At long last, Spring is at the point where we can start planting things. As soon as the ground is workable, you can plant your pea seeds. They like to grow best in cool weather so will do much better if you plant them now than if you plant them in June. Ditto Nasturtiums. Lettuce also likes cool temperatures. Don’t forget that you can also plant a crop in late summer to enjoy throughout the fall!
Things like tomatoes and squash can be given a head start on a sunny windowsill, if you are so inclined. You will still have to wait until around Memorial Day to plant them (they like heat and lots of it, so planting them outside too soon isn’t productive) but you can certainly get them started. Just remember to bring them outside during the day and inside at night for 4-5 days before planting them outside for good. This is called “hardening off” and gets them used to the cooler temperatures so that they adapt better when in their final places.
Pansy plants are also favorites for early planting. While typically they do best in the spring (and they love fall, too, although we don’t tend to think of them as fall flowers) they will often do pretty well in the summer heat if given a semi-shady spot. I had pansies that I planted in a barrel last April that survived and flowered until Christmas. Now that’s value!
Scratch that planting itch with a few of these beautiful and tasty plants, and get the season off to a good start!
Nasturtium is still my favorite ‘annual’, even though there is no white! By the time those that grew through winter die back, there are more to replace them for spring and summer. By the time they die back there are new ones for autumn and winter.