What Plants To Start Now For Your Summer Garden

If like me, you are getting itchy to get in the garden and start planting, you can still start some plants inside for your summer garden!

The past couple years most of the US has been blanketed with snow during early spring. Typically, this is the time when we are getting our gardens ready for the summer. If you are like me and are itching to get gardening, then start the plants inside. Here are some tidbits on what plants to start indoors for your summer garden. (and don't forget to get your FREE Printable garden planner!)

Go Wild with Squash

Plants in the squash family have large seeds which makes them ideal to start indoors. You can start them in plug trays or in 4" pots as they grow pretty quickly. Squash plants like cucumbers, yellow crookneck, zucchini, winter squash like butternut and acorn, plus pumpkins can be started indoors. The seedling will pop up in 3-7 days and grows a large network of roots. They are ready to be transplanted in the garden in 3-4 weeks.

Seed Tomatoes Inside

Tomatoes come in hundreds of varieties and are perfect plants to start indoors. With tomatoes, get a seed tray and place one variety in each row. This way you can get a head start on your tomato garden and have a nice variety of tomatoes to juice from. Make sure to label each row as it is very easy to forget especially since the seedlings look all the same! Once the seedlings are 2" tall and the first set of true leaves has formed, they are ready to be transplanted up into 4" pots. Once the roots start to come out the bottom of these pots, they are ready to be hardened off and planted out in the garden. This process takes about 6 weeks.

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Peas and Beans

I'm not sure if you are seeing the trend, but plants with bigger seeds are the easiest to start indoors for your summer garden. All varieties of peas and beans are great to start indoors. They should be planted in at least 3" containers as they grow too fast to be seeded in anything smaller. They sprout in 3-5 days and grow their first set of true leaves within a week. These can then be set out in to the garden after three weeks. Peas and beans are great seeds to get kids involved in planting as they are big enough to handle and have a high germination percentage.

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