Potatoes, peas, any of the cole crops (broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, collards, kohlrabi), spinach, lettuce, onions. They are all frost and even snow tolerant.

Dave

Hi Dave,
Can I sow the seeds in early spring in the ground or should I start them inside?

I recommend starting seeds inside for spring gardens. The reason is that the number of days it takes for the seeds to germinate lessens as soil temps go up. This is true even for plants that can tolerate snow and frost without a problem.

There are options though. You can use clear plastic sheeting over the growing area. The idea is that this allows sunlight through to warm the area, but then traps the heat in the soil. The sooner you can start this the better, but even 1 month ahead of time will result in the soil under the plastic being many degrees warmer than the surrounding soil. Of course, do not leave the plastic on once plants/seeds are in.

A similar, but less efficient idea is to create mini 'hoop houses' which are nothing more than a wire frame bent into half circles and stuck into the ground. Secure the plastic over them. This creates a tunnel of warm air underneath. With a setup like this you can replace the plastic with row cover material (breathable) once you have planted. This keeps the plants warmer and thus growing faster than uncovered and also helps keep the birds from eating seeds or the early pests from laying their eggs in the growing area. Some are even less fancy and would just lay the row cover on top of the plants and secure the edges leaving a little slack for the plants to push up as they grow.

I don't recommend the hoop house idea if your garden gets high winds(the winds will damage/destroy it), but it works fine otherwise.

Yet another thing some do is called winter sowing. While there is a wintersowing forum on Garden Web, the 'formal' method has 'rules' to it, but a less formal method is to take seeds of cold hardy plants and place them in a disposable container like a soda or milk jug or whatever. Poke a few holes in the bottom for drainage, add some moist potting mix and put in a bunch of seeds. Cover with saran wrap or similar and poke a couple holes for air exchange. Now just go set it outside. The idea is that these seeds will germinate as soon as nature allows and they require no hardening off before going into the garden. You can literally just pluck tiny seedlings out as they germinate and put them into the garden. This method removes the need to have grow lights for indoor starting, doesn't require heat mats and you don't have to constantly check moisture levels. Nature just takes care of it.

if you want to get a jump on spring I would start seeds in the house then set them out for a couple days in space with sheltered light and wind. check out my blog to see what I have growing in my basement

Here is a link that might be useful: gardening by the seat of my pants

justaguy2's post hits the nail on the head.

I'd like to add that you can also presprout seeds indoors to cut down germination time.

Place seeds in most perlite or vermiculite in a plastic ziplock bag (thin paper like paper towels and coffee filters work well). Place in a warm area until you see the little white roots emerging. Then sow as usual.

I've found this to be a great way to sow early peas and spinach. Lettuce I sow in situ once a week as soon as the ground is ready. Because of the gradual warm up the slow seeds will germinate with the ones sown earlier and everything comes up as once.

C'mon spring!

If you do any gardening in large containers, you can turn them into temporary cold frames for early greens. I have a few 22" containers in which I keep the soil about 4" from the top. Add an old window on top and instant cold frame.

With my mini cold frames I can plant the lettuce about 8 weeks before my last frost date and start harvesting a few weeks after planting. Use loose-leaf varieties for earliest harvest, but also add heads for later in the season. I start them indoors, but when I put them out, I also put out some seed. And continue to add a pinch of seed every couple of weeks.

Radishes are not quite so cold tolerant as greens or cole crops, but they are quick to grow to harvest size. They do well in my cold frames.

Peas and potatoes are not so quick to harvest, but boy they are timely. Within a few weeks of getting all of the heat-lovers into your garden, you can start picking snow peas.
Kay.

I wintersow many vegetables, and I always do lettuce. I usually am cutting baby lettuce in April. I've also started spinach, onions, peas, and beets with this method.

This year I am also trying cold frames. I have an extra cold frame that I never had time to plant in the fall, so I will try some early vegetable in that.

Good luck!
Dee

Thank You all for the information.
I am going to warm up the soil and try the hoop method along with direct sowing!

But I am really excited about the quick and easy winter sowing method Justaguy mentioned.
I have so many seeds tha I am inching to plant now.I will let you know how this turns out!

Maggie, for next year, I will recommend sowing in the fall if you want to don't what to start growing indoors. Make sure saw before the first fall frost to give them enough time to set roots. I know you can do this with onions, spinach, brocolli, cabbage, cauliflower & brussel sprouts. I will do the lettuce in door, or sow in spring after late frost.

I've had good luck with planting peas directly in my garden beds as soon as the snow is off them. Really cold snowy weather after planting slows them down but doesn't seem to damage them. I don't use a cold frame or other soil-warmer.

The best thing I've found for spring eating is asparagus-- here in upstate NY, zone 4/5, it starts bearing sometime in May. Of course you have to wait a couple of years before you get anything to eat... And we've done well with overwintering kale and carrots in the garden. The old kale leaves die but new ones start growing as soon as the snow's off, and the carrots are good as soon as the ground thaws enough to release them. If you lived in an area without deep consistent snow cover you might need to mulch them.