A Planting Guide for Vegetables in Maine

March 1	Start indoors: celery, celeriac (3/1 to 3/15), onions and leeks (2/20 to 3/15), kale
March 14	Start indoors: leaf and head lettuce
March 21	Start indoors: peppers
April 1	Start indoors: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant
April 14	Start indoors: tomatoes Start outdoors: beets, carrots, leaf and head lettuce, peas, parsnips (4/15 to 5/15), radishes, shallots (4/15 to 5/30), spinach, turnips, bunching onions for summer harvest (4/15 to 5/1), onions from seeds or sets Transplant out: leaf and head lettuce, onion seedlings
May 1	Start indoors: melons, squashes, cucumbers Start outdoors: beets, carrots, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard (5/1 to 5/31), turnips Transplant out: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower (5/1 to 5/15 when 4 to 5 weeks old), leeks (5/1 to 5/15)
May 14	Start indoors: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower for fall crop Start outdoors: beets, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, turnip
June 1	Start outdoors: bush green beans, pole beans, beets, Chinese cabbage (5/30 to 7/30), carrots, corn, leaf and head lettuce, peas, potatoes, radishes, spinach, turnip Transplant out: celery and celeriac (6/1 to 6/15), tomatoes Transplant or direct seed out: melons, squashes, cucumbers
June 14	Start outdoors: beets, corn, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, rutabaga, spinach, turnip Transplant out: 4/1 sowing of eggplant, 5/15 sowing of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower
June 21	Start outdoors: bush green beans, carrots
July 1	Start outdoors: beets, corn (short season varieties), kale, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, turnip
July 14	Start outdoors: bush green beans, beets, carrots, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, turnip; hardy bunching onions for fall and spring harvest (7/15 to 8/15)
August 1	Start outdoors: beets, leaf and head lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, turnip
August 14	Start outdoors: leaf and head lettuce, radishes, spinach, turnip
September 1	Start outdoors: leaf lettuce, radishes, shallots for spring green onions, spinach (sow now for fall crop and now until ground freezes for spring crop, well mulched over winter)
October 1	Start outdoors: garlic

Winter sowing 2015

This year for the first time I will be starting most of my seeds outside this winter.  Winter Sowing is a  technique in gardening that I only just learned about this fall.  I'll be planting my seeds in clear plastic containers, such as milk jugs, clear soda bottles, lettuce containers or anything that will allow me to fill with potting soil and plant my seeds in with room for growth.  There are many sites on the internet that will take you through the process.  Here are a couple links... Winter Sowing 101 and  WinterSown.org

My interest in Winter Sowing comes from  my years of sowing seeds indoors in the early spring and not really producing the strong healthy plants I want.  I simply don't have the space or the light to make this happen.  Think of the volunteer plants that show up in your garden from seeds that fell from your last years plants.  They sit in the soil over winter then sprout when they are good and ready, strong healthy plants that need no hardening  off as they are already used to being out of doors in the elements.

I'm excited about this process, as of this writing, I've already planted echinacea, carnations and red leaf romaine lettuce.  These seeds were planted in January and are now covered with 4 feet of snow.  I've set them in a sunny location so as the temperatures heat up and the snow melts the heat inside of the containers will act as a mini green house.  My next round of plantings will be my hardy annuals the first of March then later, the end of March or the first of April I will plant my tomatoes and more tender plants.

I'm planting my seeds in these air pots for easy transplanting.  This is my own experiment, seeds can be directly sown into the soil in the bottom of your plastic jug.  The soil has been well moistened and the seeds are set as indicated on the seed packet.  Then labels are added and set inside the containers.

The plastic lid is taped shut with duct tape and set outside in a sunny, safe spot outside.

This is a new process for me so I will be keeping records of what I'm planting and how many seeds I'm sowing.  I will record how many actually germinate so I can have a record of my progress (if any) for next year.

Echinacea  sown on  1/19/15,  16 pots

Carnations sown on  1/19/15,  6 pots

Red Leaf Romaine sown on  1/19/15,  12 pots

My First Post...

My first post in this my gardening journal, date January 14, 2015. 

I need to step back in time a bit as this is my first gardening journal I need to bring this up to date.  My garden was started back in 2011, in zone 5A.  We hired a man to come and rototill a space approximately 20'X30' in an area that receives sun mid morning through late afternoon.  An open space but with trees all around.  My first year of planting, my focus was tomatoes, which will always be my main crop.  Other vegetables will certainly be grown but I do love tomatoes, many types mostly heirloom varieties.  I start my seedlings inside around mid to late March.  Tend them very carefully and hope and pray for the best.  Come planting time I have a host of seedlings, not nearly as vibrant as I would like but still plant able.  Usually I start seeding my garden the last week of May and set my tomato plants in the first weekend of June. I must add, in 2009 we purchased a 20X8' Shelter Logic greenhouse.  That year we planted a nice little variety of vegetables and they did amazing!  The following year I started seeding, in the green house,  around April, I planted greens, onions, garlic, and carrots.  The cover comes off of the greenhouse about the end of June.

 First year greenhouse garden.

My first year real garden.

My grand father was the real gardener in the family.  He came from Italy, married and raised a family of 9 children.  Gardening was a necessity.  He was a paid gardener for the local wealthy families and was very well known for his gardening skills.  
 

Growing up I watched my mom dirty her hands in the garden growing such things as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and lettuces.  Gardening didn't really become a big thing for me until the kids grew up and left the nest.  This is a learning experience for me.  I would love to have just a percentage of knowledge my grandfather had but I like to think I'm following in his very experienced footsteps.

In future posts my goal is to post my progress, my wins and losses so as to learn from mistakes and perhaps devise new ways to make my gardening efforts easier and more bountiful.

 Next post I'll touch on a new method I've been researching and explain the process.