Simple Weekly Seed Starting Plan for Vegetable Gardens

Ready to grow a vegetable garden? Want to know when to sow your seeds? Use this weekly schedule to start your seeds both indoors and outdoors from spring onward to grow a fabulous food garden.

Need the basics? How to Start a Vegetable Garden (Right Now) is perfect for beginners ready to get their seed starting supplies and outdoor garden beds or containers all set. It also provides a sample veggie garden layout.

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Easy Vegetable Garden Plan

This plan is for beginners starting a vegetable garden from seed (sowing seeds to grow plants) from late winter or early spring onward. You can also buy young plants (called ‘starter plants’ or ‘transplants’) from a garden nursery and grow that way too. It’s all good.

One key to a successful vegetable garden, beyond providing good growing conditions like fertile soil and adequate water and light, is to get the timing right. Each type of plant needs a certain amount of time to grow and mature and provide its food crop.

This can be just a few weeks for a fast-growing crop like leafy greens or many months for slow growers like squash or watermelon. And lots of other crops are ready somewhere between these two extremes.

This guide walks through the basic planning and sowing schedule to make sure you get to enjoy all your veggies before cold fall weather and decreasing amounts of light call an end to the summer growing party.

These tips are geared toward gardeners in USDA and Canadian hardiness zones 4 to 8 (see the links below for looking up your zone).

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Contents

1. Know Your Numbers
2. Decide What You Want to Grow
3. Sow Seeds – Weekly Sowing Plan (indoors and outdoors)
   

You can get all of this information and more in the ebook, Growing Vegetables: A Weekly Indoor and Outdoor Seed Sowing Plan here.

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1Know Your Numbers

There are two numbers (and a few dates) to know for your garden.

1. How many frost-free days you have to work with.
   To do this, use the calculator (below) to find your average first and last frost days. Count the days between the two to know your number of frost-free days.
2. Your plant hardiness zone number.
   Look for zones listed in seed catalogues and on seed packets to be sure the seeds you choose are suited to your zone.

To gain more growing days, you can also use season extenders including frost cloths, cold frames, polytunnels, or other protective covers. But don’t worry about that yet: there are plenty of options either way.

2Decide What You Want to Grow

The best advice is to grow what you love to eat and/or is costly to buy—or not available at shops—so long as it is possible to grow in your zone.

If you are growing for friends or food banks, find out what they need.

You could also team up with neighbors where you each choose certain crops to grow and share the bounty.

Jot down ideas—like carrots, tomatoes, beans, peas, or salad greens, and start exploring online seed catalogues for options. If you’re new to this, you will soon discover that there are dozens if not hundreds of types of each vegetable—so many wonderful choices you’ll never find in stores.

The seed sowing plan (below) also provides lots of ideas.

If you plan to buy starter plants (‘transplants’) instead of sowing seeds, just be sure what you want will be available for planting time (after last frost).

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3Sow Seeds

I’ve mapped out a seed starting plan below based on my own experience over the years. Use this as a starting point and get your seeds ordered as soon as possible.

I cannot emphasize enough that the best timing for indoor and outdoor sowing depends on the specific seeds you have chosen in addition to your frost dates and growing conditions.

For example, some tomatoes are really quick (45 days) while others may need 150 days either from seed to harvest, or from transplant date to harvest. But the good news is, if you’re late for starting one variety, you may have time for another quicker growing one.

Use your frost-free day number as a starting point and add on 14 days (or more) for elbow room.

And finally, always give yourself a few extra weeks: plants grow slower in spring and fall, and cool summer weather can slow things down as well. This isn’t a problem for crops like leafy greens that can be eaten at any time, but it is an issue for things like watermelon or squash that must mature and ripen to be edible.

If you would like to download my vegetable seed sowing plan, click on DOWNLOAD NOW below.

Seed Sowing Plan

10-12 Weeks (70-84 Days) Before Last Frost

Vegetable Seeds to Start Indoors

Not many seeds should be started this far ahead, otherwise the plants will get too big before planting time or struggle with indoor growing conditions.

Exceptions include some special tomatoes, peppers and onions with long growth cycles.

If your indoor temperature stays steady around 70°F (21°C)—give or take 5 degrees or so, most seeds will germinate just fine.

My ebook, Seed Starting for Beginners: Sow Inside Grow Outside, has everything you need to know to sow in your home.

This is also time to start woody herbs from seed including oregano, rosemary, thyme, and sage although growing from cuttings is much faster.

8-10 Weeks (56-70 Days) Before Last Frost

Vegetable Seeds to Start Indoors

Want to download this seed sowing plan?
CLICK HERE

4-8 Weeks (28-56 Days) Before Last Frost

Vegetable Seeds to Start Indoors

This is the busy time for indoor seed starting! Most of what we grow can be started at this time.

A few weeks before last frost your local plant nurseries may also begin selling starter plants. If you get some, be prepared to keep them protected from extreme temperatures until planting time.

Flower Seeds to Sow Indoors

Want to download this seed sowing plan?
CLICK HERE

Direct Sow Outdoors – Vegetable Seeds

When a seed packet says sow directly, it means you are sowing the seed outdoors, usually in its permanent location as some seeds in this group don’t like being moved.

Root crops like carrots are particularly sensitive to transplanting so avoid this if possible.

Other direct sow seeds are fast-growers that have enough time to mature within our frost-free days so there is no need for indoor sowing.

Use my notes as a general guide and always check your seed packets for exact outdoor sowing time.

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6-8 Weeks Before Last Frost (When Soil is Workable)

Have frost cloths handy in case temperatures dip below 30°F (-1°C).

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4 Weeks Before Last Frost

Most of these ones like the soil temperature 50°F (10°C) or a bit warmer.

Some cold-tolerant plants that have several true leaves can now be hardened off and then transplanted outdoors at this time. This includes cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, lettuce, and kohlrabi.

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2 Weeks Before Last Frost

Want to download this seed sowing plan?
CLICK HERE

Sow Directly Outdoors After Last Frost

Once frosts are done, you can begin planting any starter plants you have—whether you grew them yourself or purchased them—but do it carefully. Warmth lovers like tomatoes are really sensitive to temperature drops.

You will harden off all your plants gradually and have covers ready after planting in case some unusual weather is forecasted.

And, there are lots of seeds to sow directly in the garden.

While indoor seed starting provides a good jump start, many of the same plants can be started outdoors when conditions are favorable. Plus, when early crops are done, it’s time to plant new ones in their place.

Again, check your seed packets for specific sowing instructions.

See What to Sow Mid-Summer Onward for growing into fall and winter.

When to Harvest Vegetables
has tips to get the timing right for maximum flavor.

Want to download this seed sowing plan?
CLICK HERE

I hope this has given you lots of seed sowing ideas for your garden. And do dig in: there is no better garden teacher than experience.

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛