Direct Sowing in February?!

Hello all you gorgeous and wonderful blog readers! How’s it going? I hope you’re well.

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous lately. The sun is shining; the birds are singing. Most importantly, I’m thinking about starting my vegetable garden for the spring! Last time I took a look-see at the 10 day forecast, I immediately became giggly with excitement. Ten days worth of sunshine, moderate temperatures, and nights above freezing. I decided to take action.

I’ve decided to go ahead and do a little gambling, and roll the dice with an early spring planting. Now, I should be clear – my last frost date isn’t until the first week of May. I am NOT planting out anything that is tender. Summer annuals are NOT something I’m even thinking about. However, there are several plants whose tolerance to cold and frost make them a great candidate to go ahead and direct sow into the garden early in the season.

Normally, veggies like peas and spinach are safe to direct sow here in my zone (zone 6b/7) on March 1st. With the extended forecast looking as it does, I feel completely safe about going ahead and putting some seeds into the ground. When you think about it, I’m only really planting out a few weeks earlier than I normally would. Below is a list of the seeds that I direct sowed, and a little bit of an explanation as to why I decided to do so –

• Shell Peas – Edible garden peas are surprisingly hardy. In the past, I’ve planted them into the garden and had them briefly covered in snow and ice without any damaged. If I remember correctly, germination is best when the soil temperature is around 50F. I don’t have a soil thermometer, but with warmer air temperatures and lots of sunshine – I feel fairly confident that there will not be any issues.
• Spinach – Literally the only time that I’ve ever been successful with spinach is when I direct sow it. I threw a giant handful of seeds onto the ground, and I’m hoping for the best. I know that the spinach will have no issues with the cold because somehow I still have spinach growing that I planted from last fall. I love greens that keep on growing without me.
• Quinoa and Orach – I fall planted my quinoa and orach last year in an effort to over winter it. Even though the plants died when the temperatures hit 8F, they did survive a lot of cold weather – down to about 25F. Quinoa seems to germinate very readily at a variety of soil temperatures.
• Chamomile – Chamomile over winters quite easily in my garden. Additionally, it germinates well at various soil temperatures. I know this will not be an issue.
• Shiso – I’ve never grown this before. I know it requires cold stratification. I’m interested to see if this will actually germinate and how to performs.
• Wheat – Germination is always great and the cold doesn’t seem to impact the grass-like plants at all. Definitely a good choice, as long as I can keep animals from eating all of the seeds.
• Cilantro – I’ve actually never grown cilantro. The internet told me to plant it. We’ll see what happens. I’m skeptical. Lol.

That’s about it! I hope that this was somehow helpful! I’d love to hear all about how your garden is growing! What are some of the first things that you direct sow outside into the garden? Tell me in the comments! Hope you’re having a really great day!

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