Mid-March is the best time to begin seeding for transplants which will go into the garden in early May or grown further in a greenhouse of planting out in June.
At Transition Garden, we plant seeds, let them germinate inside the house, and then put them out into our ‘workshop’ greenhouse the moment that they start to emerge from the soil. The greenhouse is mostly unheated. The tomatoes, eggplant and peppers, being heat loving plants, would go into our insulated ‘hot box’ in the greenhouse that has a heating pad on the bottom. The other early seedlings are fairly cold tolerant and can withstand the cold nights in the unheated portion of the greenhouse.
Assess your own situation carefully. Unless your have good grow lights, a greenhouse or at least a cold frame, the common error is to start seeding too early and not be able accommodate the plants properly as they get bigger. Tomatoes, eggplant and peppers are particularly sensitive – it is good to start them early, but they will need lots of light and warmth.
Here is what we would plant during the middle of March: Onions, Leeks, Chives, Peppers, Tomatoes, Eggplant, Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Cabbage, Celery, Kale, Chard, Bokchoy, Leaf lettuces and Parsley.
Lettuce seedlings just emerging from the potting mix.
Onions germinated 3 weeks ago
Our beehive on a warm March day. We checked them for honey stores and they have plenty to get through to first nectar flow.