What Can I Plant?

It is fast approaching garden season. In some cases it has already arrived. Currently I have my leaf vegetables (lettuce and spinach) in the ground seed and small plant. I also have my brossicas (broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts) growing in small plant form. It may be a tad early and I may have to watch the weather for cold nights but I have done it before this early. I also planted some radishes and my peas and potatoes all in a seed form. There isn't really much else that is safe to plant currently, outside. However my vegetables indoors are thriving, and hope to be able to get them in the ground sometime after Mother's Day.

Getting Ready for Spring

Here are a couple tips and/or helps for getting ready for spring planting.

Recycle or that is Reuse

If you refer back to my When It's Cold post, it talks about covering your plants using various materials a cheap one is milk and juice cartons. Now is a great time to start collecting them. They can be stored easier if you cut off the bottom and then stack them. Milk and juice cartons are great to cover individual plants on those chilly nights. Another great item to reuse are egg cartons perfect for starting plants especially since they are biodegradable and can be planted right in the garden. Lastly yogurt cups make create plant starting pots as well.



Plants to Start Indoors Now

I am currently starting the following plants indoors to give them a jump start.
Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, and Cauliflower these plants are pretty hardy when it comes to cold weather. Cabbage would do fine too but I don't plant it. I also read at my seed store that now was a good time to plant peppers indoors. I think it's a bit early since they shouldn't go in the garden till mid to late May but I may try a few seeds in a week or two.

Planting in the garden

I recently planted a row of peas, I usually plant them around St. Patrick's Day but the weather permitted the other things you could look into planting in the near future is leaf vegetables like lettuce, spinach, arugula etc.

Is it Too Late?

Is it too late to start planting? This all depends on the plants and when it starts to freeze in the fall. However in general I would say... Nope. However, like previously stated it depends on the plant. Keep in mind the list below is a guesstimated opinion, and some of these might not work or may work depending on the situation.

Too Late - Peas,

OK for Seeds - Beans, Corn, Beets, Carrots, Potatoes, Spinach, Lettuce

OK for Plants - Broccoli, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Tomato, Garlic, Peppers, Eggplant

OK for Plants or Seeds - Cucumbers, Squash, Zucchini

Now it is wise to check the needs of each plant so that you can keep each plant adequately hydrated especially during germination. Carrots especially. Also keep in mind that not every plant will produce as well as they might have if they were planted sooner for example: I planted potatoes in July one year after harvesting peas and I got some potatoes but not like the year I planted them two months earlier.. However with the weather we have been having your guess is as good as mine. My motto is try it and if it doesn't quite work out at least I know not to do that the next year.

How to Plant What and When

There are a lot of websites that talk about planting depth and spacing between plants and rows some good ones include: The Vegetable Garden's Planting Schedule, and Planting Zones and Colorado State Master Gardener Program Page 720-3. I have used similar sites as well as what I have learned from my dad and grandfather. So attached is my own little planting guide for the things I plant.

Plant	Planting Type (Row or Hill)	Row/Hill Spacing	Plant Spacing	Plant or Seed	Planting Depth	Outdoor Planting	Indoor Planting
Beans	Row	2 ft	2-4 in	Seed	2-4 in	After Mother’s Day	Not Needed
Beets	Row	4-6 in	4-6 in	Seed	1/2 in	After April 1st	Not Needed
Broccoli	Hill	2 ft	2 ft	Plant	N/A	After St. Pats Day	February 1st
Cantaloupe	Hill	1-2 ft	3 per hill	Plant	N/A	Late May	After St. Pats
Carrots	Row	2-4 in	2-4 in	Seed	1/4-1/2 in	After April 1st	Not Needed
Corn	Row	2-3 ft	4 in	Seed	2-4 in	After Mother’s Day	Not Needed
Cucumbers	Hill	3-4 ft	3 per hill	Seed	1-2 in	After Mother’s Day	Not Needed
Eggplant	Row	2 ft	2ft	Plant	N/A	Late May	After St. Pats
Garlic	Row	1-2 ft	4-6 in	Seed	2-4 in	Late October	Not Needed
Lettuce	Hill or Row	1ft	2-4 in	Seed	1/4-1/2 in	After St. Pats Day	Not Needed
Peas	Row	2 ft	0-1/2 in.	Seed	2-4 in	After St. Pats Day	Not Needed
Peppers	Row	2 ft	2 ft	Plant	N/A	Late May	After St. Pats
Potatoes	Row	2 ft	1-2 ft	Seed	4-6 in	After April 1st	Not Needed
Spinach	Hill or Row	1 ft	2-4 in	Seed	1/4-1/2 in	After St. Pats Day	Not Needed
Squash	Hill	3-4 ft	3 per hill	Seed	1-2 in	After Mother’s Day	Not Needed
Tomatoes	Row	2 ft	2 ft	Plant	N/A	Late May	After St. Pats
Zucchini	Hill	2-4 ft	3 per hill	Seed	1-2 in	After Mother’s Day	Not Needed

Row and Plant Spacing is set at a minimum and can be larger for easier movement and harvesting. PDF

What to Plant While it's Still Chilly

I don't know about many other people but when the snow goes I am jumping to get planting. In my experience it isn't worth planting too early. So what can you get in the ground before the last frost.

I have had success with the following: peas, spinach, lettuce as seeds, and broccoli as plants. I did however lose my first planting of broccoli this year due to the harsh weather conditions, but other years they have been fine. A friend also told me that you can plant potatoes as well which I have tried and will update their progress and the season continues. I normally follow the same planting schedule each year:

Last week of January - Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts indoors

First chance after St. Patricks Day - Peas, Spinach, Lettuce, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, (in the ground) and Radishes (which I don't plant)

Mid April - Potatoes (We'll have to see what happens with them.)