Veggie plants have arrived in stores!

Transplanted spinach and lettuce

Sunday, March 17, 2024

For those that don't have a lot of time, are just getting started in gardening or just want a jump on harvests, transplants have arrived at the big box stores!  I start seeds and buy transplants every year.  This time of year, I usually purchase spinach plants and lettuces.  

There were many herbs, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, and even tomato plants in the outdoor nursery racks Thursday in our area.  There should be many more edibles coming in the next couple of weeks.  The transplants you buy should already be hardened off and ready to plant in the garden.  

Check with local nurseries for a better variety.  They also can answer any questions you have and recommend the plants that are a good fit for your garden.

Inside the stores are racks of seeds, barefoot edibles and flowers, onion sets, shallot sets, and potato sets.  You can buy asparagus, all kinds of berry bushes and fruiting vines bare root.  Be sure to get any bare root plants into soil as soon as you can.  You can put them in a pot until your garden is ready for them.

I already had snow peas, spinach, Dragon's Tail radish, chard, and parsley up from sowing seeds.  I have several lettuces up too from seed.  I bought three 6 packs of lettuce-red romaine, green romaine and buttercrunch from the store.  I'll transplant them outdoors next week so I get lettuce at harvestable size a couple weeks sooner than my lettuce seedlings will give me.  

We have a hard freeze in the forecast for Monday so I'll wait until after the freeze to plant.  Lettuce can survive temps down to 28F or lower, but I will be separating plants that are in the same pod so I will be damaging their roots, making them weaker for a bit.

When I buy transplants, I look for ones that have more than one in each pocket of the 6 pack.  If you separate them gently, you can get more plants for the money.  Do separate them and plant them at the spacing recommended on the plant tag so they will grow to full size.

It's time to get planting!