Spring is here! It’s time to get into the garden, but do you know what to plant?
Here in the Baltimore area, the very first crops that go in the ground are peas. Peas don’t like the heat and their flowers won’t produce fruit if temperatures rise too high. Getting peas in the ground early ensures that they will have a long season in which to produce plenty of fruit. We always plant peas by seed and plant at least two successions as timing can be a gamble this early in the year.
After peas come hardy greens from seed - kale, arugula, spinach, and more will germinate on warm days but stay hardy in brief cool snaps.
In early to mid March, you can begin sowing your first succession of root crops like carrots, beets, turnips, and radishes, too!
By the end of March, we’ll begin transplanting seedlings into the ground. Because seedlings are typically grown in a warm, bright, and reliable greenhouse environment and then planted outside where the temperature may be colder, sun may be brighter, and water may be less consistent, they can be a little finicky. When buying seedlings, make sure to ask your nursery if they’ve been “hardened off,” or acclimated to the outdoors. We wait to plant our seedlings until we are certain that there will be no more hard frosts to shock them.
Planting brassicas like cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower from seedling gives us a jump start on their long growing season and gives them the best chance to become established and strong before the cabbage loopers come out.