Hellebores, my favorite early spring flowers, coming soon!
Spring is coming, and it has prompted some soul-searching on my part. Some of you may recall that last year I planted peas in July. Which is an OUTRAGE, since they actually want to be planted in March (suffice it to say, they didn’t do well). How did I let that happen?
The trouble is, in high school, I wrote essays for all my afternoon classes in a frenzy during lunch. In college, I’d wake up at 4 a.m. to finish papers, then RUN to drop them off before their 9 a.m. deadlines. I have a problem, and unfortunately, gardening and procrastination aren’t friends. You can’t pour five Diet Cokes on your peas and expect them to churn out some pods STAT.
But I have good news for myself and every other gardener like me. It is February. We are not late for anything! In fact, we have a month left to prep and plan and get ready for spring. For me, part of getting ready this year is putting dates on a calendar. It’s harder to miss dates when they’re not just floating, somewhere, in your head.
So what we’ve got here is a handy cheat sheet that outlines when you should start seeds for EVERYTHING. And when I say everything, I mean really not even close to everything, but 17 of the big guys: lettuce, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, beets, strawberries, blueberries, basil, grapes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchini, cucumbers, corn, and winter squash. See what a long list that is??
A few notes. This is for New York. If you live in a warmer or colder climate, adjust accordingly. Also, rather than saying “plant tomato seeds April 21” the dates here are all approximate. Ah, approximate dates — a favorite of procrastinators everywhere….
Come March, April, and May, when these dates are actually hitting the calendar, I’ll be writing much more detailed how-tos for all these beauties, but for now, it’s dates and just the dates to keep me (and maybe you) on track:
A 2012 City Garden Planting Calendar
Btw, if we miss these deadlines, stores sell seedlings. Not that I’m going to miss these deadlines. Or that you are. Just saying!
Tags: Calendar
AWESOME. I am so glad you posted this. It’s super helpful, even if one lives in a warmer clime.
It was definitely based on your suggestion! Thanks for thinking of it!
This is fantastic, thanks. Convenient as we live in basically the same climate. Incidentally, my peas that I started in July/early august are still going strong (but growing very slowly now), giving me little peapods. I pulled them inside when it got cold and they are trying to survive the cold in my sun room.
Jason, that’s pretty amazing. Like record setting. Here’s hoping you get some good peas!
I pick a few small pods off every week or two. I keep thinking they’ll die, but they seem to be hanging on.
So helpful! I told Jason we needed to print this for reference.
(Also, I think the peas have been helped along by our ridiculously mild winter this year. Our house is usually much colder for logner periods of time than it has been this year)
Kelly, I hope you do print it out! I’ve got it printed and posted on my bulletin board over here. I’m getting so excited for March…