Under cover next month. I'm in zone 5 and have just started seed indoors for transplant in February into a covered raised bed. There is still arugula growing in there from the fall.

Philip, down here in central Va I plant my outdoor lettuce seed around mid March if the soil is workable, probably the same for you if not in the MD mtns. If your seed was stored under cool/dry conditions it should still be ok.

Early March should work for arugula as it is very hardy. Probably want to wait until late March to transplant lettuce. They can take light frost but won't really grow much when it is cold.

Alternatively you can try growing arugula throughout the winter if you can provide row covers. In fact spinach can also be grown this way and you will get a very early harvest in the spring.

If you have bare soil, seed some in place any time now. Salad greens are notorious for self-seeding in the fall (if you let your plants flower and set seed, that is) and coming up very early the next spring. Clearly the seed can survive the cold and come up before we expect in the spring. The key here is to plant a small bed now, a small bed in February, and then start planting your successions every couple of weeks in March. The ones planted in late March should take you through May and then it will probably be too hot for most salad greens anyway, so the March plantings should do it. I assume in Zone 7 you can start planting beans and corn and squash in late April, so when you stop planting greens, you can still stick seeds of warmer-weather plants in the ground every couple of weeks.

Remember, you can't eat a whole garden full of lettuce when it ripens all at once. And it will if you plant it all at once. Spread it out.

Catherine

In zone 7 all year except hot summer months. I start succession planting in September. Use raised beds and use hoops. On real cold nights I cover my hoops with old blankets. Even if it freezes, it generally comes back. I don't pull plants, I do cuttings. If you have two square foot gardens going with lettuce, you'll be able to have it all thru the winter I think. In my zone 7 the problem in spring won't be temperatures it will be water/rain. So a raised bed and hoops are critical to keeping your crop going. I've had very little luck with head lettuces as it gets hot before they form a good head and they rot. For the few decent heads I've gotten it wasn't worth near the space. So, I've added crunch to my salads by doing some bean sprouts instead.