Time to Plant your Seeds?

Part of eating a healthier diet and changing your lifestyle is eating more vegetables.

One of the best ways to get those vegetables, and not have to worry about what is in and on your veggies, is to grow your own.  The secret to having the scrumptious garden fresh fruits and vegetables is to start early.  Not too early though.

Living here is Northern Utah it is still pretty cold outside so what can a person do?

I don’t want to get bogged down in talking about specific plant types at this point. I only want to get you all thinking about your garden. 

Let’s look now at when to start your seeds. If you know when to plant then you can plan what to plant.

The US Department of Agriculture puts the country in zones called hardiness zones. The zones are ranked from zone 1 to zone 13, zone 1 being the coldest, (Alaska, Minnesota) and 13 being the warmest, (Hawaii and Puerto Rico). 

Northern Utah, where I live, has range from a 6b, which has an average low winter temperature of zero to -5 degrees, to zone 4b, with an average low winter temperature of -20 to -25 degrees.

To find the zone rating for your specific area, visit the USDA plant hardiness site

My particular zone is 6a (-10 to -15 average low temperature.)

Knowing my zone tells me a number of things like what types of plants do well in my area, but more importantly when the average frost days are for my area. Specifically first and last frost averages.  Knowing these dates can give you a pretty good idea of when to plant your seeds (inside or out)

My last frost date is right around May 23 so I want to be thinking about what I want to plant. Then finding out when the best time to start the seeds are.

Also determine if you need to start indoors or if your seeds will do well in the ground outside.

Carrots, beets, onions and chard are hardy plants resistant to frost so they can be started outside about 4-6 weeks before the last frost.

On the last average frost date you can plant tomatoes, corn, beans and squash. While tender more susceptible plants like eggplant, melons, peppers and cucumbers should be planted at least a week after the last average frost date.

If you want to get a jump on the season, I recommend starting your seeds indoors. Tomatoes and peppers should be started 4-6 weeks before last frost. Melons, squash and eggplant should be started 2-3 weeks before that.

Looking at this info I think I need to be planning what I want this season and getting down to the gardening center to get my seeds and planters.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you are planting and when are going to.