The Cornucopia Corner Your Veggie Garden Planting Calendar
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By Steffie Littlefield
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quick trip to your local garden center to get up close and personal with the best seed selections for our area. Look for certified organic seeds, heirloom and local varieties for the best in healthy edibles. After you have filled your reusable shopping bag, go home and get organized. Sort your seeds between what to start now or later and what seeds are better planted directly into the garden. Then circle these dates on your calendar March 1st, March 15th, St Patrick’s Day, April Fool’s, May Day, Mother’s Day, June 15th and July 4th and Labor Day. Starting seeds indoors is relatively easy but knowing when and what to start indoors or out in the garden will help guarantee success. 123rf.com
fter the renewed interest in vegetable gardening and edible plants during 2020 and 2021, 2022 is the year to grow more heirloom and organic vegetables. Try colorful tomatoes to impress your friends, and harvest a variety of homegrown treats the whole family will enjoy. It is fun to see visitors marvel at the variety and decorative vegetables growing in the garden. So where to start and why start now? Because starting your own plants from seed indoors is cost saving and a large variety of seeds is easier to buy than to find as starter plants.
March 1st. Start your cool season crops asap, i.e., now. These are broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, spinach, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, onions & Swiss chard. Be adventurous and get that purple cabbage, orange cauliflower, Italian sprouting broccoli, dinosaur kale and bright flame colored swiss chard. These should be started indoors under grow-lights with good air circulation. Be stingy with your seeds and only put 2-3 per cell or peat pellet, then you won’t have to thin them. Keep them evenly moist under a clear cover until they sprout and mist with a spray bottle of water. Heat mats are very helpful, and use a ½ strength liquid fertilizer after the second leaves are showing.
March 15th. Pepper seedlings are particularly slow to grow and mature so you can start them early and grow them on in small pots until its warm enough to transplant out in the garden. But wait and start your other warm season vegetables until mid to late March. Steffie Littlefield is a St Louis area horticulturist and garden designer. She has degrees from St. Louis Community College at Meramec and Southeast Missouri State and is a member of Gateway Professional Horticultural Association, Missouri Botanical Garden Members Board and past president of the Horticulture Co-op of Metropolitan St. Louis. She is part-owner of Edg-Clif Winery, Potosi, MO. www.EdgClif.com, and teaches a class on viticulture at SLCC-Meramec.
The Gateway Gardener™ MARCH 2022
