We are gardening “for real” now! Our direct sows have been started, so now it’s just a matter of time before they come up!
With almost all the direct sows, you can easily get them in the ground a couple of weeks before your last frost. We’re talking radish, rutabaga, parsnip, beets, carrots, lettuce, all greens, peas and green onions! All of these are exceptionally cold hardy, will germinate in cooler soils and can tolerate some late frosts (or even snowfall) if they come around. When the seed feels the soil conditions are right, they’ll sprout!
Our lone hold out for direct sows are beans, of all types. Beans aren’t frost tolerant, so its best to wait until we get closer to our last frost. Plus, they prefer a bit warmer soils and will germinate more successfully with warmer temperatures.
We’ve found it highly beneficial to contain all of our direct sows into their own beds. Most root veggies share very similar nutritional requirements, so we can treat the bed universally from that perspective. Also, we just know everything in that bed (or beds) are seeds and we don’t have to worry about disturbing things with transplants.
It’s important to top water your direct sows, at least until they get decently established. Irrigation systems are great and all, but they aren’t great at getting good moisture in the top two inches of soil where its needed the most with direct sows. We continue top watering until all of our direct sows are established. Typically, we water every day or two, depending on soil conditions and evaporation rates. When the soil looks dry, water!
We practice intensive gardening in these beds, mostly borrowing from the square foot gardening method for spacing guidelines. We also practice some French intensive gardening as well. We have a great video on this topic, specifically talking about how we’ve evolved these processes over many years of using them. You’ll find that video linked in the comments.
Another practice that we employ is to come along after a couple weeks, typically right around last frost, and re-sow any seeds that haven’t yet sprouted. This ensures we get solid growth throughout the beds, instead of spotty areas where we aren’t using our beds to the maximum extent possible. Just like with indoor sowing, some seeds aren’t going to germinate.
We’re thrilled to be at this point in the season. Summer is right around the corner and we’re feeling it in our bones! It feels so good to be doing this all over again and we’re thankful for your interest in our gardens!
