Planting Planning

With March only three weeks away I thought it would be a good time to start thinking about planning seed plantings. Planting plannings! I sorted through my pile of seeds for this years garden and began dividing them up. The seed packets almost always give you a good idea when you can sow the seeds outdoors or indoors as well (if its recommended and for some seeds its not).

So I figured out that there are waves of planting to consider. Which might sound overwhelming but really its not since this means that not everything needs to be planted at the same exact time. Its staying on top of the timing- that's the hard part. As I read the back of my packets I divided the seeds into these categories of waves of planting... so I had more of a visual of what I was getting myself into this year.

As can be seen above I have seeds that can be started indoors in two waves: 1. 8-6 weeks before the last frost (ex: eggplant, tomatoes, tomatillos- they are all related plant species too interestingly). 2. 6-4 weeks before the last frost (ex: brussel sprouts, radicchio). These guys will be given a head start. Its recommended to start cabbage family indoors (I have my cabbage with the 8-6 week group for some reason I'm sure I read why) so that the plants have enough of a head start before they hit the ground in spring. This helps them survive attacks from flea beetles, which are active at that time of the year... if all you have are itsy bitsy seedlings from direct sowing... the impact of a little munching on a little plant is greater than a little munching on a bigger plant. Makes sense.

Later on I will concentrate on the direct sowing waves of planting. This starts in April with things like the cabbage family: kale, collards, kohlrabi. Spinach should be started then too- one year we planted spinach towards the end of April and got some. The next year we planted them a week or two earlier and got a LOT more spinach. Love those cold crops.

Even later... *sighs* when the soil and the air warms and the frosts are gone... you can plant just about everything else there is to go into the ground. This can be the most overwhelming wave of planting... because by now its May and you are already busy keeping the weeds at bay and thinning the seedlings that are taking hold from April. AHHHH.

Its all good though. That's why its good to have a plan. My attempt at being more organized and capable of planning my seed planting this year is to take all these waves of planting into consideration... and attack my calender! Write it all down on the calendar so that when... this or that date is approaching I'll be mindful to have those things ready to go in the ground.

Of course this all sounds easier said than done. I might have myself convinced now that this is the solution to staying on top of the garden mayhem of spring, but when the time comes... you never know what will happen! But so far this will be my plan of attack!