If you’re eager to jump-start your gardening season, the Extra Early Spring Garden is a perfect way to get a head start on fresh vegetables and salad greens before your last frost date arrives. This plan, which utilizes cold frames, row covers, and cloches, allows you to start planting early and protect your crops from frost and chilly conditions. It’s designed to maximize your growing potential with minimal space, requiring less than 150 square feet for three beds.
Cold Frames and Season Extenders: The Secret to Success
Cold frames and season extenders are essential tools for creating the ideal microclimate for early spring crops. These devices warm the soil, extend the growing season, and provide protection from wind, hail, and pests. In the Garden Planner, season extenders like raised bed covers, cold frames, and plastic cloches can be scaled to fit any size garden. They’re designed to move your frost-free date up by two to three weeks, allowing you to plant early and protect your plants as they grow.
Here’s how to plan your Extra Early Spring Garden:
Bed 1: Cold-Hardy Greens
Six to eight weeks before your last frost date, sow cold-hardy greens in a cold frame. These include crops like mache (corn salad), cress, leaf lettuce, and miner’s lettuce. Cold frames, made from materials like old windows or shower doors, provide reliable protection from the elements and help germinate seeds during mild weather. Once the plants are established, they can be moved to a row cover tunnel, with the cold frame repositioned to protect new sowings of spinach, arugula, and more lettuce.
Bed 2: Early Roots and Kale Under Row Cover Tunnels
Four to six weeks before the last frost date, plant seedlings of kale, green onions, and radicchio under row cover tunnels. You can also sow carrots and radishes directly in the soil. Row cover tunnels offer insulation, and a plastic sheet or insulating blanket can be added if needed. Keep the edges weighted down to allow for easy opening for weeding and thinning. These tunnels also provide protection against weeds, which thrive in the same conditions!
Bed 3: Big Spring Crops Under Cloches
Three to four weeks before the last frost, set out hardened seedlings of larger crops like Swiss chard, bulb fennel, and cabbage-family vegetables (broccoli, kohlrabi). Use individual cloches to protect these larger plants from wind and pests like rabbits. Parsley, pansies, scallions, and calendulas can also be added for color and flavor, and they can handle the lingering cold snaps without trouble.
Harvesting and Transitioning
Your Extra Early Spring Garden will begin producing early salad greens almost as soon as you complete planting the third bed. As early summer approaches, you can transition the garden by replanting with warmer weather crops like beans, squash, or sweet potatoes.
This plan ensures that your garden gets off to an early, productive start, helping you enjoy fresh produce long before the typical growing season. Happy planting!