Is it too early to start my seeds?

The answer to that is...that depends. Depends on what seeds you plan on starting, how big you want your plants to be when you plant them, and whether or not you plan on getting two or more rounds of crops in.

The best answer takes a little bit of math, but it's not hard I promise! Figure out when your plants should go into the ground, keeping in mind the usual frost dates (especially with nightshades like tomatoes, peppers, potatoes & eggplants). Your seed packages should tell you when you need to start sowing them; take a look at the calendar and work your way backwards that amount of time. This year our expected last frost date is anywhere from May 11th - 20th; if your goal is to have your plants ready for that week, and your seeds say to start them 8 weeks ahead of time, then you should sow those seeds indoors on March 16th.

For some plants I tend to err on the side of caution with regards to frost dates; we've seen surprise late frosts in our garden, and it's a sad sight indeed to see frost-damaged tomatoes & eggplants throughout the garden. It will do them no harm to keep those plants safe inside for another week or two, and it's certainly preferable to trying to find replacement plants after the May long weekend, especially if you're into rarer varieties.

If you're still anxious to get your garden started, this might be a good time to start a garden journal. I use mine to map out my plot, keep track of all the seed varieties I've purchased (including which vendor), seed sowing & transplanting dates, and make lists of what new materials I might need for the following season. Throughout the season I add photos, notes about successes & failures, and names of other plants that I've seen that I'd like to add to my plot the following year. It also helps me remember which pests I may have encountered, and what areas of my plot might need remediation before planting.

Speaking of seeds, when you're trying to figure out how many seeds to sow, try to keep this in mind:

"A good gardener always plants three seeds - one for the bugs, one for the weather, and one for himself"  (Leo Aikman)

 

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