Garden Center at Meadowview #1003

It's time to start thinking of spring. We're here to help you prepare for fragrant breezes, sprouts poking up, and warmer temperatures. Planting seeds indoors with grow lights means you'll be ready to transplant young veggie plants and spring flowers when the frosts are through and the ground thaws. You might even want to directly plant seeds into the earth.

Plant Hardiness Zones Explained
The first thing to know when planting spring flowers, vegetables, and other seeds is your planting zone. Every location in the U.S. and its territories is sorted into blocks by climate. Find your zone on the USDA zone map and learn when to plant seeds.

For example, you could plant bell pepper seedlings outdoors in mid-March in Zone 10, but not until the end of May in Zone 4. The plants that'll thrive in your area are in your zone, and all the zones numbered less than that. In other words, a Zone 5 garden can support plants listed as Zones 1–5. The timeframe to direct sow outdoors in your garden is often around a month later than the indoor start date. Read your seed packet for details. If you start them later than recommended, it's not ideal, but it will likely even out as time passes.

Gardening in Your Growing Zone
This region ranges from 7–9, with higher elevations in Zones 5 and 6. You’ll find fertile land in some places, desert and mountains with harsher conditions elsewhere. What you can grow and when will vary considerably depending on where you live. In Zones 5 and 6, the outdoor growing season doesn’t begin here until mid-March or even April, although you can start some veggies by seed halfway through February. Warmer Zones 7–9 can plant earlier, but if you’re in the desert, you’ll likely want to investigate indoor gardening in an enclosed porch or sunroom.

Utilize greenhouses to grow herbs and vegetables. Native plants like cacti, succulents, and other hardy desert shrubs will grow outside with ease. Other beloved garden vegetables love the heat, like cucumbers, peppers, squash, and tomatoes. If you start them indoors and carefully introduce them outdoors in the shade, you can enjoy raising vegetables even in a dry climate. However, many flowers, both annuals and perennials, are sensitive to that much heat and sun, so research to find which varieties can handle the weather before planting outdoors.

Start Seeds Indoors
Grow your garden from seeds by starting them indoors. We've got all the seed starter supplies you'll need. Make sure you have a warm and sunny spot that gets at least 12 hours of light. Then you have everything you need to try your hand at growing seeds. Early spring light isn't usually strong enough, so we recommend extra lighting to keep those seeds warm enough to germinate.

Measure your finger to use it as a ruler. In general, you'll plant 3–5 seeds, then press them into the soil to the depth you need with your finger. Mark where you planted the seeds with a plant tag or toothpick. Otherwise, it'll be a surprise when the sprouts push out of the soil.

Sprouts
When your seeds have sprouted but aren't ready to go outside yet, you can still prepare them for outdoor life. These inch-tall micro-seedlings are fragile but resilient. Seedlings don't get all this pampering in nature when they volunteer and grow wherever they please, so they can handle more than you think. However, don't go overboard, as your sprouts are still babies. You can even use an oscillating fan on low to mimic the wind and strengthen their stems.

Harden Your Seedlings
Harden your seedlings for strong plants. On days above 45 degrees, take your pots or trays of seedlings outside to slowly warm in the shade for two hours, but bring them inside at night. Cloudy days are fine, but no harsh nighttime chills or direct sunlight yet. After a week or more of this, you can leave them out overnight if the temps stay above 50 degrees. Cover your plants if they're in the ground and a late-season frost sneaks back in.

Transplant Young Plants Into Their New Homes
You've raised your baby plants from seeds, watched them sprout, and carefully hardened them off to brave Mother Nature. By now, your plants have three or four real leaves — they'll look different from the miniature seedling leaves. When the ground is warm, and you're not expecting soaking rain, look into transplanting your small plants into their new outdoor home. "Transplant" means that you put these small plants straight into the garden soil or into pots. In cases where you directly planted into the ground, you may still want to shuffle plants around for the best sun and spacing. That's also a transplant situation, as is repotting plants into larger pots.

Protect Your Garden With Mulch
Finish your planting by following it with compost and mulch. Mulch keeps your soil moist and controls weeds. Compost enriches the soil so your garden can grow even better. It may help foster larger plants that bear more fruit and flowers. Compost and mulch can be purchased in-store or created at home. The next time you're looking for "mulch near me," stop by the Garden Center to get the perfect amount.

Greet the Spring
Early spring is an exciting time in the world of gardening. Don't miss a minute of growing season. Plan your garden and landscaping, prepare to fertilize your lawn, and browse our garden center pages to find inspiration on what to plant when the weather warms. Shop for the seeds, soil, and fertilizer you need in the aisles of your Meadowview Garden Center, online, or on our mobile app. Let's get growing together.