While spring may still feel like a distant horizon at this time of year, it’s the perfect time to get into planning a Spring Garden. Winter sees many of us spending more time indoors. Winter gardens often need less hands on management, and this frees up your hands for grabbing a notebook, a seed catalogue, a hot cuppa and dreaming about warmer seasons.
Aiming to grow some early spring crops, which enjoy the cooler temperatures, gives you the chance to get some bonus harvests before it’s warm enough for your summer staples to go in.
What to Grow in Early Spring
Start your spring garden planning by making a list of all the plants you’d like to grow this year. We recommend going for the Spring Seed Bundle which includes;
And for those early birds (first 20 orders)
- Bonus – marigold seeds!
All of these varieties should be bringing you a happy harvest before it’s time to get those summer crops in, so will allow you the space for another round of growing when you need it.
Lettuce
Lettuce can be seeded throughout spring for a continuous crop. The cooler temperatures reduce the chance of bolting and bring a sweeter flavour to the leaves. Lettuce seeds germinate in about a week at 10°C, so are a great candidate for early sowing and early spring harvesting!
Spinach
Spinach seeds are very happy to germinate in cool spring temperatures, taking about 12 days at 10°C. It grows best in cool temperatures, having a tendency to go to seed prematurely in hot weather. We recommend the perpetual spinach seed from our Spring Bundle as it’s a bolt-resistant variety, which should extend your early spring plantings right into summer.
Beetroot
Beetroot seeds germinate in a wide range of temperatures, sprouting when soil is anywhere between 4°-35°C. They should take about 10 days to germinate 15°C.
The large tolerance for germination of these seeds makes beetroot a great veggie for early spring. Start planting your seeds in the early spring and continue planting a few every 2-3 weeks for a continuous harvest. Come summer time, you’ll have beetroot coming out of the ground and freeing up space for your summer plantings to go in.
Green Runner Beans
Runner bean seeds germinate in around a week at 10°C. Green runner beans are great to get in the garden and they grow quickly as the temperatures warm up, however they are not frost tolerant so it’s important they are planted out after danger of frost has passed. The Blue Lake Runner variety we’ve included in the Spring Seed Bundle is more cold tolerant than most, but still not frost hardy. To get a head-start, you can start seeds inside a few weeks early. Don’t be tempted to start earlier than that as they get tall quickly!
Spring Onions
Spring onion seeds germinate a little slower, taking about 2 weeks at 10°C. Seeds can be sowed direct or happily transplanted. They are also a great candidate for succession sowing, to get a continual harvest through spring and into summer.
Other Spring Options
Carrots, onions, radish, broccoli, peas, potatoes, rhubarb, asparagus and silverbeet.
A word of caution! Don’t get sucked into the summer crops too soon. Early spring is too cold for tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicum and even some varieties of beans. While you may be able to sprout them, they will likely be stunted by the cold and not perform as well as plants that are started once the weather warms up.
When to Sow
Early spring in the garden typically begins as the soil thaws, daily temperatures are above freezing but there are still some frosty nights and potentially a cold snap or two.
Fortunately, there are quite a few plants that don’t mind the chilly weather. These plants have seeds that can germinate in soil that is just above freezing. Although they germinate much more quickly as the soil warms up in the spring, or if you start them indoors.
If you’ve been growing a winter garden, ideally you will have spring plants to follow after you harvest your winter crop! Many of our winter harvests are a “single pick” such as cauliflower or cabbage. Once those are harvested, the plants come out and make space for new spring seedlings.
Even though I live in a region with mild temperatures, I prefer to start my early spring seedlings indoors. This allows a couple of weeks for them to get established before hardening off and transplanting into the garden. At the earliest, find out the last frost date for your region, and count backwards four weeks (two weeks for beans).
In Auckland, I’ll be aiming to start my Spring seeds indoors from late July or early August. You will need to adjust this guideline for your own local climate.
If you struggle starting seed and forget to water your little sprouts, check out my self-watering seedling pots!
Where to sow
Spring seedlings want a sunny warm spot. This is most likely where your first maturing winter harvests are being taken from (how convenient!). Remember though, the sun is lower in the sky through this time of year so your usual sunny patch may not be so extensive.
I always like to draw myself a picture or map of my garden bed areas. This helps me figure out how much space I have, so how many plants I want to get started. This map is great for planning your garden all through the seasons!
Enjoy it
Ultimately, planning your Spring garden should be a relaxing and exciting time, to sit down and dream for the future. No need to rush, as you’ve got all winter to mull it over!