Hoping for an early start this year

[Ruderunner]

Traditionally I plant my garden memorial day weekend. But we've had a relatively light winter and I'm hoping the ground will be workable late next month. I'll have a long weekend for Easter so I hope to plant then.

I usually buy plants from a local greenhouse but they don't open for the season that early. So I plan to start seeds indoors and have transplants to put in. However, in the past when trying this, I've been badly mistimed. I can use some help in figuring out what seeds to start when.

Looking to do plenty of root vegetables like beets, carrots, parsnips, turnip radishes.

Also looking at cabbage, spinach dill, parsley, celery

My understanding is that most of the above prefer colder weather and hopefully play well with my plan.

Minimal number of big plants, some pickles, some tomatoes (though I'll let those come from random seeds) and peppers (banana, bell, jalapeño) for these, I'll likely buy plants.

Peas and beans will be direct sow throughout.

I have some cardboard tubes that I intended to cut into troughs for seed starting, about 2 inches diameter. The hope is that come planting time I'll be able to slide the soil out of the troughs into the garden. Less direct handling of the seedlings and hopefully minimal damage to root structure. The tubes are too sturdy to just plant.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Predictions about weather that do not involve sacrificing chickens are favored around here. Below is a link about the La Nina conditions we are in and some pretty charts.

https://www.agweb.com/weather/2022-weather-outlook-la-ninas-encore

Also, I do not know why I did not think to come up with some kind of agricultural paper mache' for seed given how many newspapers we go through in the off season. Aren't they just soy ink? Setting out for us is 6 weeks or so from now into warm soil. Onions sets and plants like peas got started earlier here.

 

[Marck]

The list of seeds you are growing is a mix of cool-season and warm season vegetables. Have you successfully planted and grown them all during Summer?

Your last frost date in probably some time in early May. It is risky to put warm-season crops out before this date.
Conversely many cool season crops will do fine if planted earlier, if late frosts are mild.

Growing seedlings indoors is always a great way to get a jump on the season. as long as there is light and space to grow them.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Seeds for root veg are cheap, and you usually get a whole lot of them, mostly they are also better grown in situ than transplanted.
I have a pack of beetroot seed that contains 550 seeds, that means I can plant a decent patch fortnightly for two months, If I am lucky with the weather, great, if not I have hedged my bets.
Stuff like tomatoe that you start off inside I am more conservative with. I do have some little plants just getting their first proper leaves, but the chances are that the weather will set them back, and if so they may well not recover enough to catch up with ones planted later. Still, again seed is cheap, so it is worth taking a chance on starting a few early just in case we get a fantastic Spring.
I think where most go wrong is in trying to keep going things which have failed, yes, give it a try early, but if it don't work out bin them and put your space and effort into the later plantings.

 

[Ruderunner]

The list of seeds you are growing is a mix of cool-season and warm season vegetables. Have you successfully planted and grown them all during Summer?

To a certain extent I've been successful. Last summer was not a great season in general. Too many humid damp days with clouds caused a fair amount of rot. But, which are the warm weather seeds? I'm aware that the tomatoes, pickles peppers are warm weather. Those I think will wait until late May.

Your last frost date in probably some time in early May. It is risky to put warm-season crops out before this date.
Conversely many cool season crops will do fine if planted earlier, if late frosts are mild.

I'm gathering plastic bottles to cut up as mini greenhouse in case of frost. I don't expect big plants before the last frost.

Growing seedlings indoors is always a great way to get a jump on the season. as long as there is light and space to grow them.

Agreed. Previous experience though is that the seedlings die off before I can get them outside. I'm starting too early obviously. What's a good time frame to start seeds prior to transplant?

 

[Ruderunner]

Seeds for root veg are cheap, and you usually get a whole lot of them, mostly they are also better grown in situ than transplanted.
I have a pack of beetroot seed that contains 550 seeds, that means I can plant a decent patch fortnightly for two months, If I am lucky with the weather, great, if not I have hedged my bets.

Yes, I generally do try to make a couple plantings to stretch the productivity. But my later plantings tend to have a short season. That's why I'm trying to start earlier.

Stuff like tomatoe that you start off inside I am more conservative with. I do have some little plants just getting their first proper leaves, but the chances are that the weather will set them back, and if so they may well not recover enough to catch up with ones planted later. Still, again seed is cheap, so it is worth taking a chance on starting a few early just in case we get a fantastic Spring.

I'm not actually planting tomatoes, there's enough seeds in the soil from last year that I expect to have a lot of plants just pop up. We had a bumper crop last year so I'm not pursuing them this year.

I think where most go wrong is in trying to keep going things which have failed, yes, give it a try early, but if it don't work out bin them and put your space and effort into the later plantings.

I don't have a problem with cut and run.

 

[Ruderunner]

One thing I haven't mentioned is the chickweed problem. This has hampered direct sowing efforts for a few years. I can't keep up with the chickweed and it chokes out everything.

So, part of my prep this year will involve lots of corn meal. I learned here that it helps prevent weed seeds from sprouting. I'm hoping it will cut down on the chickweed and previous experience indicates it helps.

That said, it will also prevent direct sown vegetable seeds from sprouting, hence starting seeds ahead of time.

Along this line, I'm thinking of spreading corn meal throughout the season. Second plantings will be started in the troughs as well.

 

[Vermontgardener]

I would not start seeds such as carrots, beets, or parsnips in containers, but rather direct sow them, as they do not like to be disturbed and you risk damaging the taproot during the move which can stunt the growth.

Have you considered a cold frame or simple hoop house? You can use a very simple covering with plastic sprinkler system tubing as the frame, which is easily bent to make a low hoop house covered with plastic. This can help to give you an early start and help to protect the young plants from any late heavy frosts.