Seeds to Direct Sow Outside Now!

In this week’s episode of Gals Who Grow, we’re talking all about what seeds you can direct sow outdoors in March to kick off the gardening season the right way.

While many gardeners are busy starting seeds indoors, there are actually quite a few cool-season vegetables, herbs, and flowers that thrive when sown directly in the garden early in the season. We’re sharing the crops that can handle chilly soil, why direct sowing works so well for certain plants, and how to give your seeds the best possible start.

Whether you're growing snap peas, spinach, carrots, hardy annual flowers, or early greens, this episode will help you feel confident about getting outside and planting now—even if spring still feels a little far away.

If you're eager to shake off winter and start growing, grab your seed packets and join us as we talk about the best seeds to direct sow in March for a productive spring garden.

🌱 Let’s grow!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, I'm Monica with Lulu the A Fields. And I'm Cassie with Coppertop Gardens. And I'm Bailey with How Home and Garden. We have been cultivating our gardens and farms for years now, but something really special was sewed when we met and began working together.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Our shared passion for growing the best local flowers and food has made us realize the impact it's had in not only our own homes, but also in our local community.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

We are the gals who grow, and we can't wait to inspire you to grow too.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Hello. Hi friends.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

We're back. What's up? Oh, not much. We are just sitting here talking about all the stuff that we are excited to start direct sewing into our outside because it's gonna start getting warmer. And we're looking forward to it. And honestly, the best St. Patrick's Days are spent outside in the garden. That's literally, I took that day off last year from work, and I literally was outside the entire day.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

It really is.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

The entire day.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

It's so funny. Younger Monica would be like, you did what on St. Patrick's Day? You weren't. No green beer. Yeah, exactly. Literally like Did you have a beer with you while you were doing that?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

All of my friends like went out after work and like had beer and like, you know, did their little St. Patrick's Day celebrations, and I was literally like, well, I got all of my vegetables sewn and I have my beds ready.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

So what did you do?

SPEAKER_00 1:34

How are you feeling today? Oh, yeah, I feel hungover too because I was bent over in the dirt.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

That's surreal because I think I actually really was hurting after that. But I did get some beautiful carrots that I sewed in March. And I just think about that a lot. That like, okay, so St. Patrick's Day, except this time we sewed a lot earlier our carrots. So we'll see how they do. But that is one that you can sew outside before the last frost. So get yourself a packet of carrots and sew them. And there's so many options. I would say look for packets of types that um depending on your soil, like there are ones that grow certain ways, so they are less like um, like if you have rocky soil, finding one that's more like small and bulbous, because then it like won't go that deep and get like the taproot out. If you have good, like if you're going in like a raised bed with just you know pure soil, you don't have to be as worried about that. But there are also ones that are like heat tolerant, more heat tolerant for like the Midwest. I'm sure they have ones you should look for things that like do well locally in your zone, especially for stuff that likes it cooler because if you get hot really fast or hot like some extreme heat before the harvest of that crop, it's best to go find ones that are at least proven a little bit in your area.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

I grew Danvers, some Danvers variety, Danvers half long, I think, is what I grew last year. And they are they were awesome. Yeah, yep. I do grow them in a raised bed.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

I think I waited too long to harvest mine last year because some of mine were like not good.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Yeah, I yeah. I it that takes some learning, and I'm not always perfect at it either.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

They were like really like hard in the center, and like bitter a little bit. Yeah, I had a couple.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

I probably did as well.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Dang.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

I did not even know that. Yeah. That you could do that. Oh it would be like I think it's temperature related. Like if it's too hot, I think. Because too. Because cold helps the sweetness. So it makes sense that heat would cause some bitterness.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

So yeah, maybe it's important to get it started earlier than later. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Okay, so I brought my Clyde's garden planner, which um is I mentioned it on the last episode. It's a little slide chart. When does it say peas?

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Because that's what I'm excited about.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

So it says to plant peas on March 22nd. Okay, okay. But it says to plant carrots April 19th. I don't believe that.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

He's being very careful, and I just don't have that in me.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

I just don't know if I agree with you.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

I threw mine outside on March 17th last year, and this year we did February 17th.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

You don't know until you try.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah, exactly. You know, like what's the worst thing? We lose we lose a couple of carrot seeds in the process.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

I did my radish and beets at the same time that I did my carrots last year. So I want to say it was like mid-March. I think mine was mid-March, and I had success.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

And these were very successful.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

I'm gonna do radishes this year. I don't typically eat radishes, but I'm gonna try.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

They were really fun. Like I grew them, they were really fun. We love radish. We ate none of them.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

What? Okay, if you have vegetables that you're not gonna eat, I will come over and harvest them.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Okay, I'll save them for you. Because that's my downfall. I'm like, yay, I grew it. And that's good.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

We typically eat our other stuff, but like radishes are one that I don't want to go for.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Oh my gosh, you could pickle them. You could I heard roasted radishes are delicious as well. Roasted radishes. I like to dip them in ranch. I knew it. I knew it. I'm gonna do it. I did try the I did try the radish and butter thing that the French do. How was that? Very anticlimatic. Really? Okay. Maybe I needed salt to add some salt.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

This is making me think of something. So Joey's recently uh made poached leeks. What? Ooh, I'm gonna try in like a cream sauce. It was a wine white wine cream sauce with butter. I saw a TikTok about that, and it looked freaking. Honestly, I think that's where he probably got the inspiration from. Um, and it they were delicious. So we've been on this like leek kick, and I was like, you know what, we can grow leeks, but probably have to sow it like right now, right? Probably. So onion seeds.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Onion sets, according to Clyde, is February 22nd. Oh, oh, hold on. Just a second. Sorry. My slide slide slid. Slide to slid slide slid. Onion sets March 15th. Oh, okay. Nah, today. Remember, we're we're remembering that what's Clyde is conservative, so maybe back it up two weeks. Yeah, three weeks. March first. Maybe a month. Where are we finding?

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Sets of leeks at. Where are we finding?

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Well, that's what you have to sow them. You have to sow them now. Yeah, like seeds like now.

unknown 7:06

Oh god.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

I have my onions I can do, but I know me too. I have onions. I need to get the onions out. I need to get the leeks out.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Where'd you get your onions from?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

We grew them last year from seed, and they only became tiny little things, and then I just popped them into the closet to save them. Have you checked on them? No. Why have I never checked? Should I? You're making me nervous.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

I'm about to like take this off and go look right now. Actually, for science, do it. Okay. Let's go look. Why not?

unknown 7:35

You guys keep it.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

We guys keep it rolling. Wait, so we gotcha. How many leek seeds do you have? Where'd you find them from?

unknown 7:41

Um, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

Dang it. I need to find some.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Alright, well, so by next episode, we're gonna know where to source these. Yes. And in moments, we will know if Bailey's country right now. The bag is out. One time I made Bailey open up her dahlias while I was over, and she was like, Do you think they're done? Like, yes. And then back to work. Okay. Okay, moment of recording with Peruni. Okay, okay. They look amazing. They were growing some seed last year.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

I'm so upset with myself that I never thought about that. That is so exciting.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Billy on the cow, she's got a whole bag. Billy, you just changed my life.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Okay, so sell your onion seeds so that you can have onions two years.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

They look so good. Oh, I just want to like pop one in and eat it. They're so cute. They look good. They look tasty. Call me an ogre. Oh, it's time to do it.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

They literally have been in a paper, a paper bag in my pantry since we harvested them last fall. And I because we were like, crap, they didn't grow very much. And like, I I don't think they were in the best spot for it. So I was like, well, you know what? That's like all the bigger mine got. And I freaking thought why am I like them up through the yard?

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Well, they might be growing in your yard right now.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

I was like, this is my onion set. So now I'm just gonna pop them in the garden and we're gonna be big juicy onions. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Next time I'm about to do something drastic in the garden, I'm gonna tell myself to stop and take a picture and send it to you guys and be like, what should I do? I'm about to do something.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

I'm about to throw these out. What else can I do? I'm about to self-sabotage things. Those literally were onion seeds that I direct sewed on St. Patrick's Day last year.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

And they just didn't grow very much because they were in part shade a little bit. And I was like, Oh scramble. I know everything is in part shade. And so I was like, well, um, okay. And I had like little, I had sown them in like uh three seeds to a whole. So I had like groups of three of those, like next to each other, clumps. And so I just picked them out and I was like, gosh, what do I do with these? And Joe, I think it was Joey who was like, save them and sew them as onions next year.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

My mind is seriously blown right now. And I'm also mad at myself.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

So do you think you got all of them though? Do you think you left any in there? Because would they serve they wouldn't survive the winter?

SPEAKER_02 10:17

I don't know. One of my onions is still out there and it has green on top now. I think I I think I pulled all of them.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

See? I have got I have a garlic clove in my yard that is not buried. I just saw it.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Okay, wait, but what what how do I make sure that these don't rot when I stick them in?

SPEAKER_02 10:36

Well, okay, so I'm not a professional onion planter. I wouldn't water them. You don't water them very much, but you also don't like completely bury them. Should I get them started inside?

SPEAKER_00 10:50

I was gonna say you could start them.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

Yeah, start them inside and get up to get the greens going again. Yes, that's what you do. Start them inside.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

They might be like I don't know. This is I shouldn't be speaking on this. But the they might be like dahlias where you can just like put them in a warm spot and they'll start to grow. I think they will. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

I think they will. So do that and see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Now I'm nervous. Like, what if I don't be nervous, you'll be fine. Or stir these onions for two years.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Soak them, soak them for treat them like a garlic. Soak them for an hour in seaweed stuff. You know, you know, Neptune. Soak them for an hour in that diluted. They will not really, they will not. This is how I do the garlic, and they're in the same family. Okay. Soak them for an hour. I soaked my garlic bulbs actually for three days one time and they're.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Maybe just try a portion. Just do an experiment. Yeah. Okay. Pick one and three. Like Bailey's Science Fair project with these onions. Pick like three.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

I'm gonna have like a Baker's Creek worthy image at the end where like I'm holding up an onion next to my head.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

The size of my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Really awkward.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Do it. Yes. We're doing it. We're gonna have an experiment. Oh boy. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Baker's Creek side. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Just make sure your song choice is on point, okay?

SPEAKER_01 12:22

But yeah, so we'll see about that. So that's one thing that I'm gonna have to do soon because onions like it cool. So that's one that I'm gonna sew outside. Um, what are other ones that we start now? I'll be doing, I'll be doing carrots, spinning peas. Carrots, peas, cabbage. Yeah, like microgreens, greens, kale. You can get kale started.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Bok choy if you're doing bok choy like now, because holy moly is it sensitive to heat. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

I want to grow bok choy, but what do I do with it? You just saute.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Um I saw, yeah, I saw a really good recipe of bok choy, and I was like, dang. Or you can roast it.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Oh, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Or maybe it was pack choy.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

I think this is the year I work towards work towards my my gardening Instagram. Or my cooking Instagram. The cooks in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Like I love bok choy because it's like cabbagey tasting, but like a little different.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Casso and Italian Italian. A little different.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

So good. You put like like I don't know. Like anything. You could put like cherry sauce. Like chili oil.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Oh, that would be so good.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Some garlic.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Chili crunch. I love chili crunch.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

I love chili crunch too. So good. Put it in your stir-fry. It's like a stir fry. Okay, so I need to get it started. Yes. I have it will grow.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

It grows fast too. I do want to grow, I do want to grow more greens this year. That is one of my goals because it just feels so wasteful to buy tubs of it.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

Well, and I'm sorry, but I got trust issues with store greens. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Like another topic for another. We only buy organic, but still it's like the Yeah. Okay, so these are all things that we can start in the ground direct. So yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Peas, carrots, beets, radishes, snap peas, sugar snaps.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Um, not vegetables, but the flour sweet peas. I'm gonna sew my sweet peas outside like soon.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Yeah, I did mine pretty much like in two. I think I did it the first week of March last year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

I'm I'm literally, I was thinking about doing it like this week.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

I'm so torn whether I want to grow them or not.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

I know they don't they don't they're ex the seeds are expensive. I know they are.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

They really don't produce that much. Honestly, they're so pretty. Sweet peas that we're talking about? Yeah, sweet peas. Yeah, they are pretty they smell Leth Lathoratus.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Heavenly uh uh Odoratus?

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Is that what it is? Don't ask me for Latin names.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

It is not edible. These are not edible, the sweet pea, they are actually toxic. Um but they are they're like a very common British garden, um, sort of like a British garden staple, honestly. Like they are just so pretty, but they like it cool, they don't like it hot. So um there are ones that bloom earlier, some that bloom later. Um, but they are just they're just so pretty. Just like they are so pretty.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

And it is, I think, an important note, like when you're sewing these things, they're gonna grow great in the cool weather. But also think ahead and don't put them where you're like planning to plant your tomatoes because they're not gonna be done by the time you're planting tomatoes. So you need to have you know your space planned out, so like you're not waiting for your peas to be done and your tomatoes are getting overgrown in a pot.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

According to Clyde, what does Clyde say?

SPEAKER_01 15:55

What? Tomatoes can't go out until August.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

No uh tomatoes should go out May 24th.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

No, Clyde. That's wrong. I don't have time for that. No. They're going outside.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Sorry, May.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

I go, I put them outside this. It's kind of hard to see that it is 50 degrees or higher at night.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Like and and and if you're comfortable with the whole Mother's Day thing, then go with that. Yeah. But like we live on the edge a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

I um nobody got shot to baby that stuff. Onions according to this, says you can get your first harvest of onions May 24th. Which is and then you so you hear that, guys? You're gonna be big onions by May 24th. So according to Clyde, if you can harvest your onions by May 24th, then that means you can follow up with planting your tomatoes on May 24th.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Clyde, that is some professional level timing that I cannot get on board with.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Peas, May 17th. Spinach. Is this harvest time? Yeah. Okay. What? Your spinach you can harvest as early as April 26th.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Spinach I get. Spinach definitely.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Same with radishes.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

I'm gonna look up my pea variety and figure this out.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

I get a sugar, sugar daddy pea. And I get, yeah, I know. Sugar daddy pea and uh what was the other one?

SPEAKER_00 17:28

I don't like peas, so I don't plant them. I have really You don't like peas?

SPEAKER_02 17:33

They're so sweet. I've decided to really like candy.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

It's quite triggering to talk about peas. Because my childhood was so Did you have sweet ones? We had the frozen peas. Okay, but that's different. Have you had sweet peas before? I've had I've tried them. I think I've walked through one of y'all's gardens and tried to like are you sure? You eat the whole thing, right? The whole pod.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

I take the peas out, I shell them. There's there's snap peas where you can eat the pot, and then there's the peas where you've had you can do both.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

I've only tried snap peas from the garden.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Oh, okay. I shell them. And it is they're sweet and they're good, and you put them in pasta and they're like a little sweet bite. That's how we do it.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

We put a bang for your buck doesn't seem worth it.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Yeah, I will say it shelling them took some time. For like a little container abdomen. Yeah. Makes you really appreciate those those frozen peas in bags because I don't know how they do it.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

I both I mostly I don't think I want to know how they do it. I got them because we enjoy eating them, but also I thought it'd be fun for like the kids to do the shelling. Like they probably would think that was fun.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Yeah. So I'm j I will not grow peas, but I am gonna grow green beans this year. Me too. Oh, I'm growing. When do you set your green beans out?

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Uh they need to be it has to be warm. Yeah, I'm fairly certain they later.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

May 3rd. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Yeah, I I'm gonna do beans this year. Um I forget what type I got.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

I'm trying out the Lincoln pea. It's a shelling pea. Classic air fruit heirloom variety, excellent flavor, high yields, and heat tolerance. Sweet peas, perfect for fresh eating, freezing, or canning. And it is a bush type. And it says it does well even in warmer spring conditions. So that's why I chose it.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Yeah, so there are different types of beans. There are uh pole beans or like climbing beans, and then there are bush beans. And I will say uh beans are one of the ones that do not last more than one year for your seeds. So if you do want to grow these things, you should buy fresh seed for the beans. I've just had really bad luck with germination.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Um yeah, there's quite a few things that we can start in March, but beans are definitely are there any other flowers you can direct sew in March?

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Yes. Cold hardies. Any cold hardies you want to spring start? You won't get as thick. But it's still, I mean, you could still do it. I like to even start perennials at this time because you direct sew? Yeah. Really? Yeah. If I don't care too much about like really truly watching it, like um, I'll direct sew some like Echinacea seed or you know, because it's just like I'm not planning on seeing the bloom this year. I know I won't, but if I go out there and I sow it now and it's starting to warm up and they have a chance to germinate now, then I know that it there's a chance I will get the bloom next year, and I've totally had that happen.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

I had a successfully self-sown baptesia seed, and like by the time I noticed it, it was already like a foot tall. And I was like, and it was in line with the other two that I have. Like that. Whatever little sucker did that for me, thank you. So did you leave it or did you dig it up? I left it because I'm like, oh, it's so young, those can be a little iffy on the moving. Yeah, but it was my um pink lemonade one, so I'm interested to see like when that does bloom, what it actually looks like.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Doesn't it give you like a whole new appreciation for these seed breeders? Breeders because they have to wait a lifetime for some. It is the long game.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Even if stuff blooms like immediately, like the next season, it's like a lot of the genetics is not are not stable for like like seven years for some of them. Like roses, it's like they wait like seven years for like the first bloom. Man, and I I mean I respect it, but whoo. And then imagine like it takes they I remember like hearing David Austin say that when they're breeding their roses, it takes ten years for them from the time. They sow the seed to when they are able to mass produce it. So literally they're picking these varieties that they're selling as they're like, we're introducing this new one that was made 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

It's old news to them. They're like, please love it.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Yeah, exactly. Like, and they're like, think about it, like trends of like colors and stuff, like 10 years. It starts forever ago. Ten years. So you have to hope that you're like on it. So that is impressive. I know it is impressive.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

My beans that my green beans I got for this year are the Roma 2 bush beans. They're like the flat pod variety. I like those a lot. So I love green beans. Yeah. And I was like, we'll try this this year. 60 days to maturity, so we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

But yeah, I that's I mean, those are ones you wouldn't start cooler. Those have to start later. This says after danger frost.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yeah. So soil temps between 75 and 85 to sprout. So these are they're a warm guy. Yeah. But I'm very much looking forward to them. So in the meantime.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Sure. So do we want to go ahead and talk about what we'll sew in April? Since by the time we share this, it will be close to March.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Yeah. It'd be mid-March.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

We can like I'm just thinking, like, there's actually a lot of stuff that you sew directly, but more the but everything is like, I feel like until I've really entered into this industry, everything's like, wait until your last frost. Wait until your last frost.

SPEAKER_03 23:34

And actually that's not the case.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Yeah, let's put it in people's heads. What is it? So just going off of Clyde's little slider, which we have to show. We're gonna we're gonna film a video and I will show you this afterwards. And you can buy your own online. It's like not very expensive. So according to him, it's beets, potatoes, broccoli, lettuce, carrots, and shard.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Oh, my carrots are already out there and it's February.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

All of that needs to be before the first one. Do another succession.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Uh, true.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Yeah, you can totally do another secession. Yeah. So just to repeat that list onions, peas, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, all in March. And these are direxo? Potatoes, broccoli.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Potatoes in April.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

I'm sorry, no. Broccoli and lettuce leaf are flagged as starting inside. Okay, okay, okay. Really? But I would not start my lettuce inside. Yeah, just direct soft. You can direct silly's.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

I think Clyde is very, very what was your thought on potatoes earlier? I don't know. I don't remember. I don't remember when I did mine. Maybe I did mine St. Patrick's Day last year.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

I did my onions and my potatoes at the same time. Now my onions had we experienced a lot of rot on the onions. Yeah. So I think maybe I harvested them too late. In fact, looking at this, it's like I harvested them in July.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

I do think potatoes you can plant earlier because some people store their potatoes in the ground until they're ready to use them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

But it's confusing because you don't want them to you you don't want them to freeze. I would have to be out of the window where your ground is no longer frozen and it is not going to freeze.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

And I would I would put the caveat for the potatoes. If you're planting an entire potato, it's probably fine. If you have cut your potatoes, don't put them in the ground in March, I would say, because they would probably rot.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Yeah, no, his isn't you start potatoes in April. They're not a March. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Potatoes. I think you could do whole potatoes in March. Late March.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

I think I have them in Indiana.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

Yes. Here in central Indiana, I think you could late March.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

I'm not gonna lie, we have potato starts in there too, because they also didn't. Yeah, I'm gonna go get some for sure.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

Do you need to go check on them, baby?

SPEAKER_01 26:02

They're fine, they're in there. Are you sure? I'm fairly certain.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

So basically, if you're planting vegetables, you don't have to wait until Mother's Day. Actually, you're gonna miss the window on a lot of things if you wait that long. Yeah. Yes. Because what else we have learned in our years of growing the things is you have there are certain things you can't like wish success upon. Like if you have missed the window, you've missed the window until next year.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Yeah. Or you can do it in the fall sometimes. Sometimes, yes. It's the cool stuff can do spring or fall. Like Brussels sprouts, I'm fairly certain you have to like start in spring to harvest in fall. Yeah, they take a really long time.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Yeah, Clyde just needs to pay me a little side note. Uh-huh. Um, it does have a first planting date, and then if you flip the chart over, there's a last planting date. Based on your frosting. So, like ours is usually around the 18th of October. Uh-huh. Ish. And um onions are not recommended for fall planting, in case you're wondering. But you can do like all of the other ones carrots, cauliflower, shard, peas, beets, broccoli.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Um, and Brussels sprouts, have you guys ever grown Brussels sprouts?

SPEAKER_02 27:26

I tried last year and I was not successful.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

So I think you have to sew the bugs.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

By the bees. By the bugs. Them bees loving Brussels sprouts. Yeah, I mean, honestly, for all the brassica family, I would suggest netting the entire time. Because those cat those caterpillar things. Moths. Yes, they just are.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Which is good because I actually just bought hoops for my ranunculus, so guess.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

And I have hoops still, so I can just pop those suckers up whenever I want. I would do that with lettuce still.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Looks like most of the cool stuff is last week of July, first week of August for last planting, FYI. But it does say side note protect from the heat, so you need to get some shade cloth, probably. Which at that point in time it's like, is it worth it? So what is this thing you're looking at again? What is it called exactly? Clyde's Garden Planner. So there you go. And you bought it on I bought it directly from Um Baker's Creek when I went there. So if you go to Clyde's Vegetable Planting Chart dot com, you can order your own. And there is a phone number here. But I feel like I shouldn't leave it.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

The website's good.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

It's definitely helpful to remember like there are things that you can plant now. And now I'm like, man, I want to plant more veggies.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

Honestly, it does give you like a little bit of extra permission. Like, hey, this is I can start broccoli. I'm gonna go look for leek seeds because I really do want to.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

I know. Now I'm like, okay, I think I have some, but I have to go check.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Oh, if I find any, I'll let you know.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Okay. Or I'll just buy an extra package. Okay. Now I'm like, but I think we actually have to sew it like now.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Just dump it in the thing.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

You guys? I actually happened to turn to a page that talks about all the cool season crops in this vegetable book that I brought.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Did you know the veggies? Did you know that you can plant horseradish? That is a cool season crop.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

I did not know that.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Um, okay, I have a question about leeks. Do we I remember seeing somebody put like they sew those in root trainers to get them started because they don't like really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

I've kind of heard that all onions should be started in like deeper because they're better if they're so root trainers are something that's like meant for taproot stuff that doesn't like to be disturbed. I mean, they're the onions I planted from seed last year, their roots were big. Like they were just so long. Yeah. So I can see that. They're in the onion family.

unknown 30:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

So I might sew mine in my root trainers.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Really? Maybe I did something.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

I think you're supposed to plant them deeper. I think you sew them, get them germinated, and then I think you re-sow them deeper. Oh. Because what you're trying to do is get them deep in the ground so that they can uh shoot. Because you eat the white part, you know, like you're not eating the green part of leeks.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Yeah. True, true.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

Okay, we'll do some research on the leeks, but I'm still gonna buy the seeds.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

I'm gonna grow rhubarb just so I can make rhubarb.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

We have rhubarb out there, but you have to force it, and we have not been forcing it, and I need to force it.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

It's a perennial.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Yep. It's a perennial. I had so the previous owner here, we found like a broken terracotta pot behind the barn, and I was like, what in the world is this? Like it wasn't a pot, it was like had a hole on the bottom, and I've seen forcers on Monty Don. Like he has forcing pots with the lids. This didn't have a lid, it was just it had like a decorative hole at the top and a decorative like bottom. And I was like, What is this? And then we saw the leaves of the rhubarb coming up and realized that it was rhubarb, so they had a rhubarb little patch out back and they put a forcer on it, and then it just broke. And they so we just found like the pieces of it and then realized that it was a rhubarb thing.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

So then your plant is still out there?

SPEAKER_01 31:44

We moved it, but yeah, it's still out there. Oh my god. We have also put more in, but I think we lost one because I think I put it in too wet of ground.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

So just can you just put like a tupperware over it?

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Like, no, it's gotta be completely dark. You want it dark.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

It has to be completely like like people will put terracotta pots with no hole. So like forcing pots typically are uh completely uh like round with a lid on them so that you can like remove the lid and check on it.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Um, but the idea is you're trying to get the leaves to grow. You're you want the stems on the leaves to be as long as possible because that's the part that you eat. So you're trying to like make it reach for light. So you're blocking out the light on them.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

So then when do you harvest that?

SPEAKER_01 32:32

It's like late spring, like uh, I think late May or so. I don't know. We have not. I honestly we have not done it this year, and I don't have a forcer, but I'll maybe I'll have to look for a forcer. Come on, get a forcer, we can make rhubarb pie. I know. Rhubar strawberry rhubarb pie.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

Can I steal a start from you?

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Yeah, I think so. I was gonna I should probably move it anyway.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

Dig up and move.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

I think so. I don't know. I mean, it's still coming up, or at least it was last year. If we had a really wet winter, it might be gone now, but I think it's just so pretty. Yeah. It is really pretty. Like I actually just like the plant too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

I need to find a better spot for it.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

What does it do if you don't force it? It just like it grows. It just doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

The leaves are like the stems are shorter, much, much shorter, like not reusable, shorter.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

And then um, and that's also like I don't know, like I haven't fed it, I've done nothing to it, just keeps coming back as a little thing.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

Well, she's resilient. Yeah, she wants to live. She does. She wants to be a piece of pie. A piece of pie.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Oh my gosh. So there's a lot of things that you can do in the spring. Honestly, yes. Or some barbers. That's what this is about. Don't miss your spring window because it's nice to get out after the winter and you can grow the things. Yeah. It's happening. Yeah. Now. Oh, we will keep you updated on Bailey's Onion Adventures and see you next time.

unknown 33:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

Okay, talk to you next time. Bye. Bye. Hey, thanks for listening to our podcast. If you want to follow us on social, find us at Gals Who Grow Podcast on Instagram and follow us on Spotify or your favorite podcast app.