Cool season growing Tips

Many of the cool-season crops like kale, carrots, peas, lettuce, beets, radish and spinach can be directly seeded into the garden.  All seed should be sown thickly to improve the chance for even distribution and germination in your garden bed.   Pinching out and thinning seed rows once they’ve germinated will lessen root competition, and improve crops yields.   Some vegetables such as peas, parsnips, carrots, beets, turnips, spinach and radish need only 1-3 inch spacing between plants, while larger crops such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, rutabagas and kohlrabi, require from 10-24 inches between plants for best growth.   Though many cool-season crops can be sown directly into the garden, crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage must be grown in containers first, and then planted into your garden as transplants.