Cold frames full of radish and lettuce at one end of the season, horticultural fleece thrown over young tomatoes at the other: spring gardening is a relay, not a sprint. Spread the sowing and planting out, early crops under cover and tender ones only once frost has gone, and you harvest for far longer without exhausting yourself.
<!–Read also: Sowing and seedling calendar for the vegetable patch.–>
Spring work is easier when it is spread out rather than crammed into a few weeks. The table below sums up what the article recommends for each stage of the season, in the vegetable patch and among the flowers.
| Season | Vegetable patch | Flowers and shrubs | Key precaution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early spring | Sow carrots, radishes, lettuce, leek and cabbage under a cold frame; sow tomatoes indoors; plant potatoes | Prune roses and summer-flowering shrubs; sow tender annuals under cover | Frost still strikes: keep tomato sowings at 65°F (18°C) in good light |
| Mid-spring | Direct-sow silverbeet, red beet, spinach, parsnip, summer carrots, cabbage, lettuce, peas and snap beans; plant more potatoes | Finish pruning shrubs and roses; sow hardy annuals in place; plant remaining perennials | Harden tomato seedlings outdoors by day, bringing them back inside at night |
| Late spring | Sow spinach, carrots, beans and turnips; plant out zucchini, squash, eggplant, tomatoes and cucumbers | Finish sowing annuals where they are to grow; transplant sheltered seedlings; sow perennials and mulch | Watch the forecast and cover vulnerable plants with horticultural fleece |
| Early summer | Keep sowing string beans and salads; ridge potatoes; harvest the first green peas and snow peas | Stake and pinch tall perennials; remove wilted rose flowers; weed and mulch | Spray fermented nettle and comfrey teas on tomatoes every two weeks |
Staggering the work this way keeps the harvests coming without the spring burn-out.
Start sowing under a cold frame for early carrots, radishes, lettuce and spring batavia, fall and winter leek and spring cabbage. Prepare your soil for the future summer vegetable beds (tomatoes, eggplant…) by breaking it up and adding mature compost along the surface. Sow your tomatoes in a warm spot, at least 65°F (18°C) with proper exposure in a well-lit place. Plant your potato.
Prune roses and dry stems from your perennial flower bed. Sow under cover fragile summer annuals (sage, tagetes, zinnias… Loosen compacted soil with the spading fork. Prune shrubs that flower in the summer.
Transplant your young tomato seedlings as soon as they’re 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) tall into a larger nursery pot. Bring them out from mid-spring on, to harden them and keep them from growing too fast in their nursery pot; bring them back inside at night.
Directly in the growing bed, sow early silverbeet and red beet, spinach, parsnip and summer carrots, carefully protecting them against insects with fine mesh, fall and winter cabbage, summer lettuce, pod peas and snap beans… Under a cold frame, in nursery pots, get your first zucchini and squash started. Plant a new batch of potatoes.
Weed the growing beds and mulch to keep undesired grasses from growing back.
Finish pruning your shrubs and roses. Start sowing hardy annuals directly in the flower bed: marigolds, knapweed, cosmos, rudbeckia and climbing vines in nursery pots (nasturtiums, sweet pea…). Plant your remaining perennials.
Sow to your heart’s desire: spinach, carrots, beans, turnips… Sow heat-resistant batavia lettuce and green beans, every two weeks for constant and stable productivity.
Wait for late spring to planter the following directly in the soil: zucchinis and squash, eggplant, tomatoes and cucumbers if you live in frost-prone areas. Check on the weather forecasts daily for those plants that might be vulnerable to the cold, covering them with horticultural fleece when at risk.
Finish sowing all your annuals where they are to grow (cosmos, pincushion flower…). Set up your flower beds, transplanting the seedlings you started in a sheltered place. Sow your perennials. Mulch everything you’ve got. There’s never too much mulch.
Spray a mixture of fermented stinging nettle tea and fermented comfrey tea on your tomato plants every two weeks in early summer and midsummer to reinforce their natural immune system.
Mulch between rows to protect against dehydration, and attract and provide cover for beneficial insects and worms.
Keep sowing vegetables that you tend to eat often in late summer. Ridge your potatoes. And start nibbling the first spring vegetables you planted under tunnels: green peas, snow peas…
Stake and pinch tall perennials. Remove wilted flowers from rose trees as they keep producing new ones. Weed and mulch. Water the base of the roses if needed, always avoid splashing the leaves. Keep sowing new string beans, salads…
M.-C. H.
