Starting Your Spring Vegetable Garden
Vegetable and herb gardeners know that come mid- to late spring, the rewards of harvesting fresh, organic produce from home garden beds and containers is well worth the effort of getting the crop started early in the year. Dallas and the surrounding areas are in planting zone 8, where the annual average date for the last frost is March 12th. There are three approaches to starting the spring garden: starting seeds indoors, planting seeds directly into the garden, and planting live 4”-6” rooted plants (“transplants”). Our Vegetable Planting Dates handout will help with the timing of you edibles garden year-round.
Sprouting Seeds and Starting Plants Indoors
This is a rewarding way to garden, one that offers growers the chance to order and experiment with heirloom or hard-to-find seeds. Growing like this will involve a grow-light set-up and indoor seed-starting trays. The goal is to get the plants to a size that can be transplanted into the garden later when temperatures begin to warm up. Common seeds to start in January include broccoli, cauliflower, beets, okra, kale, cabbage, tomatoes, spinach and peppers.
Planting Seeds Directly Into the Garden
February into mid-March gives gardeners more leniency to start seeds in outdoor raised beds and containers. Gardeners need to keep these beds evenly moist (but with good drainage) to promote sprouting; once seeds have sprouted, watch temperatures closely and be prepared to cover beds with frost cloth when temperatures drop. Vegetables that can be seeded directly into the garden in early spring include beets, carrots, collard greens, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard greens, scallions, spinach, Swiss chard, radishes and turnips. After March 15th and well into April, May, and even June, you can start the seeds outdoors for vegetables that mature in late spring and summer: bush, lima and pole beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, corn, cucumbers, squash, zucchini and pumpkins.
Planting Established, Rooted Plants
Dallas has two seasons for planting vegetable transplants: in early September, to grow and harvest in late winter/early spring, and late February for a mid-spring/early summer harvest. Planting rooted veggie transplants is an easy way to get a garden started quickly. Individual onion “slips” and leeks are planted in January. The month of February is the planting window for asparagus crowns, horseradish, rhubarb, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi and seed potatoes (which are actually small potatoes, not seeds). Tomatoes can be planted from late February to April 1st. This is an important planting window, one that many gardeners overlook; it’s important to remember to plant tomatoes early and protect from falling temperatures.
Once we’re out of danger of a freeze, it’s time to get your own grown-from-seed veggies out of the house and into raised beds and containers. It’s important to first set them out on a covered patio or other protected space for about 10 days so that they can acclimate to growing conditions outside (“harden off”); when you plant any rooted vegetable into the garden, be sure to water monthly with root stimulator. As we move into April, more and more varieties of 4” vegetable transplants become available: corn, cucumbers, squash, zucchini and peppers. Finally, in the month of April, plant sweet potato slips.
Let North Haven Gardens Help Grow Your Bountiful Harvest
Of course North Haven Gardens has the products you need to get your edibles garden growing: seeds and seed starting supplies, herb and vegetable transplants, specialty soils, mulches, tools and more. We also carry an extensive line of both organic and synthetic fertilizers and products for pest and disease control. You can even get delivery for your garden supplies with our new delivery service. Please inquire with us by phone for our service area and to coordinate an order.
More important than that, perhaps, are the educational opportunities and support we share in order to grow your confidence in gardening. Our “pillar of knowledge” is a collection of free handouts on a wide range of gardening topics, and we also have planting guides and gardening videos, all available under the “education” tab on our homepage, nhg.com.
We also offer several in-person learning opportunities. Our Garden Advisors are available daily to give advice on a wide range of gardening topics and assist in plant selection. We offer free classes almost every week, presented both by our staff and areas experts like the staff from Texas A&M and Texas Agrilife Extension. And our popular Garden Coach Program is a fee-based private consultation service that has helped hundreds of gardeners gain the confidence and knowledge to tackle gardening projects specific to their own gardens and interests. Whatever you leave with – plants or the knowledge of how to succeed in growing them – North Haven Gardens has been your gardening partner since 1951, and we’re here to help.