Erica's Notes The mild Pacific Northwest is generally an excellent climate for artichokes, and if you baby your plants a bit through the winter, there is a good chance they will perform as short-lived perennials for you. However, if you want artichokes from seed this year, you need to start early. Start artichokes in generous 3-inch or 4-inch pots in the last half of January, and be ready to up-pot if needed. Set starts out in very early spring. It's…

Erica's Notes To grow your own onions from seed, start with very fresh, same-year seed. In the Pacific Northwest, start onions from seed from late-January to early-February. Select a long-day variety and sow lightly in a shallow tray filled with potting mix. Make shallow, 1/2-inch deep furrows across your tray, spacing the furrows about 3-inches apart. Aim to sprinkle about 6 onion seeds per inch along the furrows in your tray. Plan on setting starts out in early spring. In…

Erica’s Notes: By around the end of January, I like to have a pretty clear idea of what I'm growing and where I'll be growing it. Typically by the last week in January I've made a list of what seed varieties I want to order and figured out which seed houses have what I want. Like all enthusiastic gardeners, I'm prone to over-buying when it comes to seeds, so before I finalize my spring seed order, I check my existing…

Erica's Notes Fresh Italian parsley is a culinary essential - when you grow your own parsley you start to use this great herb generously, more like a leaf vegetable than a garnish. It's also cold hardy, and is an excellent addition to the fall and protected winter garden. Parsley germinates and grows well in cool soils, so spring direct seeding in March is a good choice if your garden is prepared. If not, start indoors by sowing thinly in deep…

Erica's Notes Because peppers originated in the tropics, they are not well-adapted to handle wide temperature swings from day to night or over the course of the season.  Ideal temperatures for growth and fruiting of peppers are about 85 degrees during the day and 70 degrees at night. Peppers are easy enough to start from seed if you give them bottom-heat and don't overwater them. But try to get them to sprout in damp. 55 degree soil and you're asking for…

Erica's Notes Swiss chard is easy to direct sow - just make sure you thin your chard seedlings when they are a few inches high so they don't crowd. If you want the earliest possible chard, start indoors and set out to a protected cloche in very early spring. I like Bright Lights which has a fun, rainbow-colored stem assortment. Fordhook Giant is the most cold hardy variety I've tried. The red-stemmed chards I've grown are very pretty but have…

Erica's Notes You can put as much work into your tomatoes as you want. If you don’t mind fussing and you have good strong grow lights and you're planning on season extension, start your tomatoes in February with plans to up-pot to gallons if necessary and transplant to a pre-warmed, tunnel-cloched bed in late April, depending on weather. If you just don’t want to put that much work into it, buy starts in late April or early May at a…

Erica's Notes Cauliflower is like the Goldilocks of the Brassica family. She wants everything just right - not t0o cold, not too hot, not too wet, not too dry. If you are a new gardener, I recommend that you start with Romanesco (that's the cool green cauliflower with the amazing spiral patterns). Although it looks like a super-specialty vegetable, my experience is that Romanesco is actually easier to grow than the standard white cauliflowers in spring. Start Cauliflower under lights…

Erica's Notes Somewhat more challenging than kale, collards, or cabbage, broccoli is still a fairly easy crop in the mild climate of the Maritime Northwest. Only very occasionally do our summer temperatures get a bit hotter than broccoli prefers, and spring and fall weather naturally suits broccoli very well. Start Broccoli indoors from mid-February to mid-March and plan to set 4 to 6 week old plants out in late-March or April. In Spring, opt for supermarket-style heading broccoli (also called…

Erica's Notes Kohlrabi performs best when it matures into cool weather, and it's easiest to grow this crop for fall harvest. However, since kohlrabi is a family favorite, I try to grow both a spring crop and a larger fall/winter crop Crowded kohlrabi doesn't bulb up properly, so transplant seedlings to 6-inches apart in an 18-inch wide row, or in an offset grid with plants 8 or 9-inches apart in all directions. Harvest spring sown kohlrabi promptly after it sizes…