place to get starts . Many of the large garden centers are coming around on sourcing from local greenhouses, but past history shows that many of their starts are from places like Texas.

If you haven't done so yet, it's time to draw up a picture of your garden plot and identify what you will plant and where. As I've said before, rotate crops to limit disease. For example tomato, potato, eggplant varieties should not be planted in the same place from one year to the next. Rotation is also important for not depleting the soil. You want to follow heavy to medium feeders that draw a lot of nutrients from the soil (tomatoes, corn, cabbage, peppers) with either light feeders (carrots, beets, onions) or heavy givers (beans, peas) that actually will fix nitrogen in the soil and enrich it. I like the methodology explained here that recommends a rotation of heavy feeders followed with heavy givers which are then followed by light feeders.

Another key consideration in plotting out your garden plan is what plants make good companions and like to be together and which plants are arch enemies and will fight each other all summer resulting in reduced yields.

You can go here for a run down on plants that are beneficial and antagonistic. I get kind of overwhelmed by all the information and different criteria for planting, so I have developed Craig's anecdotal, simplified companion planting plan.

Basil & Tomatoes: My first recommendation is interplant your tomatoes with basil, lots of basil. We discovered this two year's ago. We always had trouble with our basil going to seed because of the intense heat of summer, but when we interplanted them with the tomatoes the large tomato plants shaded the basil just enough to keep them in check. We had wonderful basil all summer and the tomatoes seem to really like it too.

Borage, Nasturtiums and Marigolds all around: These are my go to plants to intersperse in the veggie garden. Marigolds are legendary among organic gardeners for helping with aphids.

Fennel be banned: I've heard reports that Fennel doesn't get along well with much in the garden so I haven't been planting it of late.

I'll probably add to my companion planting list as I mature as a gardener but these are the three things that make sense to me at this point. Let me know you're experiences and I'll add to the list.

One last consideration for you garden plan, make sure to plant you're tall shade producing plants on the north side of your plot so they don't block the sun from your shorter plants. Lettuce on the other hand is good to plant in the semi shade of sunflowers to keep it from going to seed too quickly.

Picture: Arrowleaf Balsamroot emerging from winter slumber.

Spring Gardening Update

Just checking in about the seed starting calendar I put together earlier in the Spring. So far we're right on schedule. We're just about 7 weeks out from the last freeze date here in the Spokane area so everything is planted in the greenhouse except the Zucchini and summer squash. The picture to the left is what the greenhouse looks like at this point. If I cranked up the heat some more I could get things growing more briskly but I don't like to run the heater all the time. The barrels with water pictured to the left are full of water and are designed to absorb heat during the day and slowly release heat at night. Our greenhouse is the Costco sourced kit that sells for about $700.

The peas I planted in the garden about three weeks ago are now popping up as are the radishes. No sign of the parsnips or beets. It's going to get pretty cold later in the week so I may put some plastic over these sprouts overnight just in case.

I went to Northwest Seed & Pet last week and bought my seed potatoes. Legend has it that you're supposed to plant your seed potatoes on Good Friday. I mentioned that to a real potato farmer one time and he laughed and said, "Yea, That or when the soil reaches a temperature of 52 degrees." (I actually can't remember the exact temperature.) I think I'll stick with the Good Friday rule. I've said it many times but I recommend planting funky varieties of potatoes, like purple or fingerling or pink. There is nothing more discouraging than growing Yukon Gold or Russett type potatoes only to go to the grocery store and see them being sold for .50 cents a pound. We've still got about 50 lbs of potatoes left from last summer's harvest.

One of my special projects for this year is to grow native wildflowers from the seeds I gathered last summer. There is something really satisfying seeing them sprouting up in the Greenhouse. The wildflowers I'm growing from seed include Fireweed, Blanketflower, Lupine, Blue Flax, Hooker's Onion, Yarrow, Deer Vetch, Buckwheat, and Arrowleaf Balsamroot. Everything has popped up so far except for the Arrowleaf which I was told is notoriously hard to start from seeds gathered in the wild. I have a bunch of other native flowers I am starting from store bought seeds.

Richard Bohn, a local artist from the Pumpkin Patch Community Garden group stopped by Saturday to get some of the seeds I gathered to include in the wildflower border we're planting around the garden. Go here for an update on the garden and to www.pumpkinpatchgarden.com for the whole scoop and to sign up to volunteer. Click through to read a nice poem Richard wrote about planting the seeds on Saturday. 

How to Make Your Own Professional Seed Starting Soil Mix

If you're starting your own seeds in trays, you should know that you're not supposed to use regular garden soil. You need to use a "medium" that is sterile, meaning that it doesn't have fungus and bacteria that will be hard on your tender little seedlings, especially in the humid conditions that are ideal for seed starting.

You can buy seed starting mix at your local garden supply store or, as I've learned, you can make your own that is just as good if not better. It will take an initial investment but if you're going to get into starting plants I think it's worth it.

The basic ingredients are vermiculite, perlite, and peat moss. Buy the big bags for around $25 each at Northwest Seed and Pet, and you'll be stocked up for several growing seasons. The basic mix is 3 parts peat moss, 1 part perlite and 1 part vermiculite. I make my batches by using a plastic pitcher, and I toss into a dedicated garbage can 9 pitchers full of peat moss, 3 of perlite and 3 of vermiculite. Note: use a particle mask while doing this. I usually wet it down a little before mixing it to keep the dust down.

Make sure to mix it up well, wet it all down so it's damp, but not soggy, and it's ready to load into your planting trays. It's much easier filling plastic trays with soil that is already the proper dampness.

I learned this mix from Bruce at GEM Garden and Greenhouse. He sells this medium with some other goodies added in for a great price. If you're only starting a couple of trays you might want to go that route.

Seedlings supply their own fertilizer for the first week or so as they feed off the remnants of the seed. After this they will need some mild fertilizer input. I use Osmocote slow release pellets that I scatter around the top of the soil, (not touching the stem), so every time I water they seedlings they get a small dose of fertilizer. It's not organic but it sure makes it easier for me. I have this phobia of chemicals so I like not having to deal with applying fertilizers. I'm open to ideas on this from someone who has organic fertilizer's figured out.

The Goodwin Garden Seed Starting Schedule

I made my annual trip to Northwest Seed and Pet today to get my gardening game face on. It's officially time to start rattling around the greenhouse and get some early season crops started. Here in the Spokane area May 15 is the traditional last freeze date, so short of using a hoop house over the soil you want to plan your seed starting around that date. I recommend Irish Eyes Seeds, a locally owned seed company in Ellensberg, WA. They source a lot of their organic seeds from the Inland Northwest. Just like most commodities veggie seeds regardless of brand are likely from the same source of "who knows where." I like the local connection and local sourcing efforts of Irish Eyes. I noticed Seeds of Change Seeds at NW Seed for the first time. They are also a good choice.

Below is my game plan for the garden. I have a greenhouse which make managing larger plants easier. You might want to push it back 2 weeks if you're putting them by a south facing window.

March 1 - 11 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Clean up greenhouse and get heater set up
• Map out this year's garden plan
• • rotate crops to limit disease (for example tomato, potato, eggplant varieties should not be planted in the same place from one year to the next.)
  • Be aware of plants that like each other and plants that don't. Go here or here for an overview.
• Start seeds for peppers, eggplant and onions.
• Plant parsnip seeds in the garden

March 15 - 9 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Start seeds for tomatoes, perennials and some flowers (I'm experimenting with wildflower seeds I collected last year so I'll probably plant some trays of those for the fun of it.)
• I'll either start pea plants in the greenhouse or more likely just plant the seeds in the garden. It's so mild this year you could probably get away with it.
• Six weeks is probably more than adequate for starting most tomatoes but I like to make the most of the greenhouse. The bigger they are the more fun it is to give them to friends and neighbors.

March 29 - 7 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Start seeds for squash, lettuce, kohl rabi and other "cole" crops like cabbage. I might start the cole crops earlier. Every year I swear off growing cabbage, kale etc. because we don't eat them. But the chickens sure do like it.
• I'll probably start a another tragic saga of the giant pumpkin somewhere in here too.

April 26 - 3 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Go cry on the shoulder of Bruce Metzger from GEM Garden and Greenhouse and ask him why my plants are dying.
• Start seeds for cucumbers.
• Buy some of his starts from his greenhouse and put them in my greenhouse and feel a lot better about the green in my greenhouse.
• Plant pea and lettuce starts being sure to cover them at night if it freezes.

May 15 - historic last freeze date

• Empty the greenhouse and get it all planted except the tomatoes and peppers that really like it warm. June 1 is the usual date to plant out tomatoes and peppers around these parts.
• Beans really do best by direct seeding them into the garden so now is the time to do that. I don't bother with corn anymore. It takes up a lot of space, hogs water and fertilizer and generally disappoints come harvest time.

May 22 - one week before I told everyone on the blog to plant out their tomatoes and peppers

• Plant out tomatoes and peppers because I just can't stand taking care of them in the greenhouse anymore.

The best way to learn is to try and try again.

My new policy on the blog this year is that regular commenters get dibs on some plant starts from the Goodwin greenhouse (if your interested). Prolific Twitter retweeterers will also get serious consideration. Nancy has made me promise to not crowd the garden so much this year so I'm going to have to do something with all the starts. Let me know what you're interested in.

Seed Starting Tips for the Inland Northwest

Below is a Re-post from two years ago. I can tell from Google searches that people are starting to think about starting seeds. I'll follow up next week. Go here to see the informative comments to the previous posting of this information.

This will be my third year of starting seeds in the house to be planted out in the garden after the weather warms up. I see myself as a sort of apprentice in this, learning and soaking up information from the older generations who have been doing this their whole lives. I only discovered it because the folks we bought our house from, had a nice little garden all ready for us to harvest when we moved in three years ago. I have several friends that have been asking me about how to go about this, so I thought I would offer some basic tips here on how to do it. I'm no expert but here are some things I have learned.

The traditional last freeze date in Spokane is May 15. Most seed packets offer instructions for starting seeds around this last freeze date. For tomatoes it's usually 6-8 weeks before last freeze. For cabbage variety plants it's usually 8-10 weeks before last freeze. For onions it's usually 10 weeks before last freeze. Some stuff is better left to start directly in the garden. Pumpkins and squash are persnickety about having their roots disturbed, so if you do start them indoors don't mess with their roots. Here's a map showing the last freeze dates. Note that this doesn't guarantee it won't freeze after that date so be ready to cover stuff up in an emergency.

A good seed starting medium makes all the difference. The best stuff in the Spokane Valley is available from GEM Garden and Greenhouse. Bruce Metzger is the man behind the mix. He has a PHD in horticulture, has his own seed varietal for early girl tomatoes, and unless you drive slow and look hard you'll drive right by his sign. Park on the street and walk back under the huge tree limbs to the Greenhouses. If you don't see Bruce just call out his name and he'll emerge from somewhere. His soil mix is the best around and you'll want to return later in May to get your plant starts. His tomato starts go quick so don't wait too long.  

Spokane Valley tribal wisdom says don't stick anything in the ground until Mica Peak is free of snow. I know people who put their whole garden in at the beginning of May and take their chances. In recent years they've been fairing pretty well. Another local legend says to plant your potato seeds on Good Friday. Note that Good Friday is really early this year so I'd wait awhile. I've planted them as late as late May and they've done fine. Northwest Seed and Pet is a good place to get your potato starts. They have a good variety.

The key to warmer weather plants is not the air temperature as much as it is the soil temperature. For this reason I wouldn't plant out squashes, tomatoes, cantaloupes, etc. until June 1.

Lettuces are tricky in the Inland Northwest. It goes from really cold to really hot without much in between. When it gets hot they bolt, go to seed, and become inedible. All those sex hormones make them bitter. I've got my lettuces started now and will put them out under plastic and hoops in April.

When transitioning plants from in the house to outside, in a greenhouse or cold frame, they are very tender and in a matter of minutes can be toasted by heat or shocked by cold. Try to make that transition as easy as possible. Gardeners call it hardening plants off. A cold frame is an inexpensive way to ease the transition.

Heating pads under the seed starts can shorten the germination time from 15 days to 3 days.

Soaking bigger hearty seeds like corn and peas in water for 24 hours before you plant them will speed up the germination.

If you suffer a catastrophe and all your seedling die a terrible death, it's not the end of the world. You can always go to a local greenhouse and get some starts. It's actually probably cheaper to just buy starts, but a lot less fun.

Now is also the time to transplant raspberries, blueberries, fruit trees etc. Northwest seed and pet has the best supply of transplant stock. Note that it takes a couple of years to get fruit. 

See my post on seeds for more info on getting your seeds.

Gardening in the Inland Northwest is the best book on Inland Northwest gardening. Here's a note from the author, Tonie Jean Fitzgerald; "It's a paperback for about $12.00 new at Aunties Bookstore and at the WSU Spokane county Extension office. I'll be doing a book signing at Aunties on Saturday, April 29th at 10:30. There will be a few Master Gardener Volunteers with me to help answer questions."

Who else has some local wisdom and experience they can share?

Before and After

Before: End of March sprouts in the Greenhouse

After: End of June harvest of kohl rabi, kale, and garlic scapes