Recipe Book: When You Garden, Do You Start With Seeds?

It may not look like it with our every-other-day Denver snowstorms but we are just two (2) weeks away from Spring! Though March tends to be the snowiest month, that shouldn’t stop you from getting a start on your vegetable seedlings! Below are some top recommendations for getting them started and having seedling success!

Here are the top recommendations:

- decide what you want to grow in the space you have - don’t start too much that you wont be able to transfer to a good garden area

- use a soil medium instead of garden soil or potting soil for seed starting

- water the plants with room temperature water

- when true leaves have emerged, the plants should be watered regularly and given a glug of half-strength liquid fertilizer each week

- when it’s time to plant your babies outside, get them ready by exposing them to the outside temperature and light for increasing periods of time each day, making sure they’re well watered

- when transplanting, grab the plant by the leaves rather than the stem - bruising a leaf is much better than brushing the stem

Cool-weather vs Warm-weather Seeds:

Cool-weather seeds (include greens, lettuce, peas, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, beets and carrots) can be started inside now. Depending on the cold tolerance of the plant, they can be sown outside starting in mid-to-late March.

Warm-weather seeds (tomatoes, peppers and eggplant) should be started in mid-March. Many Coloradans remember St. Patrick’s Day as the time to start seeds. Warm-weather seeds cannot be sown outdoors after the mid-to-late May frost date — they won’t have time to mature. But summer and winter squash, cucumbers and green beans can be sown after the frost date when the soil is warm.

If you’re asking yourself WHY go through the trouble, my response is “It’s a great family project and gets the kids excited about being able to make something grow themselves!”.

If you need a new house with a new yard to plant more veggies, give me a call! I am ready to go to work for YOU!

Kylie