Direct Sowing Seeds: What Seeds and When

Direct sowing seeds is beneficial for certain plants and may be the quickest and easiest way to get your garden started.

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Certain plants, like root vegetables, prefer to be direct sown due to their fragile root system that could get damaged during transplanting.

Other plants, such as peas and cucumbers, can be started inside, but there are some great benefits to direct sowing them.

Benefits to direct sowing seeds

1. You can skip the hardening off process.

With the plants already grown in and exposed to the elements, there’s no need to harden off the plants.

2. Reduces risk of transplant shock.

Some plants will give you a hard time going from starting pots into the ground.

They will get wilty and look close to death and, unfortunately, some may die. (I’m looking at you cucumbers.)

With direct sowing, there is no transplant shock.

3. Grow more prolific plants.

I am unsure on the reasoning behind this but, from my experience, plants whose seeds were direct sown matured faster and were more proflific than the transplanted plants that were grown from the same seed.

4. Saves time and money.

You don’t need to purchase soil or pots – just put the seeds right in the ground, water them, and let nature do its thing.

Before you start sowing

Prep the soil for seeds by removing rocks and debris and loosen the soil to make root establishment easier for your seedlings.

Work some compost into your garden beds to provide nutrients that will support the growth of healthy plants.

What seeds to direct sow & when

Before you begin, you need to know the date of your last frost.

Check your last frost date here.

6 weeks before last frost date

• Peas
• Radishes
• Spinach

4 weeks before last frost date

• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Beets

Week of the last frost date

• Beans
• Cucumbers
• Summer Squash (zucchini, yellow, patty pan)
• Winter Squash (pumpkin, spaghetti, butternut)
• Melons

Which do you prefer? Starting seeds indoors or direct sowing?

Next in this series:

• Plan a Summer Vegetable Garden in 5 Easy Steps
• How to Winter Sow Seeds in Milk Jugs
• Beginner’s Guide: How to Start Seeds Indoors

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Until next time