Vegetable Seeds

Vegetable seeds are starting to appear in all the stores and we’re getting close to the time when we can get out and spend time in the garden.  Is this the year you plant a garden?  Yes you say!  Well, it all starts with those luscious vegetable seed packets. The choice can be over whelming too, because there are hundreds to choose from.  It’s easy to just grab and then grab some more, but there is a better way that will help you be more successful and have an easy to grow, productive harvest that lasts all season.

There are a huge variety of vegetable seeds available to consumers.  Seeds have been developed to be more colorful, more disease resistant, tastier, bigger, or have shorter growing times. There are also heirloom seeds available that produce fruits and vegetables that are much more similar to original cultivars.  They may not be perfectly shaped, nor have the uniform colors of newer varieties, but some people contend that they are tastier and are healthier for us. That’s for you to decide.   

So, first of all make a list. What vegetables do you especially like?  What would you like to try to grow?  How much space do you have or are willing to plant?  Once your list is completed, carry it with you and try not to veer too far from your list.  Then after you’ve chosen the essentials maybe choose one or two extra fun things, but don’t buy too many because those tiny seed packages don’t look like much now, but unless you’re planting the lower forty you won’t have room for all of them to flourish.

Now read the backs of the seed packages.  Pay special attention to how long it will take for your seeds to reach harvest stage.  This is very important for a couple of reasons.  The growing season is shorter in the north of our country than in the south and you don’t want to choose a variety that takes a very long growing season to mature.  If you choose your vegetable seeds wisely you will have foods to harvest all season long because harvest times can be divided into roughly three time periods: early summer, midseason, and late summer.

Early summer vegetable seeds (or cool weather crops) would include most greens (such as lettuces, spinach, and kale), snap peas, scallions, radishes and beets. Buy a few packages of any of the greens you like and then stagger your planting times.  In other words don’t plant all your seeds at once.

Lettuce ready to be harvested.

This way you’ll double your harvest.  Field greens and leaf lettuces taste better and are more tender when very young. They tend to get bitter the older or bigger they grow.  So if you only plant some of your seeds, and then later (every two weeks while the weather is still cool) some more you’ll enjoy your greens longer.  You can also pull out your first batch when they start to get tough and use the space for a new crop.  When the weather gets warmer stop planting these crops, but then start again in the late season when the weather gets cooler again.

Vegetable seeds that will be ripe by mid-summer include baby carrots, bush and pole beans, more lettuces, beets, summer squash, and zucchini.

Common vegetable seeds that are harvested in late summer are the winter squashes, pumpkins, melons, eggplant, peppers, and corn.  If your space is limited, be aware that all the squashes and melons need a lot of space because they are vines and will spread out everywhere.

Remember too when you’re buying your vegetable seeds that not everything you plant has to come from a seed.  Many people like to buy some things already started. 

When the season is in full swing, temporary green houses will spring up everywhere. You’ll be able to buy everything as seedlings from tomatoes and peppers (which I recommend in our area) to cabbage, and herbs.  Decide now what you want to buy as plants and what seeds you want start in the garden yourself.

Onion seedlings started inside under grow lights.

Just like your vegetable seeds your tomatoes have many different harvest dates. So don’t buy just one variety.  You’ll stretch out your harvest this way and won’t be so apt to overwhelm yourself with too much produce all at one time.

 

Young tomato plants

A variety of young pepper plants

If you do your homework, you will be more apt to make wise choices come seed buying time (unless you're like me and think: " I can find room for this somewhere...maybe!" 

Have fun as a new growing season begins. Here's to your best garden ever!