![]() Sow lettuce seeds every two weeks throughout spring for successive harvests. Lettuce plants grow best in temperatures between 45☏ and 65☏ (7☌ to 18°) so it’s a smart bet to get those seeds in the soil as quickly as possible. ![]() And baby lettuce varieties can be planted more densely, about 30 seedlings per square foot. Romaine and butterhead types need 6 to 8 inch spacing. ![]() Leaf lettuce can be thinned to 4 to 6 inches apart. Head lettuce varieties need spacing 6 to 12 inches apart. Once the seedlings are a few inches tall and have a set of true leaves, thin them out according to the lettuce type. Or, sow them the old fashioned way by sprinkling the tiny seeds along the surface of ground and covering with a thin layer soil, no more than a ¼ inch deep. Use seed tape to achieve the perfect plant spacing. Once the soil has warmed to 40☏ (4☌) and above, lettuce seeds can be direct sown into the garden. Lettuce prefers the cool and moist conditions of early spring. Space bulbs 5 to 6 inches apart with 12 to 18 inches between rows. Make sure the top of the onion is barely poking its tip out of the soil. Push onion sets into moistened soil no more than 1 inch deep. Safe to go in the garden even as temperatures dip to 21☏ (-6☌), onions will grow most vigorously when the weather warms to 55☏ to 75☏ (12☌ to 23☌). Since they will be in their second year of growth when planted, onion sets often produce larger, more flavorful onions. These mini onions are dried for storage and are available at most garden centers by the bag. Onion sets are small and immature onion bulbs that were grown from seed the season before. Onion sets, however, offer a considerable head start on the season since they can be planted out in the garden as soon as the soil can be worked in spring. Onions are a frost hardy vegetable that can be started indoors from seed about six weeks before the last frost. Keep some garden cloches or floating row covers on hand in case a hard frost extends for several days in a row. There is about a 30% chance that frost could strike before or after the given frost dates.Įven though cool season crops have a heightened tolerance to cold temperatures, they are not invulnerable to a deep freeze. Although these records are quite good at predicting the future, there’s no guarantee that a frost won’t occur after the last frost in spring. To find your average frost dates for your region, use the Old Farmer’s Almanac calculator and search by ZIP code.įrost dates are based on historical climate data that goes back more than 100 years. Gardeners in the Deep South can get planting as early as January while those in Mountain States would be better off waiting until June. The last frost date in spring (as well as first frost date in fall) varies widely by location. ![]() Unlike warm-season cultivars like tomato, cucumber, pepper, and eggplant that would be wrecked in a cold snap, cool season vegetables are incredibly hardy and don’t mind the cold weather one bit.Īnd by giving these spring-loving crops an early start, you should get a sizeable harvest in before the heat of summer causes them to bolt. This sage advice has one exception: cool season crops. One of the cardinal rules of gardening is to never transplant or sow seeds in the garden before the last frost – or else risk losing your plants during the inevitable last gasp of winter. The sights and sounds and smells of spring are all around us, and oh how they beckon!Īnd while we can keep busy with a slew of garden-related projects, there’s nothing quite like getting our hands dirty and working the soil. As the garden slowly wakes up after a long winter slumber, the excitement for a whole new gardening season is palpable.
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