Dear Abbie, When Should I start planting seeds?

Dear Abbie, I always struggled to know when to start seeds for my garden. When do you start your seeds?

Dear gardener: I am glad you asked! Here are my top 5 tips and my seed starting dates!

1.       Read the seed packet.

A quality seed packet will give you directions for successfully starting seeds. This will include a week range for planting. You will commonly read “sow indoors 6-8 weeks prior to your average last frost” or something very similar. Just count back from your average last frost date (May 15th for me) and this will give you an approximate date!

2.       Talk to neighboring gardeners.

This is so helpful! If you have a neighbor who gardens, ask them when they start their seeds! They will be more than happy to share that information with you!

3.       Succession plant.

Not sure if you should start tomatoes on March 15 or April 15th due to all the things you’ve read on the internet? Why not try both! This is a great learning experience. Plant half your seeds in March and the other half in April and note how those plants do!

5.       On that note. Keep notes!

This is how I have narrowed down my starting dates. Each year I keep notes of when I start seeds and then reference them the following year. If something seemed like it was started too early or too late, I make a note.  

6.       Just grow!

Do not let seed starting dates keep you from getting started. Just start planting seeds!

Below are exact dates I am starting some common seeds this year. But I share these with a caution. This is based on my person experience and my growing conditions. Results will vary depending on how you are starting your seeds, temperature, soil, fertilizer, sunlight and more. However, based on an average last frost date of May 15th, these are my seed starting dates:

• Tomatoes

  • March 25

• Peppers

  • March 4

• Basil

  • March 4

• Lettuce

  • Once a week starting on April 1

• Cucumbers and summer squash

  • April 22 (and I will direct sow more in the garden in late May)

What other seed starting dates would you like to know about? What dates do you plant? Are they the same or different than mine?

Happy seed starting!

Abbie