Gardening for You: Starting dates for vegetable seed

Ellen Peffley
·1 min read

It seems that we are having an early spring this year since trees and shrubs are already flowering and budding into leaf.

Yet take it slow on planting tender plants outside as there are still 6 weeks before our average last freeze date of April 20, which means don’t be surprised if/when we have a hard freeze.

Six-week-old nasturtium seedlings that were sown indoors from seed. True leaves have emerged from the center between the seed leaves. Seedlings are ready to transplant to a larger container or to the garden once the first true leaf has fully expanded.
Six-week-old nasturtium seedlings that were sown indoors from seed. True leaves have emerged from the center between the seed leaves. Seedlings are ready to transplant to a larger container or to the garden once the first true leaf has fully expanded.

However, for those of us who will be planting a spring garden and self-starting seeds for transplanting into the summer garden, here are some start times to consider sowing popular vegetables from seed and a few edible flowers.

Spring garden cool season vegetables that can be directly sowed into soil now, sowing depth, and days to germination:

  • Arugula. ¼” deep, 7-14 days to germinate

  • Beets, Chard. 1”, 7-10

  • Cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts. ½”, 3-10

  • Carrot. ¼”, 10-21

  • Chives. ½”, 8-14

  • Collards. ¼”, 4-10

  • Endive. ½”, 5-9

  • Fennel. ½”, 6-21

  • Kale. ½”, 3-10

  • Leek. ½”, 7-14

  • Leaf lettuce. ¼ - ½”, 4-10

  • Parsnip. ½”, 14-28

  • Pea. 2”, 7-14

  • Radish. ½”, 3-10

  • Spinach. ½”, 6-14

  • Turnip. ½”, 6-14

Summer vegetables that are best grown from transplants and that can be started indoors now, with sowing depth, days to germination and number of weeks needed to grow to transplant size:

Peffley
Peffley

  • Eggplant. ½” deep, 7-14 days to germinate, 6 - 9 weeks needed to grow to transplant size

  • Peppers. ¼”, 10 -21, 6-8 weeks

  • Tomato. ½”, 6 – 14, 5-7 weeks

Edible flowers best started from transplants, with same data as summer transplants:

  • Borage. ½ ”, 7-14, 6-8

  • Calendula. ¼”, 7-14, 4-6

  • Nasturtium. 1”, 7-14, 3-5

Ellen Peffley taught horticulture at the college level for 28 years, 25 of those at Texas Tech, during which time she developed two onion varieties. She is now the sole proprietor of From the Garden, a market garden farmette. You can email her at gardens@suddenlink.net

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Gardening for You: Starting dates for vegetable seed