Timing your Seeds in Spring

Have you ever noticed that the plant that seeded itself and popped up in some random part of the garden is doing so much better than the same variety that you hand seeded in a specific area? Have you ever wondered why the volunteer plants often do so much better than the ones we try so hard to tend and make thrive intentionally?

Nature knows best! And as humble co-creators in the garden, observation and timing can go a very long way in creating a healthy garden ecosystem. In this blog post I share some tips on timing your herb and flower seed sowing in a way that works with the natural energy of the season, and encourages strong, happy and hardy seedlings that turn into resilient and thriving gardens.

A view of our farm in early June, after all the seeding has been done and the plants have put on lots of leafy growth.

The more we can work with the natural flow of the season not only will we give our plants a better chance at thriving, they will actually need less input from us. How do we work with the energy of nature and not against it? We do our best to observe how nature does it and we try to mimic that!

First signs of spring

Right now, as I write this, we are in late winter, only a couple weeks away from the Equinox and the official start of Spring. Here on northern Vancouver Island BC there is still snow on the ground. Night time temps are dropping to just below 0°C and day time temps still consistently in the single digits. Burrrr, I can’t wait for spring!

It is definitely still winter, and if you observe what nature is doing right now, at first glance you might think it is still quite at rest. But if you look a little more closely you may notice that tiny signs of spring are actually all around you and increasing by the day.

If you look up through the canopy of deciduous trees, like our native Balsam Poplars, you’ll notice the tight dormant leaf buds of winter have become tangibly larger and swollen when viewed against the pale late winter sky. You’ll notice the Red Alders are plumping their catkins and preparing to release their pollen, and the big leaf Maples are slowly dreaming their tender and delicious blossoms into reality.

The catkins of Red Alder ready to burst into bloom in mid March.

If you look at the ground you’ll notice signs of the plants stirring as well. You might notice new green growth on the wild Dandelions and the first tiny Nettles popping up out of the snow. Even the planted perennials in the garden are shooting up too… well hello new growth I didn’t see you there!

Stinging Nettle popping up out of the snow on our farm in early March.

The plants are quietly doing their thing, preparing for that mind blowing burst of growth that happens a few weeks after the Equinox. The magical time when the trees leaf out and turn our landscape in the the most comforting luminous green and fill our air with the most beautiful fresh oxygen, infusing the air with their life-nurturing plant molecules.

That explosive time of early/mid-spring is the absolute perfect time to have your little seedlings emerging as well! The new sprouts will ride on the energy that all of nature around them is providing, feeding off the natural moisture and thriving in the mild temps, putting on lots of abundant leaf growth before the dryer hotter season that favours flowering and seed-formation arrives.

An abundance of spring greens harvested mid-April. This is right around the same time the trees leaf out ~ and this is the also the prime time for direct seeding the vast majority of plants in the garden.

Tips on timing your seeds in spring

So how do you time your seeding in a way that works with nature rather than against it? The most helpful tip I can offer from my years of gardening experience is to sow your seeds in the garden just before or after that big burst of spring growth happens around the last frost date for your region.

Are the Nettles up and the native trees and shrubs starting to leaf out? Then its the right time to plant the vast majority of seeds outdoors! You’ll notice that this is also when most dormant seeds already in the soil will be naturally coming up on their own. The seeds choose this time to emerge because they know that the conditions seem just right. I can’t pretend I am smarter than a seed!

Whatever your climate or microclimate, you’ll want to find your own planting rhythm by observing nature around you. When do you first notice new growth on the mature perennials in your garden? When do the self-sown seedlings emerge? When do the deciduous trees leaf out and the established perennials really start taking off? The answers to these questions will give you an idea of when the time is right to sow seeds in your region.

A collection of volunteer seedlings popping up in the garden in early-May (clockwise from left to right: chickweed, borage, cilantro; and milk thistle in the middle). The seeds began germinating right around our last frost date in mid to late April (also the time when the perennial spring greens are at harvestable stage and when the native trees and shrubs have leafed out).

A helpful tool for timing your seeds in spring is to look up the last frost date for your region. An online resource you can use to discover this date your location can be found at almanac.com. You can also look up your hardiness zone on this site. At our farm on Vancouver Island we are in hardiness zone 8a and the last frost date for our region is near the end of April.

Spring sowing schedule

Below I share the schedule we generally use to plant seeds on our farm. From now through the next two months or so we will be seeding indoors and out. Though so much of our planting schedule is intuitive and varies from season to season, I have broken the timing down into four different helpful categories for you.

1) Early March (or 6-8 weeks before last frost)

In the earlier part of this seeding window, when we still have at least a 4-6 weeks of cooler (below 10°C) temps, we can still sow seeds that need stratification. Stratification is a cold-moist period that many native plant seeds need to break dormancy. This is easily achieved by sowing seeds in the fall (that’s how nature does it!), but there can also be plenty of time to stratify seeds by planting them in late winter or early spring.

Many varieties, even those that don’t necessarily need stratification, can be sown during this window and will benefit from having this longer cool and moist period. These varieties include many native plants such as Elderberry, Arnica, Fireweed, Pearly Everlasting, Yarrow, Cleavers and Wild Chamomile; as well as other hardy perennials, biennials, and annuals such as Agrimony, Wood Betony, Marshmallow, Lobelia, Mullein, Echinacea, German Chamomile, Mugwort, Opium Poppy and Red Clover.

March sown Opium Poppy seedlings emerging in late April.

If the soil in your garden is still frozen at this time, the seeds can be sown in pots, watered in, and then left out to the elements. If you have snow on the ground, but the soil is still workable, the snow can be brushed away and the seeds planted in the soil underneath. You can expect to see these seedlings emerging once the soil warms in late April to mid-May.

If you’d like more info on stratification please check out my article A Guide to Seeding in Fall | Nature’s Planting Time.

This seeding window is also when certain varieties that need a very long growing season can be started indoors under grow lights. Keep in mind though that starting seeds this early is going to mean repotting the seedlings at least once or twice before it will be warm enough outdoors to transplant them, and this can be time consuming and also take up a lot of space.

You don’t want to start your seeds too early. Growing seedlings indoors is sometimes necessarily to give them an extended growing season, but it does not always produce the strongest seedlings. Seedlings need to be exposed to the elements to become strong and resilient, and often will struggle if planted too soon.

I used to start my tomato seeds super early in mid-Feb. One spring, over a decade ago, a friend gave me some seeds for a new tomato variety that I was excited to try. It was already into April and at the time it seemed super late to me to be starting tomato seeds, but I wanted to try out this variety so gave it a go and planted the seed mid-April.

To my surprise the seedlings from the late planted seeds grew so fast and vigorously that they very quickly caught up to the February sown ones. I was so surprised! But it made perfect sense. These new seeds were planted at the time when the energy of nature was there to support them, and so grew exponentially faster than those that were planted before the conditions were right.

German Chamomile direct sown in late March or early April, will be in full bloom and harvestable in mid-June.

2) Late-March to mid-April (or 2-4 weeks before last frost)

During this stage of seeding, temps are usually hovering in the low to mid double digits (°C) and sometimes even getting quite warm in the daytime. This is a fantastic time to direct seed many hardy annuals and perennials into the garden, including Milky Oats, Calendula, Opium Poppy, Wild Lettuce, Dyer’s Chamomile, German Chamomile, Anise Hyssop, Coreopsis, Borage, Milk Thistle, and Echinacea.

Some of the more tender varieties can be sown indoors, under cover in the garden, or in an unheated greenhouse during this seeding window. We often sow Ashwagandha, Basil, Zinnias, Datura, Cosmos, Marigolds, Spilanthes, Wild Dagga, and various varieties of Tobacco in our unheated greenhouse the first or second week of April. This gives them a chance to grow into a 4” pot before being transplanted out in mid-May.

A bed of Zinnias transplanted planted out in mid-May. These seeds were started in our unheated greenhouse in early April.

The same bed of Zinnias in July (planted with Lemon Bergamot on the right and Spider Flower behind).

3) Late-April to mid-May (or 1-2 weeks before and after last frost)

This is the prime seeding time when the energy of nature is most supportive! During these two weeks before and after the last frost date pretty much everything can be seeded. Go crazy! Get planting! Annuals, perennials, biennials, get it all seeded now. The only seeds you can’t plant at this time are the seeds that need to be stratified.

We usually wait until this window to direct seed annual herbs such as Cilantro, Dill, Summer Savory and Nigella. This is also a great time to transplant out the seedlings that you started indoors in March and early April. Make sure to slowly harden them off by exposing them to the elements a bit at a time. You can also transfer them to a cloche or put a temporary tunnel over their new home in the garden.

Our four-legged friend Poppy taking a break from helping with transplanting in late-May. Sleeping on the job, sheesh what are we paying you for!

4) Late-May to mid-June (2-4 weeks after last frost)

This is in many ways the ‘last chance’ spring seeding window for us on Vancouver Island. Keeping in mind that most seeds take 2-4 weeks to germinate, by the time these late sown seedlings emerge the hot season may have already arrived. Plants don’t generally put on a lot of leafy growth once temps are over the mid 20’s°C. Instead the warmer temps encourage flower and seed production.

If seeding annuals during this window you may wish plant them somewhere that gets a bit of shade, a bit more air circulation, and give them adequate water to encourage leaf growth and prevent premature bolting. Perennials usually do fine started this time of year, but you generally won’t see flowering or a large amount of aerial growth until the following year.

By late June, as the summer temperatures arrive, the vast majority of plants will be trigged into blooming and seed production; such as the Self-Heal shown in the foreground of this pic.

Watch how nature does it

Remember the best resource of all is nature itself! Use your senses to observe what nature is doing throughout the season, what plants like to grow where, the life cycle of each plant and the timing of sprout, flower and seed. This will go a long way to building a body of knowledge within you, in sync with the flow of the seasons and nature.

And, to further observe the power and value of timing your seeding with the energy of the season, don’t forget to watch that random volunteer plant through the season ~ whether it be squash, arugula, chamomile, mugwort, borage or cilantro ~ you’ll notice it comes up when it is ready and as if by magic it doesn’t really need your help to survive.

I’ve always been so amazing that when I am watering my other seeds like crazy, the volunteers seem to grow the biggest and strongest and are doing just fine without my help at all!

Blanket Flower plants blooming in spring. These seeds were direct sown in the early March of the previous year.

I hope this guide supports you in growing your best garden ever! Make sure to reference our Sowing Guide for seeding times. And check out my previous article Starting from Seed | A Beginner’s Guide for general info on starting seeds.

You’ll also find detailed growing info for all seed varieties on each product page on our website (such as this one for Ashwagandha, scroll below the photos to read the additional information).

Wishing you many green blessings and an abundant growing season ahead!