What would you direct seed now?

[gixxerific]

I am in 5b maybe 6a since they changed it.

But it is cold right now with teens at night. Our last frost day is late April. I was thinking about getting some seed in now and see how that goes. I suppose carrots, beets and such can be direct seeded now or not.

Thanks

Dono

[ReptileAddiction]

You could do lettuces and stuff also.

[jal_ut]

Risky. The teens will damage most of the "early" crops. Do you know the date of last average frost there? My rule is to start planting one month before that date. Things like lettuce, carrots cabbage, broccoli, spinach and radishes all do well planted then. I am thinking mustard and things in that family also are cold resistant. Beets and chard not quite as cold resistant, but I plant them a couple weeks after the others I mentioned. If you really want to start something now I will suggest lettuce, spinach and carrots. What have you to lose but a bit of seed?

Edit to add Onions. These are very cold hardy. Try some from seed.

[Gary350]

My Grandmother use to plant Peas and Greens in the snow. She threw the seeds in wide rows in the snow about late Feb or early March depending on the weather each year. She tried to plant in the last snow of the year. When the weather got right the plants started coming up. Carrots need 3 weeks of cold weather before they will come up. First day of full sun and it gets warmer Peas will come up. She lived in central Illinois about 150 miles south of Chicago.

[jal_ut]

I plant most things from seeds direct sown. The two exceptions are tomatoes and peppers.

As far as what things can stand cold temperatures, here is a list of cold tolerant plants:

onion
cabbage
collards
broccoli
kale
spinach
lettuce
carrots
arugula
radish
mustard
turnip
kohlrabi
dill
parsley
peas

Then these are resistant but not quiet as much so as the others:

beets
chard
parsnips

You can plant, but the seed will not germinate until the soil is warm enough. I think a lot of seed types will lay dormant in the ground and sprout when conditions are right. However some seeds, like corn, will rot if the conditions are not right when it is planted.

Plant a few things then when you see the first plants emerge you can plant much more with good expectations of it germinating. With the price of seed what it is, I would not plant a whole lot right now.

Gee, I would like to see the teens. It has been below zero here for 4 days now.

[DoubleDogFarm]

What would you direct seed now?

compost / manure / mulch No direct sowing until March for me.

Eric

[rainbowgardener]

A lot depends on your soil, if it is workable - unfrozen and not too wet. If you can work the soil, you can try planting some of the cold hardiest things.

In my experience though, if you plant things like lettuce and spinach too early, they just sit there and wait until it warms up a little more. You might as well just wait a couple more weeks, because they are going to wait anyway and the germination rate is reduced while they sit there.

I usually plant them as James said, about a month ahead of last frost date. Last year we had a very early warm up and I planted two months ahead, which worked okay, but not great. Would not have worked in a typical year.

[ElizabethB]

Wait until after last frost. You can experiment now but prepare youself for failure. In south Louisiana I could be direct sowing now but I don't. Too much risk of freak frost or freeze involved. As soon as my seeds arrive I will plant indoors for early/mid March planting in the garden. The big ssue is soil temperature. If your soil is cold your seeds will just sit there and not germinate until the weather warms up..

[rainbowgardener]

Sorry, Elizabeth, but I disagree. If you wait until after last frost date to plant cold weather stuff like spinach and lettuce, it just bolts and goes to seed very fast once the weather warms up. If I plant spinach and lettuce that late, they only last a few weeks. If I plant them earlier, I have them in the garden a lot longer. The best spinach crop I ever had was seeds I planted directly in the ground Oct 2011. The spinach sprouted and then just sat there and over-wintered in our mild winter last year and then took off amazingly as soon as the coldest weather was over. Was very productive and lasted for months. So I'm trying it again this winter. See what happens....

A month ahead of last frost date works very well and if weather cooperates you can stretch that a bit.

I start my broccoli indoors, but harden it off and transplant into the garden also a month ahead of last frost date. I think it also lasts longer and produces better heads that way. For me broccoli planted too late doesn't head up at all -- the first buds just open up immediately.

[applestar]

Things I might consider direct-sowing when ground is workable in dead of winter are garlic cloves (not seeds), some Asian greens, and mustards. If you are going to buy seeds, you might want to try some of the Even Star "winter" strains listed at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange -- they have Arugula, Mustards, Kale.

If spinach grows well in your garden, you could try sowing some and see what happens. Maybe parsnips.

I read on a seed packet for Fava beans that you should sow them when crocuses start to grow. That's way earlier than I would normally think of sowing them -- I think it would be about mid- late February but will depend on winter weather... Last year's weirdly warm winter, I think some started to grow in January. They may not sprout for 2 weeks or more though.

All of these would probably benefit from low tunnel or floating cover over the beds to alleviate the worst. It may help to pre-germinate them first, though it's also possible that they would freeze and it's better to let them emerge on their own time.

You could also try finding or creating microclimates.

Looking at this guide, leeks, ssalsify, salad burnet, and sorrel, as well as Ice-Bred turnip might also be candidates for experimentation.
https://www.southernexposure.com/growing ... -guide.pdf