Hi Gina,

First, I am sorry to hear that your life has been so challenging lately with your DH's medical problems and hope he is doing well and that his condition continues to improve. Congratulations on the impending birth of your child too!

I'll try to address each vegetable separately. With all these, you could direct seed now with little fear of cold temps harming them, but you might get them off to a faster start by starting them indoors in warmer temperatures.

LETTUCE: Since lettuce sprouts so quickly, I'd certainly go ahead and plant it again. At this point, you can direct seed it into the vegetable garden, or you can start seeds in flats for transplants. If it were me, I'd direct sow it at this point but there are some instances where starting with transplants works better. One example would be if you have wildlife that eat the seedlings as soon as they sprout, being eaten by wild things. In that case, transplants allow you to start with larger, older plants that can better withstand the pests. Normally, the best time to plant lettuce is roughly 4 to 6 weeks before your average last frost date and, in general, transplants are preferred in our climate. So, you're a little late, but not terribly late.

Remember to plant only as much as y'all can eat because lettuce bolts (goes to seed) in hot weather and its season is fairly short here. If hot temps arrive extra-early, let's say in early May instead of late May, you may need to harvest your lettuce as baby lettuce instead of full-sized plants so you're able to eat it before it bolts.

SPINACH: This one is a toss-up. Down here in southern OK, I'd say it is getting awfully late to sow spinach seed. Up there in zone 6, you probably could get away with planting it this late. You could direct-sow spinach now with no problem and direct-sowing would be preferable to raising transplants since you're planting so late. There's just no need to plant transplants, harden them off and spend time transplanting them (which means they might get transplant shock and stall) when it is warm enough to direct-sow. Then, hope that the weather doesn't warm up too much too soon so your spinach has time to mature before the heat arrives.

Most spinach produces 7 to 10 weeks after the seed emerges so while you're a bit late, you're not too late, especially if you're planting a spinach with fairly short DTMs. As with the lettuce, if the temps start heating up a lot in May, you may be harvesting your spinach as baby spinach instead of full-sized spinach in order to beat the heat.

KALE: I can't decide about this one. I'd say the odds that it would do well if started from seed at this point are 50-50. I have seen Kale hold on pretty late in spring some years, and have seen it go downhill pretty early when the heat arrives early. Here where I live, kale that was planted in the fall is bolting now because of the hot temps, but we've already had days in the 80s (and a couple near 90) here, so the bolting is not surprising. If you don't have a lot of room, I'd skip kale and save it for the fall garden. A similar vegetable that has better heat tolerance is Swiss chard, which produces virtually all summer for me if I keep picking the leaves while they're pretty young and tender instead of letting them get huge. Maybe someone else who grows kale in zone 6 can advise you regarding how long kale produces well there in late spring to early summer.

BROCCOLI: I'd definitely sow the broccoli seeds now and then set out the transplants once they have 3 true leaves. Even though they'll be quite small at that time, they'll grow quickly. Broccoli is really picky about temperatures, so you'd not as far behind on this one as you think you are. I plant later than recommended down here in southcentral OK because when I plant it at the recommended time, we inevitably have some cold temps once it is pretty good sized and then it bolts. So I feel pretty confident you can start broccoli seed now and still get a great harvest if the weather halfway cooperates.

Were I in your shoes, I'd only sprout the seeds indoors and then move them outside to grow on. The minute I had the very first teeny-tiny seedlings emerging above the soil surface, I'd carry the flats outside every morning so the plants can grow in the sun. That way, you can avoid the week of hardening-off needed for seedlings sown indoors since they'll be exposed to sunlight, outdoor temperatures and wind from day one. Also, the plants will grow faster with direct sunlight than with indoor lighting and so it won't matter so much that you're getting a bit of a late start. It also would allow the plants to harden off to cooler temperatures even if you don't leave them out all night. I'd carry out the plants pretty early in the morning and leave them out pretty late in the evening so they experience the full range of temperatures we have here. I'd bring them inside at night so they wouldn't be eaten by small animals or insects and so they wouldn't freeze if temps are going into the 20s at night. Using those little tricks can cut quite a bit of time off the process of raising seedlings.

You probably also could direct-sow everything at this point, but I'm a little worried that some of them would emerge a bit too slowly in colder soil temps which might not be good since you're getting off to a late start.

Finally, if all of these are intended to be followed by warm-season crops that will follow them in the exact same spot, that could negate everything I just wrote. Since these plants are going to be starting late, I'd be concerned that they will linger a bit longer than usual in the garden and that could mess up the planting schedule for succession plantings of other crops in the same place. However, if you could plan your garden plantings in such a way that plants that go into the garden pretty late, like southern peas, watermelon or sweet potatoes would follow them, that probably would work out better than if you're intending to follow them with green beans, peppers or tomatoes.

Hope this info helps,

Dawn

Gins, good luck with your august baby! I had a little boy two August's ago and my garden was neglected, to say the least. August seems to be the busiest time in the garden for me, so, again, best of luck!

Dawn, thanks for the detailed description here. You've inspired me to try some of this again, as my first round hasn't been quite as prosperous as I'd hoped. We decided to take down our old hoop house and build a new one at a key time for seed starting, so many of my seeds are just starting to sprout, including tomatoes and peppers and eggplant. Oh well, live and learn. :)

Brandy

Brandy,

You're welcome.

Parenthood is hard and very time-consuming and it can be hard to find time to garden with a small child. My vegetable gardening really took-off big time when our son was older.

August is busy in the garden for me only in terms of harvesting. Otherwise, I'm busy in the kitchen putting up the harvest using various food preservation techniques. My insane gardening months run from mid March through mid May.

Never be afraid to start over with seedlings even if they're a bit late. Often seeds sown later grow faster because the growing conditions are more to their liking. I think your seedlings that are just now sprouting will grow well and be fine. They'll be ready to go into the ground pretty much on time even though they might be a little smaller than you'd like. They'll catch up fast once they're in the ground in ideal growing conditions.

I am growing my tomatoes in two groups this year. The first group, which is about 40 or 45 varieties is ready to go into the ground today.....which doesn't mean I'll transplant them today, but they are ready. The other 30 varieties? I planted their seeds in flats yesterday with no pre-soaking or pre-sprouting or anything. They'll be ready to go into the ground between mid-April and late-April.

I am hoping that growing the tomatoes in two separate rounds gives me a break from having to transplant so very many at once. I deliberately planted the second batch six weeks after the first in an effort to better manage my workload and because I only have so much space for flats of seedlings and right now it is pretty full. By the time the seeds I sowed yesterday are large enough to pot up, I should have my other ones in the ground and plenty of space on the tables outside....or in the greenhouse if we ever get it finished.

We never stop learning, especially about gardening. I have been gardening a long time and still learn something new every day.

Dawn

If I were in your shoes I would go ahead and seed anything you can. The worst that can happen is they don't do well and you try again next year. Bear in mind if you put things in pots you can bring them in when the cold snaps hit and get a longer growing season.I seed spinach and lettuce throughout the season in my front flower beds because it grows rather quickly and i well... eat it.After awhile the plants either don't have any leaves left, die from over or under watering, get choked out by weeds, taken over by 4 o'clocks, or seed out and quit producing. But every time the snow melts i sprinkle some seed and do it all over again. For me it works. Maybe not for everyone else. Just my experiance =) Good luck with your garden and Husband and with your coming baby!

Trent

Thank you for all the helpful responses!

Dawn, after reading your post, here is what I decided to do:

I did start spinach and lettuce seeds in coffee filters yesterday. As soon as they start to germinate I will go ahead and stick them directly in the ground. I have to finish getting the beds ready yet anyway, so I will be working on that this evening and tomorrow. Also, a friend of mine told me today that Atwood's has lettuce plants on sale 3 for $ .69 I think I may go up there this evening and get a few and stick those in the ground as well... that way in case mine isn't quite ready in time, maybe I could at least have SOMETHING to harvest.

I decided to give up on the kale this year. I have a couple in the egg cartons that look like they might make it but they are still very tiny. I will continue to baby them along and if they do make it, I will put them in the ground, if not, there's always next year.

I also started some broccoli again and will put them in the ground when they are ready.

Brandy- I am soooo hoping that by August all I will have left to do is harvest and eat. If not, oh well, it will probably get neglected :( I probably won't do much, if anything, for a fall garden, though. Maybe next year. I just know I will be very busy when the baby comes, as I already have an 18 month old (he was born in September, but this was the summer we had JUST moved into our house, so I hadn't started gardening yet. I am also wondering how I am going to do this in the HOT months leading up to August... those can be miserable when you are very pregnant!

Trent- when did you start direct-sowing your lettuce and spinach? That sounds interesting... As I mentioned before I have a lettuce plant that has been alive all winter. It is a rather small plant, but it is still alive and looking good none the less, so I plan to keep it there and plant others near it... I figure it can't hurt!

Gina,
Could you describe the coffee filter method you mentioned? Do you use soil also, or just the coffee filters?

Best wishes for the new family member on the way and I hope your husband's health continues to improve. You do have your hands full!

Suzie

Suzie,

I have seen it referred to on this site as "coffee filter" method, but I actually used paper towels. I am guessing either one would work just fine.

What I did was this:

Wet a paper towel and thoroughly wring it out so it is just damp, not soaked.

Put the seeds in one corner of the towel so they take up 1/4 of the towel.

Fold the towel in half over the seeds, then in half over the seeds again. So now your towel should be 1/4 the size it was originally with 3 layers of paper towel on one side of the seeds and 1 layer on the other side.

Put the paper towel in a ziploc baggy, but don't seal it all the way, only loosely close it. You need to make sure air can still get in there.

You can put more than one towel in the bag (I think I had about 8-10 or so in the bag the first time, only 6 the second time) just make sure you label them somehow! I had a hard time getting anything to stick on the damp towels, so I had 4 "stacks" inside the bag. I put a sticker on the outside of the bag, over each of the "stacks" and listed everything in that stack from top to bottom. Just in case things got confused though, I made sure that each "stack" only had one type of plant: for example, If I had two varieties of broccoli, I would not stack them on top of each other, too easy to mix up. Instead, I would make sure each went in a different "stack."

Check your paper towel/seeds every day or two (I check it every day because I am just impatient like that) and if the paper towel no longer feels damp, lightly moisten it (I use a spray bottle).

Once your seeds germinate, plant them in pots or direct sow, however you were intending to plant originally.

This method just helps the seeds to germinate much quicker than sticking them in soil or seed starting mix.

My lettuce germinated within 1 or 2 days this way. Some of my seeds took a little longer than that but I am pretty sure they all germinated MUCH faster than they would have in the dirt (I can't remember the time frame for each). the peppers were the last to germinate (after I had the baggie in the window and the weather finally started to warm up) but I think peppers generally take the longest anyways.

Anyways, I am definitely a newbie when it comes to gardening, so I am sure this way isn't perfect (but so far works for me) so I will gladly stand corrected if someone with more knowledge and experience wants to chime in and tell me I am doing this wrong or there is simply a better way to do this.

Gina - with your paper-towel-in-a-baggie method, how large do you let the seedlings get before you pot them or put them into the ground? For instance, I started a few lettuce seeds using this method and they are starting to sprout - 1/2 inch? 1 inch? By now the lettuce, broccoli, and spinach will probably need to go directly in to the raised bed...any more suggestions or warnings about using this method would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Sarah

Sarah,

I am not sure of the "right" or "wrong" way to do this (if someone else knows, please share!) but I have been planting them within a day or two of when they first started to sprout (regardless of size, really) and so far, it has worked for me.

Hope this helps!

-Gina