Our USDA Hardiness zone is 4b, but after this being my fourth year gardening here, I find our soil thaws earlier and i can plant things out early than the recorded last frost date of May 12th. So I am more inclined to start cold hardy seeds earlier in the season. Last year, we planted cold hardy seeds in the greenhouse and had kale, radishes and lettuce in late April - Early May.

This year, I’m going to attempt some earlier carrots, greens, under hoop as well. There are many perennial plants established in our gardens and other herbs that often come back by themselves, either overwintering or self seeded. This is a list of plants I will be started from seed this year. I usually source my seeds from Floret Flower, Seed Savers Heirloom Exchange, High Mowing Seeds and this year I will be trying Halden Garden.

I organize my seeds by dates to sow. 10-12 weeks, 8-10 weeks, 4-6 weeks from last frost, and direct sow in the garden. There are many seeds that do not like to be started inside. This gives me the dates to start them indoors. I start my seeds in organic seed starting soil, in plastic trays with a dome and put them in a south or east facing window with a heating pad. This year I will be investing in a couple lights to see how that helps my starts, and trying this reusable tray from Gardeners but for the past three seasons I have grown my garden from windowsill starts. I rotated my seedlings daily and will put a fan on them from time to time. I hope one day to start all seeds in a greenhouse, but our greenhouse is not heated and doesn’t have a power source nearby, I do start cold hardy plants in there closer to last frost and bring my seedlings inside out to harden off in the greenhouse.

Your dates will vary depending on your last frost. You can check this map to find your last frost date and count weeks back from that date.

LATE WINTER

Prune apple tree, grapevines, raspberry canes and currants. this year, I will be attempting to propagate our currants to see if we can plant them at the land.

One of the most important tips i see time and time again is to not sow your seed too early. it can make for leggy and weak seedlings. Although I know firsthand, in late winter, it is so hard not to get excited and start seeds. I also try not to use all the seeds from a pack so i can sow more if something goes wrong.

10-12 WEEKS TO LAST FROST February 12th-24th

This is when I will start onions, broccoli, kale and cold hardy lettuce. Usually I put them in a south facing window with a heating pad, and move them into the green house to harden off. Once the seedling get big enough I move them into a larger pot for more room and then start more seeds in the larger cell trays.

START INDOORS

• Icelandic Poppies

• Shirley Poppies

• Brassicas

• Snapdragon

• Sweet Pea (plant out as soon as soil can be worked)

8-10 WEEKS TO LAST FROST March 10th-24th

This is the time of year when we’ve seen snowdrops emerge, I know that our soils are thawing and life is waking up beneath. If I start to see earthworms I know, the soil is loose and we can possibly get some seeds planted in our greenhouse. I usually start tomatoes, peppers and herbs right about now.

START INDOORS

• China Asters

• Sweet Peas

• Tomatoes

• Peppers

• Chamomile

DIRECT SOW

Last year we planted seeds in the greenhouse on March 18, so I will also try and plant seed under row covers. Kale, radishes, carrots + beets.

4-6 WEEKS TO LAST FROST March 31- April 7th

This is the time of year when nettles start to emerge. I begin to see the first squills in the garden.

START INDOORS

• Dahlia bulbs

• Cosmos

• Strawflower

• Zinnia

• Marigold

• Cucumbers

• Peas

• Calendula

DIRECT SOW

Last year I directly planted lettuce, radishes, carrots, kale, and beets into our greenhouse in Mid March and had April harvest, and then succession planted more. I really enjoyed this.

• Carrots

• Peas

• Cold Hardy Lettuce

• Swiss chard

• Potato slips

• Radish

ON LAST FROST MAY 5th-MAY 12th

DIRECT SOW

• Corn

• Sunflowers

• Squash

• Shirley + breadseed poppies

• Melon

• Borage

• Beans

TRANSPLANT OUT

• Tomatoes

• Peppers

• Flower starts

The design for the front yard and backyard gardens are still up in the air. Last year, I planted mostly vegetables and medicinal herbs in the backyard and the some florals in the front. I like to rotate our crops from bed to bed to help prevent pests and to help nourish the soil. So i’m still contemplating what should go where. There is still 4 feet of snow outside and its -8 degrees, so I have time (quietly sobbing on the inside).

THE LAND

There are a lovely things that are growing wild out on our property. We are hoping to get a well put in sometime this summer but as of now we don’t have a reliable water source. I’ve been researching and brainstorming if we could bring one of our water catchments out there to catch rainwater for watering a small garden. This plan is still under construction. In the fall, Magnolia and I planted snowdrops and tulip bulbs along the driveway, so we will patiently wait and see if those come up. I’d like to throw some medicinal and native wildflower into the mix: echinacea, st. johns wort, lupine, more yarrow into the meadows of clover, oxeyed daisy, mullein that are already growing on the land.

Ideally, I would like to begin bringing some of our favorite perennial plants from our current home to propagate and transplant them at the land: currants, raspberries, and establish a small garden for garlic and flowers! This is all still a dream at the moment, but a lovely one at that.

I hope this helps you understand my process a bit more. I find organizing my seeds by date and making a list of what I want to plant helps and when it comes time to get things in the ground it is often intuitive. I follow the planting directions on the back of the seeds. This year I will be experimenting with methods i haven’t used before like using a grow light on my seedlings indoors and planting in the greenhouse once our deep freezes have passed because it is not heated.

Once I have a drawing of what is going where, i’ll update you. how is your garden planning coming along? If you have any specific gardening questions please comment below and I will try and answer them.