The Goodwin Garden Seed Starting Schedule

I made my annual trip to Northwest Seed and Pet today to get my gardening game face on. It's officially time to start rattling around the greenhouse and get some early season crops started. Here in the Spokane area May 15 is the traditional last freeze date, so short of using a hoop house over the soil you want to plan your seed starting around that date. I recommend Irish Eyes Seeds, a locally owned seed company in Ellensberg, WA. They source a lot of their organic seeds from the Inland Northwest. Just like most commodities veggie seeds regardless of brand are likely from the same source of "who knows where." I like the local connection and local sourcing efforts of Irish Eyes. I noticed Seeds of Change Seeds at NW Seed for the first time. They are also a good choice.

Below is my game plan for the garden. I have a greenhouse which make managing larger plants easier. You might want to push it back 2 weeks if you're putting them by a south facing window.

March 1 - 11 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Clean up greenhouse and get heater set up
• Map out this year's garden plan
• • rotate crops to limit disease (for example tomato, potato, eggplant varieties should not be planted in the same place from one year to the next.)
  • Be aware of plants that like each other and plants that don't. Go here or here for an overview.
• Start seeds for peppers, eggplant and onions.
• Plant parsnip seeds in the garden

March 15 - 9 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Start seeds for tomatoes, perennials and some flowers (I'm experimenting with wildflower seeds I collected last year so I'll probably plant some trays of those for the fun of it.)
• I'll either start pea plants in the greenhouse or more likely just plant the seeds in the garden. It's so mild this year you could probably get away with it.
• Six weeks is probably more than adequate for starting most tomatoes but I like to make the most of the greenhouse. The bigger they are the more fun it is to give them to friends and neighbors.

March 29 - 7 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Start seeds for squash, lettuce, kohl rabi and other "cole" crops like cabbage. I might start the cole crops earlier. Every year I swear off growing cabbage, kale etc. because we don't eat them. But the chickens sure do like it.
• I'll probably start a another tragic saga of the giant pumpkin somewhere in here too.

April 26 - 3 weeks ahead of last freeze date

• Go cry on the shoulder of Bruce Metzger from GEM Garden and Greenhouse and ask him why my plants are dying.
• Start seeds for cucumbers.
• Buy some of his starts from his greenhouse and put them in my greenhouse and feel a lot better about the green in my greenhouse.
• Plant pea and lettuce starts being sure to cover them at night if it freezes.

May 15 - historic last freeze date

• Empty the greenhouse and get it all planted except the tomatoes and peppers that really like it warm. June 1 is the usual date to plant out tomatoes and peppers around these parts.
• Beans really do best by direct seeding them into the garden so now is the time to do that. I don't bother with corn anymore. It takes up a lot of space, hogs water and fertilizer and generally disappoints come harvest time.

May 22 - one week before I told everyone on the blog to plant out their tomatoes and peppers

• Plant out tomatoes and peppers because I just can't stand taking care of them in the greenhouse anymore.

The best way to learn is to try and try again.

My new policy on the blog this year is that regular commenters get dibs on some plant starts from the Goodwin greenhouse (if your interested). Prolific Twitter retweeterers will also get serious consideration. Nancy has made me promise to not crowd the garden so much this year so I'm going to have to do something with all the starts. Let me know what you're interested in.

Comments

[Jaspenelle]

I am definitely bookmarking this page. This will be my second year gardening in this climate and I could use every pointer I can get. Though I don't have a green house, I have grow lights/stand in my kitchen. I've already started lettuce, kale & spinach, but I am planting out under hoops too.

[Amy]

Craig-

Is there a published "when to grow what" guide for the Inland NW anywhere? Thanks for this post - it is very helpful...

[Will]

FYI: unused cabbages that are thrown my way return as sauerkraut

[Karen]

I started some old, leftover tomato and pepper seeds from a decade ago last week. I worried they wouldn’t sprout, so my 4-year old and I sowed them thickly in our little pots and now we have hundreds of tomato seedlings! Already!

Assuming the cats don’t sleep on them like they have in years past, I’d love to see a seedling swap later in the spring. Anybody interested?”

[Diane F.]

Found your website searching for info on backyard chicken coups, and I hit the jackpot with the garden info too! :) We're just starting to think about implementing these things into our backyard. I would LOVE to buy some of your starts when it's time and would love just to see your setup in person. I live in north Spokane.

[Craig]

We don't sell starts but we'd be glad to have you stop by and check out the coop and we could give you some. :)

Drop me an email.

[nancy goodwin]

I also like Karen's idea of a seedling swap.

[Stacy]

Just wanted to thank you for this post and others. This is my first year starting from seed and using a greenhouse. Thanks for the useful information on timing.