Time to Start Some Seeds Outside – Spring Gardening Update

Looking for a positive activity that benefits your health and wellness while you are maintaing social distancing?  It is time to start planting the spring garden!

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We have a last blast of cold coming this upcoming weekend of the 20-22nd.  After that we have a period of warm, wet, spring weather.  It will be good planting time for a number of spring vegetables and herbs.

The weather predictions for spring indicate we have a warmer and wetter couple more months ahead.  Most spring veggies will handle this just fine with proper fertility.  LINK to Climate Prediction Center.

Did anyone over winter spinach under row cover?  I did not get to plant until Thanksgiving weedend unfortunately, but our mild winter temps assisted.  That was my record late planting. I had to plant in a container as well,  my first time doing that.  I will do a post on the process later.

Picture taken on February 3rd. I popped the row cover off to check and thin on a nice warm day.

Picture taken on March 18th. Good looking spinach and ready to scissor harvest for the next several weeks.

Good things to plant now from seed –>  Spinach, radishes, lettuce, Asian cabbage, green onions, beets, swiss chard, peas.

I planted radishes and carrots in the same container.  I am using containers in my yard as my community garden will not plow until April 1st.  They are also benefitting from the fact that my normally shady yard has not leafed out yet.

Radish seed and carrot seed were planted in the same container. The radish seed sprouted in a few days, the carrots will sprout in a few weeks. I will harvest the radish and then follow with a carrot harvest a month or two later.

My seed starting equipment made the road trip home with me as we both will work remotely.  I have transplants started in lettuce, bok choi, cauliflower, broccoli, swiss chard, and collard greens.

I put romaine transplants and bok choi transplants into the containers yesterday.  They will enjoy the rain and I will start to harvest in about a week with a staggered harvest lasting for a month.

Not much to look at right now. There are 12 seedlings in this container. I will take two to three per week starting in about two weeks.

I had a ton of transplants under the lights that I grew from seed for the school garden project.  That is on hold at this time so I had to find new homes for the plants.  The bok choi was ready to go into the ground.  It is not too late to start spring vegetable transplants.  I will start some summer vegetable like peppers and tomatoes shortly.  CLICK HERE for the Seed Starting Video to get you started. 

This is a healthy root system on a transplant. It is filling the pot but not pot bound. It will do well when planted in the ground.

My growing space is not very large or very beautiful but it gives me a chance to get outside, be productive and provide some fresh produce.

Five containers under row cover with about 14 square feet of growing space. Good to use until I can get into my community garden. Row cover for both frost and squirrel protection.

If you are looking for an outdoor activity that provides positive health and wellness benefits that can be enjoyed while we keep social distance consider getting some seeds or transplants in the ground to take advantage of our warm and wet upcoming spring.

Feel free to contact me with questions or send pics.  You are supported in your growing by Extension.  We are working from home but are still available to assist our client residents via phone (614-292-7916) or email mcdermott.15@osu.edu