What Seeds to Plant in March

Growing tips for starting seeds indoors

It’s recommended to use grow lights, as seedlings may not receive enough light for strong growth even in a window. It takes about 6-8 weeks for these varieties to grow to transplant-size when started from seed. Therefore, by starting these seeds in March, the seedlings will be ready to plant outdoors in the garden in May, just in time for the weather to be warm enough to plant them outside.

Furthermore, it’s important to harden off your seedlings before planting outdoors. Keep an eye on the extended weather forecast and look for the air temperature to remain warmer than 50F before planting these summer veggies.

Ginkgo Gardens has everything you need for starting seeds, including seedling trays and pots, seed-starting soil, heat mats, and the following seed varieties below.

Top 5 seeds to start indoors in March:

Chile peppers! Grow your own restaurant-style appetizers with Shishito pepper seeds.

Cherry Tomatoes - Cherry tomatoes produce prolifically and resist blossom end rot. Enjoy them just-picked, in sauces, or oven-dried. Grow your own rainbow salsa with Bumblebee Mix.

Asian Eggplants - These varieties grow abundant tender eggplants that are delicious in stir-fries, curries, and pasta dishes.

Ground Cherries - This tomatillo-cousin tastes just like pineapple (so cool!) Eat them fresh or use in jams and baked goods.

Edible Hibiscus - a beautiful edible plant, the calyxes that form after flowering are used around the world to make cranberry-flavored beverages. And the tender new leaves add zing to salads.

Growing tips for direct sowing seeds outdoors

These varieties are super-speedy growers, ready to harvest in about a month (peas take a little longer, so plant extra to harvest as pea shoots while you wait). Regardless, you'll be able to harvest all of these before you'll need the outdoor space for the veggies you started indoors for May planting.

When planted after the soil temperature reaches 50F or warmer, these varieties tend to germinate in less than 2 weeks (source).

Visit Ginkgo Gardens to pick up a soil thermometer, LeafGro leaf compost or other soil amendments, mulch, and these seeds:

Top 5 seeds to direct sow outdoors in March:

Lettuce - Sow lettuce seeds densely and eat your thinnings as gourmet baby lettuce. From larger plants, harvest outer leaves first to ensure that the plants continue to produce salads all spring.

Radishes - Spring radishes are always the first veggies to be ready for harvest. Celebrate the season with a homegrown radish sandwich (yum!)

Japanese Baby Turnips - Growing to the same size as spring radishes, baby turnips taste sweet with a slight mustard-y zing. Put them in salads and soups, green tops too. They make amazing pickles.

Asian Greens - This mix has gathered all of my favorite small Asian greens in one packet: mizuna, red leaf mustard, green leaf mustard, komatsuna, tatsoi, and looseleaf Chinese cabbage, plus arugula. Use tender leaves to spice up a salad. Add mature leaves to soups and stir-fries.

Snap Peas - The entire plant is edible! Pea shoots (the top 2- or so inches of leaves and tendrils) and blossoms are tasty additions to salads. And with edible pods, no shelling is needed...I’ve been known to eat the peapods straight from the vine. Note: sweet peas, which are grown for ornamental flowers, are not edible.

Happy Gardening! Stay tuned for our next blog post in early April!

Written by Amelia Vogel

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