With the new year comes a new garden plan. We have reached the point where the scars, trials, and tribulations from last year's garden have faded, and the cold has us thinking about green spouts. We spent the last couple of weekends laying out the beds on our new garden map and sorting through boxes of seeds. This weekend, the last planning step was laying out when to start the seedlings.
UW-Extension has a nice PDF outlining when to start seeds indoors and when to direct-sow, based on the average frost-free date. The average frost-free date in Wisconsin is around May 2-6. Given that we once lost an entire garden the third week of May to a hard frost, we tend to avoid relying on the average date for the end of frost. Also, since we grow so many varieties, we tend to use a rolling start to planting anyway. Memorial Day is early this year, so we are taking May 24 as the final planting date. Working backwards from there, we picked dates for indoor sowing:
March 3 - Shallots, herbs (parsley, rosemary, thyme, etc.)
March 30 - Peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, marigolds, feverfew
April 12 - Larkspur
April 13 - Tomatoes
May 3 - Cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins, basil
Direct-sow dates will be a game-day decision, based on the weather. We usually direct-sow cucumbers, melons, squash, and pumpkins, but last year we had a difficult time getting these established. In an effort to find more success, we will try a mix of direct-sow and seedlings.
Last year was a bit of a turning point for us, as we started all of our vegetables from seed or sets (onions and potatoes). I would say this saved us money, but looking at the boxes of seeds we have made impulse purchases on, it is hard to be sure. I suppose the seeds are like a bank account, waiting to be invested and cashed in during the growing season.