I was retraining my automatic gardening memory. Seeing when to do what at a glance really helped.
Helpful dates to mark:
• First frost in fall
• Last frost in spring
• Count back 8 weeks from both of these dates to find planting dates.
• Count back from planting dates for indoor seed starting dates.
The optimal time for fall planting is 6-8 weeks before your first frost date. Treat this time frame as a guide, not an absolute. I have fudged by a few weeks both early and late with great success. As summer moves into fall and then into winter, growing conditions are ideal for planting seeds and transplants: nighttime temperatures start to fall, the days are not heating up as intensely, and rain comes more frequently.
Sweet William ‘Sweet” is amongst the very first bloomers in our spring garden.
The timeline you set up for getting started will depend on whether you are planting seeds directly in the garden or starting seeds indoors to plant transplants. The preferred method of seed starting is listed for each flower in Chapter 5.
Planting seeds directly in the garden. This method requires advance planning in order to have the necessary seeds on hand at the proper planting time. Growing conditions are excellent for sprouting hardy annual seeds in the garden in fall. Planting while the days are still warm speeds germination. If seeds are planted later and do not receive the necessary warmth to trigger sprouting in fall, they will lie dormant until those conditions are favorable again. The drawback to this method is that your plants will not have spent the winter developing the beneficial strong root system. To make matters worse, cool-season weeds will quickly fill in where there are no plants. Ideally, the goal is to plant the seeds with enough time for them to sprout and grow into a small plant, so they can be mulched and then put to bed for the winter.
‘Rocket’ snapdragons are the hardiest and are the last snap variety to start to bloom in my garden.
Starting seeds indoors. You will need to start early enough to have a suitable-size plant at the proper planting time. The time lapse from planting a seed to a suitable plant size varies between varieties. Because I prefer to have a larger transplant going into winter, I start all seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before the planting time outdoors, except where I have noted on specific flowers. The window for getting seeds started indoors for fall planting puts the task right in the heat of summer – when it is a treat to have an indoor gardening project!
Go with fall if possible!
What I have experienced and heard from other growers is that whenever you have the option to plant hardy annuals in the fall versus early spring, go with fall. The strength and quality of young plants that have spent all winter building a deep and strong root system are unrivaled by their counterparts planted in early spring. The carefree nature of these well-established plants requires little (if any) intervention from the gardener. Coupled with pleasant planting conditions in the fall, this creates a win-win situation for the gardener.
While I plant many in the fall, I also repeat that same planting in very early spring in an effort to extend our season of bloom. This spring planting will typically begin to bloom when the fall planting of the same flower starts into its decline. What I have learned from this is that the fall-planted plants bloom earlier, produce more and taller stems, and continue blooming longer into the heat and humidity of summer. The early spring planting is certainly a worthy garden member; it just stars a little later and doesn’t perform to the level of a fall planting. So, choose fall planting if it is an option – the benefits are many.
Winter planting is an option in frost-free regions of the Deep South or in gardens where the ground doesn’t freeze in winter. The way to succeed with winter planting is to prepare the soil in the fall and have it ready and waiting for planting time. One of the benefits of winter for the hardy annuals is the consistent moisture – but this constant moisture is also what makes it next to impossible to prepare soil in winter. I like to prepare the area in fall and then cover with mulch to prevent winter weeds and to keep the soil temperature more stable. When it is time to plant during winter, I pull back the mulch to plant seeds directly, or plant transplants right through the mulch.
A bed of love-in-a-mist ready to burst into bloom.
Planting seeds directly in the garden. Seeds planted in the dead of winter will most often lie dormant until spring. If you do this, I would pay close attention to marking this planting with plant markers to stir your memory come spring, when they will sprout amongst all the spring weeds.
Starting seeds indoors. This can be done any time for later transplant in the garden. Providing added protection, like a row cover, will enhance winter growth both above and below ground level.
The optimum time for early spring planting is 6-8 weeks before your last frost date. In early spring, hardy annuals are the seeds and plants to lay our hands on when we have the itch to garden. We can turn to this family of plants as the gardening catalogs begin to arrive, tempting us to bolt outdoors and plant.
Early spring is the time to plant those flowers that are not winter hardy in your zone – you simply plant them in early spring after the worst of winter has passed. I plant all the flowers that won’t survive our winters and many of the same ones I planted in fall, in an effort to extend their bloom time. For best results and because of those early spring showers, it is necessary to prepare the soil the previous fall for an early spring planting. It can be nearly impossible to find a window of dry soil conditions during spring.
Engaging your garden in early spring can be an exciting time. Exploring among your plantings old and new will reveal surprises you never imagined.
The timeline you set up for getting started will depend on whether you are planting seeds directly in the garden or starting seeds indoors to plant transplants. See Chapter 5 for the preferred method of seed starting for your flowers.
Planting seeds directly in the garden. Seed planting in early spring is so rewarding! Warming temperatures and frequent rains result in quick germination. Unfortunately, the unwanted weeds appreciate those very same conditions so they too are on the fast track to sprouting and growing. See Chapter 6 for how to prevent weeds from becoming a problem when planting seeds directly in the garden. I cover all of our new plantings with a row cover for 2-3 weeks to provide added protection from the
