Seeding for Cool Crops for March

Dear Gardeners,

A great couple of videos showing what to do to get peas, spinach, lettuce, beets, spring onions and other cool crops seeded and started for this upcoming month's growth in a cool greenhouse.  Below is a second video showing how to move the seedlings outdoors). These videos are so educational and they really show you what you want to know!

Charles Dowding's Cool crops to sow in February & March (video)

Also, always of interest is Victoria's Linda Gilkeson's advice:

Seeding: This week is good timing to start seeds of vegetables that take the longest to grow to transplant size. This includes celery and celeriac, leeks and onions. I start them on a bottom heat mat and after they germinate move them to a separate, grow-light setup to make room for other seeds to germinate on the bottom heat.  Over the years I have found that there is just no point in trying to get an earlier start for veggies. Plants started too early have to live longer, usually in less-than ideal conditions (even the best light table set up is not as good as full sunlight). If veggie starts are set out too early in the spring, they can be chomped by climbing cutworms, which feed until late April, when they change into pupae. And then there is the perennial vernalization problem with early plantings of biennial plants, such as chard, onions, leeks. When these are started too early, you risk having them go to seed their first summer. Biennial plants should only grow leaves their first summer (and bulbs in the case of onions) and not flowers. Experiencing the cold chill of winter (‘vernalization’) is the signal for biennials to start producing flowers and seeds in the spring. If started really early in the season, a chilly week or two in April can fool biennial vegetables into reacting as if they experienced winter. Result: some or all or your chard, onions, leeks, etc. produce flower stalks in their first summer. <snip>

If you are getting antsy to plant something, you can experiment with biennials in case there is no cool weather in the spring, but a better bet is to plant hardy annuals, such as frost hardy lettuce, spinach, Chinese cabbage and other annual leafy greens.

For how to start seedlings indoors, see the slide presentation on my web site: “Grow Your Own Seedlings” 

Charles Dowding: Moving early sown crops outdoors under reemay (white polyester row cover). 

Early March outdoor planting (video)