Sow Borage seeds into the garden in early spring when days and soils are still quite cold.
As the ground begins to thaw during the first warm days of early spring we think about all the seeds that can be sown directly into the garden. Several salad plants and flowering annuals can be sprinkled with reckless abandon early in the season, when cool temperatures and consistent moisture are usually a given. Diverse hardy perennials and biennials are also easy to germinate in cool soil.
Where the weather is less than cooperative and hot sunny days arrive earlier and more often than expected a cheap oscillating sprinkler run twice daily is usually sufficient to prevent spring sown seeds drying out. The most common mistake that beginning gardeners make is underestimating the importance of consistent moisture from the time that seeds are first sown through at least a week or so after they germinate. Once seeds have germinated they should be thinned and thoroughly weeded as they become established. Once rooted most plants require very little attention in the cool and rainy early spring.
The Early Spring Salad Garden
From left to right: Nigella damascena is a self-sowing annual that germinates best in cool soils and will festoon the spring salad garden for years to come. Tom Thumb Lettuce is a diminutive heading lettuce that heads fast in cold weather and holds well even into June. Heartsease is a valuable medicinal that germinates best in the cool soils of early spring and will self-sow prolifically in the Northeast, providing lovely edible flowers for spring salads.
Though we do prefer to start heading vegetables like Red Acre Cabbage, Variegata di Lusia Chicory, Marouli Romaine and petite Frisée indoors a few weeks before transplanting, the bulk of our spring salad gardens are sown outdoors in April: Small heading lettuces like Guildenstern and Tom Thumb will head well enough when sown directly if thinned properly and also hold very reliably through any unseasonably hot weather in May and June. Salad Bowl Lettuce, Zuccherina Chicory, Golden Frill Mustard, Persian Cress, Mibuna and Arugula are among the easiest of cutting fare. Just be sure to leave some Arugula plants uncut for their fragrant edible flowers in June!
French Breakfast Radishes are easy and fast and can be sown as soon as the soil can be worked and weekly through late May. Parsley Peas produce sturdy dwarf plants whose tendrils are tipped with delicious and succulent little leaves. White Egg Turnips are super sweet and juicy in the cool of spring and a good alternative to the popular hybrid Hakurei.
The immature green seeds of Lemon Coriander are flavorful and fantastic macerated in vodka!
Fijne Krul Chervil germinates best in the cool soils of early spring, and little Lemon Coriander produces both aromatic leaves and incredibly flavorful seeds for use as a spice long after spring has passed. These seeds can also be harvested green and tossed into vodka for summer drinks!
All of the aforementioned salad plants can be sown and grown and harvested (including multiple crops of radishes and turnips) over the course of just two spring months, making way for summer crops like Bush Beans with Summer Savory and Cucumbers with Basil and Marigolds by the end of June.
At least one dedicated garden bed for spring salad followed by warm weather crops is a great way to make efficient use of limited garden space.
Unusual Umbellifers
Umbelliferae is a massive botanical family that includes Carrots, Celery and Parsley, as well as many lesser known aromatic species with edible seeds and leaves. The seeds of the vast majority of these species germinate best with at least some cold and are ideal for sowing into the garden in early spring.
We actually start most Parsley seeds indoors and transplant as soon as the soil can be worked, but the seeds CAN be sown outdoors in early spring, and Einfasche Schnitt is an especially vigorous German selection that absolutely SHOULD be sown outdoors. Both Berliner and Konika Parsley Root seeds should also be sown directly into the garden in early spring. Parsnip seeds, too. Radhuni and Anise are grown in warmer climates for their aromatic seeds, but their fragrant foliage can be used as a culinary herb. Caraway is a hardy biennial seed crop that also has delicious foliage as well as starchy roots for roasting in autumn. Red Featherleaf Celery is fantastic in a container but like all cutting celery can be grown in the ground just as easily as parsley and germinates readily at cool temperatures. The best selection of Sweet Fennel is grown primarily for the delicious sweet seeds, but Wild Fennel fronds and pollen have the intense savory flavor unique to Mediterranean cuisines. The dramatic Bronze Fennel is a reliable adaptable perennial and among our absolute favorite plants for edible landscaping and permaculture.
Bronze Fennel in late Spring!
Other perennial umbellifers that we grow for food and medicine include statuesque Angelica and Lovage, both of which can be sown directly into the garden while soils are still quite cold. Queen Anne's Lace is a weed in the Northeast and some gardeners may not fathom wanting to sow it, but it is fairly rare elsewhere and both the flowers and seeds are edible and medicinal. The seeds germinate most reliably in the cool soils of early spring and bloom in the second year.
Rare perennial umbellifers like Scotch Lovage, Aniseroot, Maori Aniseed and Alexanders require more cold than can be had in springtime and should be stratified in the refrigerator or sown into pots placed outdoors much earlier in winter for best germination.
Perennial Medicinals
Many of our favorite medicinal herbs are also valuable ornamental perennials. After years of trial we have curated a selection of seeds that germinate easily when sown outdoors in a typical Northwestern spring, saving us the trouble of stratification or starting indoors when space is limited and precious.
Beautiful native Echinacea pallida in full bloom in late June.
Among the most popular of these are the lovely North American natives Echinacea purpurea and Echinacea pallida, both selected for medicinal use and adapted to field production. Edible biennial Evening Primrose is another North American native that is a potent medicinal and should be sown outdoors into cool spring soils.
Our Valerian and Marshmallow selections are vigorous and germinate easily when sown into the garden in early spring. Planted altogether with edible Blue Mallow in fertile sunny soil and allowed to self-sow these plants will produce an attractive long-lived stand of valuable medicine.
Functional Flowers
Poppies prefer to be sown into cool soils and the most ideal time to sow them in spring is when the the days are sunny and over 50°F but nights are still near or below freezing. Elka Poppies are tall and white and feature nutritious sweet white seeds in large pods that almost never drop them before they can be collected. Sir Cedric Morris Poppies include a broad spectrum of unique muted tones that look spectacular in a vase. Artist's Glory Poppies are likewise great for cutting and are a good open-pollinated alternative to the hybrid “Bubbles" series so popular with flower farmers.
From top to bottom: Elka Poppies have sweet white seeds that stay inside big ventless pods until they are harvested. Radio Calendula is an edible annual that self-sows readily here in the Northeast. Blue Mallow is an entirely edible self-sowing hardy annual that is ideal for filling in gaps in both perennial and vegetable gardens.
Calendula flowers are not only beautiful but useful: the delicate quilled petals of the classic Radio Calendula are edible and perfect for drying. Double ‘Erfurter' Calendula is the most powerfully medicinal selection we know of. Calendula seeds germinate best when sown in cool spring soils and bloom throughout the growing season in the Northeast.
Borage is an easy self-sowing floriferous annual with clear blue cucumber-flavored flowers on fleshy edible plants. The seeds can be sown at almost any time but germinate most readily in early spring. Plants typically self-sow to the point of seeming perennial. Borage plants also make a nutritious mulch or addition to compost.
Viola species are among the first flowers to bloom each spring. We sell just four, and two of these are perfect for sowing into the garden in very early spring: Bowles’ Black and medicinal Heartsease. The flowers of both are edible and the latter especially is wont to sow itself indefinitely.
The spice we call “Black Cumin" is not cumin at all, but an annual Nigella species that is among the easiest of culinary spices to grow in gardens. Grown in sufficient quantities these seeds can also be ground for paste or pressed for oil. All Nigella seeds, including the beautiful Miss Jekyll's Blue, prefer to germinate in cool soils and can be sown in very early spring. These plants will self-sow if allowed and bloom quite early in subsequent seasons, and along with Violas contribute greatly to the charm of springtime in permacultural kitchen gardens and other casual edible landscapes.
Peculiar Roots and Shoots
The pretty purple flowers of Salsify and yellow flowers of Black Salsify bloom in the second year.
Both Salsify and Black Salsify (also known as Scorzonera) germinate most reliably when sown into the garden in early spring. These hardy biennials produce uniquely delicious long roots that are harvested late in the season and even well into winter and the following spring. In the second year they produce edible shoots and truly beautiful purple and yellow flowers. Sea Fennel is a rare edible halophyte that germinates best for us when sown directly into cold spring soils.
Nodding Onions are a North American native with pink edible roots and pendulous blooms, and while the seeds can germinate readily at warm temperatures they will occasionally require some cold to germinate, so we sow them where they are to grow in early spring. Allium species in general do very well sown outdoors in very early spring, even aged A. cepa in deep dormancy.